Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds paid tribute to the late Anita Lane and honoured their former home as the âWild Godâ tour rolled into Berlin last night (Sunday September 29). Check out photos, footage, the setlist and more below.
READ MORE: Nick Cave interviewed: âThereâs no metric that says virtuousness makes good artâAhead of their upcoming UK arena dates, the band are currently fresh at the top of their scheduled European tour in support of the acclaimed 18th album âWild Godâ.
The band kicked off with a euphoric rendition of album highlight and Caveâs favourite new track âFrogsâ that saw the fans respond in kind to the frontmanâs call of âjumping for joyâ. As he got up close and personal, Cave took the first of many opportunities to thank the city he once called home in the early â80s during his more hedonistic days â before introducing a rapturous delivery of âWild Godâ. The album title track was received like an old favourite; particularly the almighty climax of Cave bellowing âbring your spirit downâ.
âThank you, fucking Berlin,â said Cave after. âAlright, this is a song about â ah fuck, I don’t really know, we’ve never played this song before. It could be a disaster or a very beautiful thing, you just never know,â he went on, introducing the live debut of âSong Of The Lakeâ.
The band followed with the classic âO Childrenâ â a song which allowed the set to breathe and Cave said was about âunforgiving song about watching our children as we pursue our own goalsâ. “Are you ready?â he offered afterwards. âThis is a terrifying song with a happy ending. I lied about the second part of that. It’s a terrifying song with an even more terrifying ending. It’s called âJubilee Streetâ.”
The cut from âPush The Sky Awayâ, now a true highlight and centrepiece of a modern day Bad Seeds set, bloomed towards the climax with the crowd responding in kind as Cave shouted in the clamouring front rows of the crowd: âI’m transforming, I’m vibrating look at me now.â
Other peaks came with a feral outing of fan favourite âFrom Her To Eternityâ, before well-received âWild Godâ cuts âLong Dark Nightâ and âCinnamon Horsesâ. The latter had much more of a blockbuster Hollywood ending when played live, largely due to the passionate delivery of the bandâs backing singers and the cinematic percussion of Jim Sclavunos.
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âAlright, you ready?,â said Cave later in the set. âThis is a song about Elvis Presley. I donât know if you know him, but you should check him out,â he joked, in jovial spirits throughout the show. âElvis Presley was born in a town called Tupelo,â he offered, introducing the song of the same name which he notes was written here in Berlin. “Check it out, pay attention.”
The sheer intensity of the song acted like a time machine in Cave performing in the feral state as he would have back in the bandâs wilder â80s days.
âWild Godâ tracks enriched the latter part of the set, particularly âConversionâ, which saw a masterful call-and-response sing-along as the screen flashed the lyrics âYOUâRE BEAUTIFULâ and âSTOPâ in the albumâs aesthetic â with the crowd reaction suggesting that it could become a future latter day era set centre-piece like âJubilee Streetâ. Meanwhile, the emotional intensity of âJoyâ and âI Need Youâ saw them with the same weight as the likes of âTupeloâ, âRed Right Handâ and âThe Mercy Seatâ.
“Do you know who Anita Lane is?â Cave asked, paying tribute to his late partner and former Bad Seeds and Birthday Party bandmate, who passed away in 2021. Noting how she also lived in Berlin, he hailed her a âdeeply inspiring characterâ and âa bright flame that all of us dark drug addicted characters would circle around.â He then dedicated âO Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)â to her, the âWild Godâ tracked penned in her memory, with footage of the artist playing as an answering machine message from Lane played over the top.
The band also gave the title track and âWhite Elephantâ from Cave and Warren Ellisâ âCarnage‘ the full Bad Seeds treatment, along with a fevered performance of Grindermanâs âThe Palaces Of Montezumaâ in the first encore. Fans after the show spoke of their desire to see side-project Grinderman return, and Ellis has revealed that itâs not out of the question.
âIâd never say never!,â he told NME earlier this month. âBut we better bloody get on with it. The average age of us is about 100 now. Look, it constantly runs around and comes up in conversation every once in a while.
âThere seems to be much more love for Grinderman now than when we were around! I wouldnât be against it; it was so enjoyable. Weâve got to get this record out of the way, then maybe when weâre 80? Maybe we could double up with Oasis and maybe they could support us? Maybe Oasis can support Grinderman if we reform when weâre 80!â
The second encore came with heartfelt performance of âInto My Armsâ performed by just Cave on piano before a closing âAs The Water Covers The Seaâ and a surprise finale of âThe Weeping Songâ with maximum crowd participation and thanks and applause for the full band â including Radioheadâs Colin Greenwood on bass duties in the absence of Martyn Casey.
âItâs an awesome group of people to play music with,â Greenwood told NME ahead of the show. âTheyâre brilliant and with ferociously loud drummers; what a team. For me, itâs a really fun thing to do because itâs not Radiohead. There are a lot of different colours in the music, so Iâm having a blast.”
Having previously performed with Cave live on his recent solo tours as well as several dates of the âCarnageâ tour with Warren Ellis, Greenwood also contributed parts to the bandâs new album, âWild Godâ, too.
“Heâs such a great story-teller, and I really love his piano-playing,” Greenwood said of Cave. “When I took the rough recordings from the new album home to listen to and heard his voice fill up my front room, I thought, âWhat a voice! Heâs got the lot!ââ
âI knew his music of course, but I didnât know it super-well. I knew âLet Love Inâ and really liked that record, as well as the previous records âPush The Sky Awayâ and âSkeleton Treeâ, Being lucky enough to watch him work and write with Warren has been a true privilege.â
Greenwood praised the Bad Seeds music for their power and dealing in “euphoric intensity”.
“The music so powerful, passionate, emotional, involving and entrancing,” he added. “I saw Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds for the first time in 2017 in Antwerp. I just watched Nick hold that audience in the palm of his hand; there was this ornate soulfulness to it that I adored. To be a small part of that amazing story is an enormous honour and privilege for me.”
Asked about stepping up to the task of dressing as sharply as the Bad Seeds, Greenwood replied: “Well, when I did the piano tour with Nick, he asked me over for lunch to talk about it. He said, ‘Now Colin, you can wear whatever you want on stage â but I’m going to wear a suit and I think we’d look good if we both wore suits!
“I’d never worn before on stage. I’m always a double-denim dad on stage. I’ve worn the same thing in Radiohead for 25 years, which I’m very proud of, so he’s pulled my act together and made me look more sartorial!”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seedsâ Berlin setlist was:‘Frogs’
‘Wild God’
‘Song of the Lake’ (live debut)
‘O Children’
‘Jubilee Street’
‘From Her to Eternity’
‘Long Dark Night’
‘Cinnamon Horses’
‘Tupelo’
‘Conversion’
‘Bright Horses’
‘Joy’
‘I Need You’
‘Carnage’ (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis cover)
‘O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)’
‘Final Rescue Attempt’
‘Red Right Hand’
‘The Mercy Seat’
‘White Elephant’ (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis cover)
Encore:
‘Palaces of Montezuma’ (Grinderman cover)
‘Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry’
Encore two:
‘Into My Arms’
‘As the Waters Cover the Sea’
‘The Weeping Song’
‘Wild God’ is out now. Nick Cave & The Bad Seedsâ âWild Godâ tour continues throughout Europe before arriving in the UK and Ireland in November. You can buy tickets here (UK and Ireland) and here (Europe).
Meanwhile, Greenwood is set to publish How To Disappear â new photo book that documents the bassistâs life with Radiohead. How To Disappear is set for release on October 15 via John Murray Press worldwide and distributed in North America by Mobius Books. Visit here to pre-order.
In a four-star review of ‘Wild God’, NME concluded: “Bad Seeds records are infamously loaded with gothic doom and gloom. Of course, this ainât a poptastic LOLfest, and still coloured with the many shades of a life so challenging and weathered. But never has Cave been so freewheelinâ than on the giddy âFrogsâ, ‘Jumping for love and the opening sky above’ as ‘Kris Kristofferson walks by kicking a can in a shirt he hasnât washed for years’. With a lust for life, the once-dark prince is letting the light in.”
The post Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show appeared first on NME.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds honour Anita Lane and cover Grinderman at emotional Berlin show
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