I saw Nick Cave last night in Atlanta, on his solo tour. (He did have a bassist accompanying him on some tracks, but it was mostly him and a piano.) It was amazing and wonderful. I’d always wanted to see him live, but never had the chance before.
The thing that surprised me: he was funny. He joked around with the audience, mocked hecklers, and talked to us between songs. He told the stories behind some of the songs as well.
He did a few old favorites — “The Mercy Seat”, “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” — plus lots of the newer pieces. There were two from his former bands: “Shivers” from The Boys Next Door, and “Stranger Than Kindness” from The Birthday Party. He covered T-rex’s “Cosmic Dancer” as well.
He did a song I’ve always liked, “Jesus of the Moon” from Dig Lazurus Dig. It struck me that it’s a pretty queer song. He’s singing to someone sleeping in his hotel bed that seems Christlike. Doubtful it’s a lady.
There were two songs that upset me a bit: “Higgs-Boson Blues” refers to pygmies as “savages”, and he left the word “f*g” in “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry.” It’s a little hard to forgive him those things. But overall the concert was enjoyable. Even on the songs I didn’t care for, his piano playing was incredible and his voice was as good as ever.
I may add some thoughts to this post later. But for now, here are the pictures I took. They’re not great, because the lighting made it difficult to photograph him, but at least I can look at them and remember a good show.
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