Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany
12th November 2013
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds & Shilpa Ray
The artistic fields of NICK CAVE are wide. Not only he is best known as front man of THE BAD SEED, he also is a book and script writer, delivered film music and is busy in various side projects, to name the most important GRINDERMAN. But no matter in which field he is currently working, always the applause of fans and press is for sure. Currently, his main interest is on THE BAD SEEDS. With the band, he released a new album, ‘Push The Sky Away’ in February and now is playing several dates in Germany. Read how much the show in Düsseldorf impressed us.
Shilpa Ray
Before master Cave entered the stage, another artistic highlight was awaiting us. Support act Shilpa Ray, the front woman of SHILPA RAY & HER HAPPY HOOKERS, was setting us into the right mood for the following show. With her bands, she usually presents Rock with a Blues Punk sound. Singer Shilpa’s music was often compared with BLONDIE or THE CRAMPS and is spiced up with some burlesque of DRESDEN DOLLS. For the support gigs for Nick Cave she was coming alone, just accompanied by her Indian harmonium (little similar to an accordion), which was placed on a table while she was playing it. When she entered the stage short before eight, all eyes were on her while she was standing all alone on the big stage, just illuminated by a few spotlights. Her bluesy voice impressed from the very beginning and what she presented was surely not an easy fodder but artistically top level. Her strong voice sounded through the hall when she presented i.e. ‘Oh My Northern Soul‘. Besides the dark moll sounds of the harmonium, also her lyrics of songs like ‘Nocturnal Emissions‘ brought up a little wicked mood. Very likable was her emotional reaction when she received flowers from the audience. Heart-warming! After about forty minutes, she left the stage to make room for the star of the evening, Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds. http://www.shilparay.net / https://www.facebook.com/shilparayandherhappyhookers
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 8 / 10
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Multi talent Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist Blixa Bargeld formed NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS in 1983. Throughout the band’s career, the BADS SEEDS have featured varying international personnel. So far, they released several studio albums, the first one, ‘From Her to Eternity’, was out in 1984 already. In the nineties, the band’s success was growing, culminating in 1996 with the best-selling album so far, ‘Murder Ballads’. The album also contains a duet with British rock singer PJ Harvey and with Australian pop idol Kylie Minogue. The duet with her, ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’, was a huge mainstream hit. After concentrating more on GRINDERMAN, his side project, Nick Cave released a new album with THE BAD SEEDS in 2013, ‘Push The Sky Away’. The current line-up of the band is Nick Cave(vocals, piano, organ, harmonica, percussion, electric guitar, string arrangements), Thomas Wydler (drums, percussion, vocals), Martyn P. Casey (bass, vocals), Conway Savage (piano, organ, vocals), Jim Sclavunos (percussion, drums, organ, melodica, vocals) and Warren Ellis (violin, fender mandocaster, loops, mandolin, tenor guitar, viola, bouzouki, accordion, flute, lute, piano, programming, percussion, string arrangements, vocals), completed on stage by current touring musicians Barry Adamson(bass, electric guitar, drums, organ, piano, percussion, vocals) and George Vjestica (electric guitar, vocals). http://www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com / https://www.facebook.com/nickcaveandthebadseeds
Music & Performance
When NICK CAVE and his band mates enter the stage, loud cheers are welcoming them and their first song ‘We No Who U R’. The start is a little hesitant, but already impressive. Already after the first song, Cave presents himself very close to the audience when entering a little podium directly mounted at the fence and guiding the photographers out of the pit. The next song ‘Jubilee Street’ ends furiously. ‘Tupelo’ is surely one of the highlights of the concert with a dark and frightening bass and heavy drum beats. Nick’s voice in in top form, catching us immediately and deep. No chance to escape from this perfect performance, underlined by a fabulous light show. As said already, Nick is close to his audience. Over and over again he comes to the front and enters the little podiums at the fence, bowing deep over his audience or shaking the hands being stretched out towards him or answers love avowals by his fans with a charming “I love you too”. This show is somehow magic. One of my personal favourites comes up next, ‘Red Right Hand’, a song already underlining several movies with its unmistakable creepy atmosphere. This is a song where the band can run a riot, not for the last time on this evening. Nick says thank you in German, earning even more sympathy for the band.
In the course of the show presenting the new album, six from nine album tracks out of ‘Push The Sky Away’ are played. But of course also some classics are presented in the two hour lasting show where the band impressed as well with the stronger and louder songs but also in the many calmer moments when Nick took a seat behind his piano to accompany the songs himself. This are the moments when Nick’s voice can impress even more than it already did before. So we are dreaming during songs like ‘God is in the House‘, ‘Watching Alice’ or ‘Into My Arms’. Wonderful, entertaining ‘Higgs Boson Blues‘ is by now the last song with Nick at the piano and leads us into the final part of the show, starting with rousing ‘The Mercy Street’, earning huge applause. Surely another highlight for many, releasing the tension that was building up over the show so far. Following ‘Stagger Lee’ first starts calmer but soon the song explodes. ‘Push The Sky Away’ as last song of the main set, underlined by fabulous blue stage light, takes you down to the floor again. Huge applause accompanied the band when leaving the stage and after a while, the band returns for some more songs, sadly less than before in Hamburg.
‘We Real Cool‘ starts the additions and leeds us deep into the world of THE BAD SEEDS. ‘Papa Won’t Leave You Henry‘ is a more danceable song and you can see people moving everywhere. All good things have to come to an end and the end was coming with the ballad ‘Give Us A Kiss’, a new song presenting the melancholic strengths of the artist. What a perfect concert… even we were missing some classics and compared with Hamburg, ‘Do You Love Me’, ‘Jack The Ripper’ and ‘Deanna’ were not played. But what else to expect from such an amazing show, lasting nearly two hours, presenting perfect music, atmospheric light show and good sound? Not to forget a singer beyond any doubt? This was a concert the audience will remember a long time!
Setlist
01. We No Who U R
02. Jubilee Street
03. Tupelo
04. Red Right Hand
05. Mermaids
06. From Her To Eternity
07. West Country Girl
08. God Is In The House
09. Watching Alice
10. Into My Arms
11. Higgs Boson Blues
12. The Mercy Seat
13. Stagger Lee
14. Push The Sky Away
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15. We Real Cool
16. Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
17. Give Us A Kiss
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 9.5 / 10
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