I was wrong, okay? There, I've said it and it's out in the open. It was 1990, The Good Son
had been released and I couldn't stand it. My colleagues at Our Price however were big fans of Mr Cave and it seemed to be on constantly in the shop (looking back it probably got played twice at the most).That same year I had what I then considered the misfortune to see him at Reading Festival. We only went along to see Jane's Addiction; one of our party lost his ticket inbetween the first gate and the main entrance, went back and bought another and only then found out that Perry and the boys had cancelled (their replacement on the bill? Gary Clail and the On-U Sound System. I mean, I ask you ...).
The initial turning point was Murder Ballads, but it was on seeing
Nick Cave performing on various TV shows on the release of Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
that the full volte face was performed. I even went to see him live (but then again it only meant going as far as Alexandra Palace, approximately 20 minutes walk fromw here I lived at the time).This morning the excellent Cannibal's Hymn
popped up on my MP3 player just as I was arriving at work (after a journey made to the backing track of Art Bergmann - more on him another time) and the urge to confess was too great to ignore.
1 comment:
I saw Cave and the boys around, oh, 2002, I think. It was the No More Shall We Part tour. He rarely played Texas, had cancelled his Austin gig in Sept. due to 9/11 and had added it back in at the end of his U.S. tour.
I figured he'd be tired at best, indifferent at worst (his antipathy towards playing the States is well-known), but I figured even if he just went through the motions, I'd've finally at least seen him in action.
As it turns out, he didn't just phone it in. I don't know if I've ever seen such an intense perfomer. He threw himself into each character in his songs, sang great, the Seeds were amazing...it was one of the highlights of my concert-going life.
I love some of his records more than others, but when he and the Seeds are on, no one can touch them. I'm curious to see where he goes now that there's not a single original Bad Seed left in the lineup.
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