no, i am not really sure, look you see. exactly how, after not doing such (or so) for a number of years, i ended up at two (2) gigs (concerts) within 4 (four) days is, or was, a trifle unexpected. perhaps it was just how the dates fell, or me embracing some quasi "mid-life crisis" (no way do i have as many years left that equals those past). maybe it's just me getting on with things, with my new life in exile and grabbing what i can after the time of the invisible war against the new plague took such away from all. doesn't really matter, i suppose, it just now is.
so, after a very much unexpected trip to go and see the Manic Street Preachers once more (details here), just a small number of days later i found myself seeing Nick Cave live. to be correct, mind, that would be Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, for it was their most recent (excellent) album Carnage what was being toured. hence, i suppose, and now that i think of it, it being called the Carnage Tour. makes sense.
as it happens, i wouldn't have gone right ahead and called myself a Nick Cave "fan". but, before you set fire to me (or similar) and that, i of course mean "proper" fan. of course i was quite aware of him, and held a very healthy appreciation of his rather incredible work. just never been as much of a fan as to have had shelf after shelf of his recordings in the collection, which may well change now.
enough of a fan, i am, i would suggest, to at the very least spend north of £40 on a concert ticket to go see him. not sure of the final figure, i do not recall, but it was ticket + "booking fee" + "admin fee" + coronavirus cancellation insurance. yes, about 50% of the four costs make some sort of realistic sense, the rest should surely be built in to one or the other, but what do i know. also, the concert, or if you will gig, just so happened to be within (reasonable) walking distance of my lodgings in my place of exile. had i not taken the chance to see Nick Cave, all of a ten minute (give or take) stroll from home, well, i do have friends around the world who would have broken restrictions and come over to punch me square in the face for such disrespect.
wasn't really sure what to expect, if i am honest. i knew enough to know it would all be so very different from the Manics, especially as the venue was and is exceptionally strict on that "this is a seated performance" stuff. a truth is that i'd had that Carnage album on as i drove around for verk, pretty much on repeat. not to make sure i was familiar, or "force" myself to like it, but because it is one hell of an intriguing, captivating, brilliant album. many forms of art, for this generation onward, is quite inevitably going to be informed or inspired by things such as "lockdown", the whole invisible war against the new plague and all which has been triggered by it. at the least, in the way i hear it, how it speaks to me, what it say, for me, Carnage is a perfect work of art touched by such times and yet feels destined to be relevant no matter how far the distance we end up away from it all.
one or two people i know, for i do have friends (highly valued), said that they knew of people what had been to see Nick Cave, and they expressed that he was amazing. i can confirm that this is, indeed, very much the case. should you have no wish to read beyond an understanding of whether a Nick Cave gig is something that is ace, yes, it absolutely f*****g is.
the one (1) warning i got was that, apparently, Mr Cave was "known" to get a bit arsey with people if it were that they just sat and filmed or took pics with their phones. so, the footage above was taken with some care. not as much video as i took of the Manics, but i assure you all of the very same poor, why even bother quality. mostly, i just wished to enjoy the performance, but of course grab a couple of clips, like the one above, which of course is of his arrival. from what i could see, no he didn't get at all arsey with anyone over phones or pics or vids, but then so far as i was paying attention most, if not all, like me were just wanting to take in what is likely an one off experience. oh, i would absolutely go see him again, but i am uncertain if the chance shall ever be present once more.
how, exactly, or generally, would i seek to describe Nick Cave, artist, here on my blog? only in the ways that i relate to his music, or see him. lyrically, i absolutely would not hesitate to utter the word poet, or even genius. he has a remarkable gift for a turn of phrase, to use words effectively. quite Bowie-esque in many respects, certainly in the use of religion, be it overt or in an allegorical way. in some parallel universe, or "multiverse" as they now call it, there is a variant of me which exists which Cave got to me first, and i devoutly followed him, then saw Bowie just as an aside. that sort of thing.
in no way, shape or form am i going to claim an expertise on the subject of the man, and i would not for a moment claim to be able to give a decent overview. some of you reading this will no doubt know more of him than i ever could, and others interested are advised to go and seek out more. so, on i go with the gig, and some comments on the album, no doubt.
above is one of the better (by comparison) clips i managed to capture, a few moments or seconds of the track which opens Carnage, the magnificent Hand Of God. what was powerful on record became extraordinary, intense and sheer genius with the in your face live performance. by this point i already knew i was lucky enough to be seeing (and hearing) something special, but cemented by this in particular, if you like. we all need milestones, i suppose.
something more or less unexpected, knowing that the content of the music was to be pretty dark, heavy and in instances bleak and being advised that he could get "a bit @rsey" with audiences, was the banter between songs. or "bantz" as i believe the kids call it these days. Warren Ellis, co-artist of Carnage, had a whale of a time teasing about playing on one leg whilst seated (i believe at some Bad Seeds concerts he did a more conventional on one leg performance), and Cave appeared to have a quite comfortable awareness of some lightness being needed around some of the songs, in particular the considerably more personal moments of Ghosteen.
during the odd quiet spell it was so that one or two braver souls in the audience shouted out the names of some Bad Seeds songs, in the hope that they would get played. i was rather pleased to be aware of knowing all the titles called out, really. one, The Mercy Seat, caused Nick to pause and answer. if by answer you understand it was "yeah, we could play that one.......but we're not gonna".
of the many highlights (and i really could not fault or point out any weak moment in the whole thing), that there above is a bit of Balcony Man. my understanding of the origins of the song is that how he came to be known by neighbours during lockdown, for he sat on his balcony, occasionally having an off the cuff conversation with people if it amused him to do so. the footage, i believe, has some of his banter, or "bantz", with the audience. all i can say for certain is that, due to a particularly niche favourite film of his what featured a gent on a balcony, Spiros found me, ostensibly a man, sat on a balcony, listening to a bloke sing about a balcony man, as being very agreeable and slightly "meta".
highlights beyond those clips? well, White Elephant was a real tour de force, if that's the correct phrase or expression. i did, as it happens, take some footage of that, but it is really poor, which is saying something considering that which i am prepared to show off here. of the better known, or "classic" material he has at his disposal, it was amazing to hear Into My Arms, and during one (of two) encore things we were fortunate enough to get Henry Lee. obviously no, PJ Harvey did not turn up to sing it, but one of the excellent trio of backing singers stood up and delivered an outstanding performance. a cover of Cosmic Dancer off of T-Rex also featured, which was boss.
for those wondering or asking, no, i did not buy any "merch" or merchandise. a bit strange, as this would have been more or less a formality for (virtually) any gig i had ever been to. sadly, or alas, they appear to (ahem) have stopped making tour shirts my size over the last 20 (or so years). to be honest, i think all money what may have gone on a shirt (and the standard price, going on Nick Cave and indeed the Manics, for a tour t-shirt appears to be £20) went instead on actual concert tickets.
yes, there was a temptation with one (1) merchandise item, a new Reni (or "bucket") hat, which had the name of the album Carnage on it, for £20. but no, i am still breaking in my one off of Bridlington, since i appear when transferring to my place of exile to have misplaced the other, much beloved one. as in the one what i saw Stone Roses in, close to (blimey) 10 (ten) years ago.
a particularly disarming moment came during one of the encore sections, i believe (but please don't hold me to that) the second. Mr Cave thanked us for "risking our lives to come to a concert". no, he did not do it all late 80s Bono or Jim Kerr self righteous pious, and nor did he do it jokingly. the best way i can describe it was as in relief that such (a concert) was possible once more, tinged with the oblique absurdity where death is all of a sudden a realistic possibility at a concert, just from breathing.
from what i recall, and i think i got this right, that footage above is Mr Cave and band walking off for the final time, as in after the second encore. would the chance permit me to see him again, i am not sure it would be taken. believe me, this was brilliant, but i suspect no opportunity will come again. if it did, i wonder, how would i take it. rather, maybe, leave this all as one rather fortunate, unexpected and brilliant moment, laced with images and sounds that i shall recall forever. easily one of the greatest gigs i have ever seen. but yet "gigs" does not seem right. this was performance art of the highest quality.
some of you may be wondering, referencing back to a bit of the above, how it all works. that's gigs, in this brave new world of the new plague, or if you will coronavirus, or covid as the popular name seems to be. well, there are indeed checks. most of us, from what i could ascertain, had this "covid passport" thing ready to display, off of the nhs "app" on phones. quick and fuss free. one or two had the card thing showing that they had been double vaccinated, but they had to show photo id to prove it was them. in a worst case, and this was at Nick Cave and the Manics, if you had nothing to show you were, as far as possible to prove, plague free, they had a section to the side where you could go do one of them things called a "lateral flow test". this gives you a quick, reasonably reliable result. no, at neither gig did i see anyone kick off about anti-vax, rights, burn 5g masts (whatever they are), etc. i suspect a rather different crowd gets attracted to the gigs what i went to.
on, then, to the next gig or gigs, depending entirely on what plans turn out. no, it is not for me, here, to comment or speculate as to who i may see next and when. but yes, i suspect there is every chance that they, too, shall get written of here, for anyone interested, even if only in passing.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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