Nick Cave is and always will be a punk in presentation. He is not some leather-clad, kicking-against-the-pricks sort of frontman but one with the energy of only the best rebellious outfits. He has pruned this image for him and The Bad Seeds over the last twenty years and more so in the last half-decade than any other time. It may be coming apart in public, but on the stage, away from the world, it comes to life. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds still dominate with that cool presence, that desire to joke and play with the sincerity of their sound. Their performance at First Direct Arena in Leeds is an astonishing one, not least for those who are headed to the venue for the first time. Standing in some semi-circle basement, the big white sign that reads “BAR” is all that stands out beyond the stage – dominated by a Cave performance filled with the energy heard in his earliest recordings.
But this is no legacy slot. No such hits tour where Cave, Warren Ellis and the rest of the Bad Seeds rattle off their greatest moments. Wild God marks a phenomenal leap for Cave and the band, another personable push into faith, hope and the fractured moments which later leave us thankful for the beauty they once displayed. Paying their contemporary material its dues is expected but how naturally it fits in with the dips into earlier material is wonderous. From the adrenalin shot of Wild God which pairs so well with the later performance of Jubilee Street to the calmer focus of Conversion. These newer pieces slot into the earlier hits well, and it makes for a welcome and consistent set. Cave is keen to dart around with the energies of a rabid performer, like a primal animal who has smelled blood for the first time and is keen to feel it again. Such is the effortlessness of Cave.
The highs come from those explosive moments of instrumental candour, the repetitive powers and audience interaction of your classics like Red Right Hand or The Mercy Seat. Where many artists have the inevitable song for the close of their set, Cave makes sure those hits he chooses, of which there are still many in this twenty-two-track set, make sense. A now heartbreaking homage to the late Kris Kristofferson on Frogs ties to Elvis Presley-centred Tupelo, the threads of Cave’s work now stretching back decades in their reference points. Wild God is not a look back over the shoulder at what was but a look forward to what will be, and finding room for the likes of Carnage and White Elephant, which sound so wonderful in the latter portions of this set, is exceptional.
A gig filled with plenty of surprises for those who were not refreshing Setlist FM to find out what Cave would be performing, and a real treat for the man dressed in a Warren Ellis costume. “Demented,” is how Cave described him. But the wild and irrational is what Cave and The Bad Seeds still deal in. Those moments where we feel the adrenalin burst our windpipe, the sweat and buzz of a new situation felt. Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry, is all the bolder after those Carnage covers than it would be anywhere else in the set. A slick performance from Cave should be no surprise, he has been attending to these musical avenues for decades. But what settles so well is how consistent he and the band are. It makes their shows a quiet visual spectacle and a boisterous instrumental challenge.
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I was there. It was phenomenal. My fifth time seeing NC perform and this was without a doubt the best yet. His energy is incredible and infectious and each song was performed with sincerity and heart, with glimpses of the Nick of Seeds Past, Present, and Future.