In a few weeks’ time, when cultural publications share their traditional lists of the year’s best records, Nick Cave can expect to yet again fare favourably. His eighteenth studio album with the Bad Seeds, Wild God, earned rave reviews on release back in August, lauded for its handsome arrangements and the complex rumination of its lyrics.
What he is not likely to win any awards for, this time around at least, is understatement; when asked a few weeks ago by a fan how his latest European tour was going, via his email newsletter The Red Hand Files, he described the gigs as “outstanding”, “deeply musical”, and involving “a feeling of supreme metaphysical possibility where anything can happen, and frequently does.”
If that sounds a touch bombastic, those in attendance at tonight’s first stop of a seven-date UK run can surely forgive him. The past decade or so of Cave’s life has been marked by grief; specifically, by the sudden loss of two of his sons, something he has wrestled with openly in his art.
Wild God was intended as an attempt to turn the page, to musically move past the trauma, but it remains palpable both on the album and in the background of tonight’s show. Early on, he introduces “O Children”, a lament of one generation’s failure to protect the next from the world’s horrors, by saying that he prays for the day that it is no longer relevant.
That sounds heavy, but by its very nature, Cave’s music is; he has a long track record when it comes to wrestling with the big ideas. That doesn’t define tonight’s show, though; the whole thing is scored through with a sense of joy, one that has been hard-won.
Cave is 67 but basically ageless, looking the same as he always has in his tailored suit and with his shock of jet-black hair slicked back; he remains the consummate frontman, spending much of his time tonight down at the barrier, roaring tracks old and new back at the diehard contingent down the front.
The Wild God material soars, thanks in no small part to the inclusion of three gospel singers in this expanded, ten-piece Bad Seeds line-up, which also includes Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on bass. On recent albums, Cave has tended towards long, stately compositions that simmer before boiling over, and such tracks suit this arena rock environment perfectly; on the likes of “Cinnamon Horses” and “Jubilee Street”, evocative storytelling is paired with similarly epic musicianship.
There’s room for classics, too; “From Her to Eternity” and “Red Right Hand” are vital as ever, imbued with a stormy, aggressive feel. And yet, for all Cave’s stagecraft, and for all the virtuosity of his band – especially his wild-eyed multi-instrumentalist foil, Warren Ellis – the most transcendent moments arrive when he is alone at the piano, holding a 12,000 capacity crowd in the palm of his hand with “I Need You” or, for a second encore, “Into My Arms”. On the latter song, Cave claims not to believe in an interventionist god, but shows on this scale feel like an expression of faith in something – the power of rock and roll, perhaps.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’s European tour continues to 17 November (https://www.nickcave.com/tour-dates/)
