04-10-2013, 07:34 PM
For those unfamiliar, Nick Cave was a member of an art-punk group "The Birthday Party". I never really cared for them; too noisy and un-melodic.
Nick Cave's post "The Birthday Party" music is closer to malevolent Southern blues than traditional rock 'n' roll. His primary instrument is the grand piano and his songs tell stories a la Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Picture Johnny Cash meets Peter Murphy.
I hadn't been to the Bill Graham Civic in quite a while. The last shows I remeber are The Grateful Dead and Echo and the Bunnymen (different nights of course). I almost expected a burned out, post apocalyptic building run by bikers and Tina Turner. It was actually pretty nice, except the whiskey at the bar was either Ancient Age or Jack Daniels.
Nick Cave dressed like a preacher in a black suit and black wide-brimmed hat. He eventually removes the suit and becomes a "Grapes of Wrath" working man in cotton shirt and pants. He didn't play the piano much, which is fine because he was busy being possessed by the Holy Spirit and spreading the word of chaos and damnation.
He opened with a few songs from his new album. I hadn't heard the new stuff yet but was blown away. "We Know Who U R" and "Higgs Boson Blues" were powerful ballads that promised terrible consequences for unspecified offenses. He then launched a career spanning repetoire including "Red Right Hand", "The Mercy Seat", "The Weeping Song", "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" and "The Ship Song". His encore included the new "Push the Sky Away" which was truly stunning. BTW I just checked and the Amazon review of the new album is 4.5 stars, I need to pick this up.
All in all it was a mesmerizing show. My only complaint was that the merch stand did not have vinyl copies of the new album. I like the larger vinyl artwork and usually a digital download is included. His opener (I don't recall her name - very good though) had three versions of her album on vinyl.
The sound was jet-engine loud but better than many Bay Area venues.
Nick Cave's post "The Birthday Party" music is closer to malevolent Southern blues than traditional rock 'n' roll. His primary instrument is the grand piano and his songs tell stories a la Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Picture Johnny Cash meets Peter Murphy.
I hadn't been to the Bill Graham Civic in quite a while. The last shows I remeber are The Grateful Dead and Echo and the Bunnymen (different nights of course). I almost expected a burned out, post apocalyptic building run by bikers and Tina Turner. It was actually pretty nice, except the whiskey at the bar was either Ancient Age or Jack Daniels.
Nick Cave dressed like a preacher in a black suit and black wide-brimmed hat. He eventually removes the suit and becomes a "Grapes of Wrath" working man in cotton shirt and pants. He didn't play the piano much, which is fine because he was busy being possessed by the Holy Spirit and spreading the word of chaos and damnation.
He opened with a few songs from his new album. I hadn't heard the new stuff yet but was blown away. "We Know Who U R" and "Higgs Boson Blues" were powerful ballads that promised terrible consequences for unspecified offenses. He then launched a career spanning repetoire including "Red Right Hand", "The Mercy Seat", "The Weeping Song", "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" and "The Ship Song". His encore included the new "Push the Sky Away" which was truly stunning. BTW I just checked and the Amazon review of the new album is 4.5 stars, I need to pick this up.
All in all it was a mesmerizing show. My only complaint was that the merch stand did not have vinyl copies of the new album. I like the larger vinyl artwork and usually a digital download is included. His opener (I don't recall her name - very good though) had three versions of her album on vinyl.
The sound was jet-engine loud but better than many Bay Area venues.
![[Image: magpie13.gif]](http://imagegen.last.fm/LastfmLiveJournal/recenttracks/magpie13.gif)