Where do we go now but nowhere?

Tonight I saw one of the best Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds gigs I’ve seen, but also perhaps witnessed the beginning of the end. It feels strange even though I had a fantastic night. The show, at Oslo’s Spektrum Arena, was intense and amazing, but something wasn’t quite right.

I’d arrived nice and early (6:30!!) in anticipation of the very early start to the gig. There was a little slice of Melbourne in Oslo as the rain and wind outside gave way to Ed Kuepper and Jeff Wegener playing support. Effectively those two together made this a Laughing Clowns gig, and the duo played a nice little set of songs that I know from countless RRR repetitions, yet could struggle to name. In fact the only song I could place was their eponymous song Laughing Clowns which was excellent. Sadly there was no Saints material, but it was a fine support slot anyway.

Nick and the Bad Seeds came on around 8:45. I’d managed to get myself on the crowd barrier, second from front and about 2 metres left of centre – a great spot. It did get a bit squishy, but not too bad – the audience here was a lot younger than at Melbourne Nick Cave shows. Nick probably spent about 1/3 of the show within 3 metres of where I was standing which was brilliant. It was the closest I’ve been to the front of a Bad Seeds gig since the first time I saw them live back in 1993, and it had both benefits and detriments to how much I enjoyed the show. Firstly you get such a good look at everyone! Nick Cave is a very skinny man. He looks even more angular and wiry than he previously did, and his performance was quite manic. The ridiculous moustache and receding mullet make him look more like a deranged preacher than ever. He was far shoutier than other times, and clearly placed more of an emphasis on energy than style in his performance. His incredible energy, the look in his eyes and his body language got me thinking about him and his past performances. This Nick Cave is far more like the 1993 version than the 2002 one. Nick was wild. He struggled to remember words (he had all of his lyrics on a music stand near the front of the stage), and wouldn't start The mercy seat until he could locate the lyrics. Some timing was also off, which lead to strange moments such as at the end of the chorus of The ship song, where the band were about 2-bars ahead of the vocals. After thinking about it for a while I think, hopefully in error, that the man is back on some particularly meaty drugs. I could be very wrong and perhaps he’s just written an intense album that he enjoys performing, but there was something a bit different about Nick tonight.

It was interesting to watch the other Seeds though too. Mick Harvey looked particularly unimpressed with the evening. He wasn’t helped by faulty equipment in the first 1/3 of the evening, but he had a slightly lonely and marginalised look to him throughout the night. Now to put him in context, Mick Harvey has been in the Bad Seeds forever, predating this musical incarnation as a founding member of the Boys Next Door and the Birthday Party as well as the Bad Seeds. He is the glue to this band, and quite probably responsible for Nick Cave’s musical success and fame. But he looked quite over the whole thing. Not so much bored as disappointed. He’s a renowned multi-instrumentalist, but as he shifted between the second drum kit (yes, there were 2!), the bass, the guitar and keyboards he kind of looked like the lost link in this musical experiment as Nick deflected off and had fun with…

… the mad man that is Warren Ellis. Warren Ellis really does look like he was born to be a Bad Seed and between his maniacal grin, huge beard, convulsions all over the stage and his gobbing into the wings he really is quite a sight to behold. He has taken over the Blixa Bargeld role (ie providing atmosphere and a counterpoint to Nick, as well as guitar) and then some. He is clearly Bad Seed #1 in the pecking order on stage, which might explain why Mick looked so miffed and isolated. Warren Ellis is great of course, although almost all of his time is now spent abusing his guitar and electric violin, with only very rare moments where his achingly tender violin moments can be heard. Which is a pity. The other seeds do there thing with little fuss. Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey and Conway Savage are all still going strong, but they weren’t overly demonstrative or enthusiastic about their performance. In that respect the gig was really more about the outrageous flamboyance of Nick and Warren, coupled with the business-like performance of the other Bad Seeds. Which is not a criticism of anyone in particular, but perhaps to my eyes evidence of a band that might be pulling in different directions. This would be sad after they have survived as a relatively cohesive unit for around 30 years.

Despite that gloomy analysis the show itself was great. The latest album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, follows on in the tradition of some of the Bad Seeds early 80s work – an Americana underbelly, full of freaks. It’s an atmospheric album full of stomping guitars and pulpit sermons, with an air of unease. I had a feeling it would translate very well live, and that it did. The choice of older song complemented this mood well too. A big cranking version of Tupelo near the start, Deanna mid way through, and my favourite, the brilliant Papa won’t leave you, Henry near the end of the main set. I’d yelled out a request for the latter a few songs earlier and even got a reply – Nick said “We could play that one. But we won’t”. Thankfully he was joking, and it probably got one of the best crowd responses of the night. I was also very happy to hear I let love in. Lowlight was The mercy seat. It was a languid, boring version, apparently played for the first time on this current tour. There’s a reason for that – EVERYONE IS SICK OF IT! Clearly the band was bored and they should do their fans a favour by retiring this awesome song rather than droning out a shoddy version.

I also bought a new Nick Cave t-shirt, keeping up my tradition of having one since 1993. The last one died (a death of a thousand holes) in November and never made it home from Portugal. This one will hopefully last another 5 years or so. So all in all it was a really good gig despite the strangeness that I saw on stage. I have a feeling that this latest rock incarnation (incorporating the last album and the Grinderman side project) will run out of steam pretty soon and another direction will be taken. I hope so, as despite the thrill of this gig I think much more of whatever’s going on will lead to the end of the Bad Seeds.

Here is the set list:

Night of the lotus eaters
Dig, Lazarus, dig!
Tupelo
Today’s lesson
Red right hand
Midnight man
I let love in
Deanna
Lie down here and be my girl
Moonland
The ship song
We call upon the author

Papa won’t leave you, Henry
More news from nowhere

-- (encore)

The lyre of Orpheus
Get ready for love
The mercy seat
Into my arms
Stagger Lee