It may be the day after Hallowe’en, but for fans of auld Nick Cave, All Saints’ Day is still an apt time to catch the Gothfather in live action.
The venue – Edinburgh’s imposing Usher Hall – is usually host to a more formal, sit-down affair, but with the ground floor seats removed, an evening of rock ‘n’ roll action similar to that at Glasgow’s Barrowland the previous night may well be on the cards.
As the Bad Seeds take to the stage, there’s an eerie sense of anticipation in the crowd, as if the majority are experiencing an evening with Mr Cave for the first time. So, the half light and dry ice lend to a slightly surreal atmosphere as the band launch into ‘We Know Who U R’, the opener to the band’s current album burning smokily before erupting into the first of many climactic moments.
Calendar-based mythologies aside, it’s a good time to catch the Bad Seeds. With album Push The Sky Away in the bag and lodged handily in the subconscious, its tunes mix nicely with a selection from the band’s back catalogue. There’s also an epic ‘Jubilee Street’, in which, with twin drum kits employed, a full-on wigout stands up alongside anything the band have recorded over their 20 year history.
‘Mermaids’ conversely brings calm to the proceedings – ringing with choral backing from the Bad Seeds it provides light and shade in the glaur. It also contrasts nicely wth the stark guitar and traditional arrangements of older material, like a barnstorming ‘Tupelo’, or the piano-based section of the set where delicate takes on ‘God Is In The House’, ‘He Wants You’, and ‘Into My Arms’ provide what might be seen as an opportunity for a wee breather.
However, as always with Cave, there’s a decided work ethic to a hyper-energetic set – the band are clad in suits, but soon Cave is down to a shirt either of black satin or slick with sweat, as he prowls the stage like a praying mantis, dispensing his poetry like some hellfire preacher, or a vampire Elvis, hips gyrating as he exhorts maximum effort from his cohorts.
It’s enough to make the ladies present swoon, the guys offer up undying devotion, and the reviewers go into cliche overdrive. Cave himself, as per his trademark persona, engages little verbally with the crowd, save for telling a heckler to “fuck off” and more often than not failing to comprehend the local accent. Physically he’s more tactile and more playful – stalking the front rows from the stage he offers a hand before abruptly withdrawing it – he’d make a dreadful lifeguard – and in the strangest of serenades, sings eyeball-to-eyeball with one lucky (?) fan before, on ‘Red Red Hand’, allowing front row revelers to check his pale white chest for any signs of a heartbeat.
We get a pleasant surprise in the Anita Lane-pened ‘Hiding All Away’ which precedes an intense double whammy of ‘The Mercy Seat’ and ‘Stagger Lee’, before a brooding ‘Push The Sky Away’ brings an epic set to a close.
We’re two hours in, but encores are delivered – ‘We Real Cool’ and a savage ‘Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry’ before a request for ‘Deanna’ is granted (I suspect a plant in the audience), swiftly followed by another crowdpleaser in ‘Breathless’.
However, and contrary as ever, the final tune – ‘Give Us A Kiss’ – is “new, difficult and idosyncratic”. It’s also icy-cool and has the hallmarks of another Cave classic. And after over two hours of energy, emotion and sheer class expended he can surely be forgiven some indulgence.