Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Sydney Opera House
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Sydney Opera House
February 26 & 27, 2013
- Last week I took in the first two of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds three shows at the Opera House. Two great nights. Both nights featured sixteen members (all strings) of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as well as a children’s choir from Annandale along with their two adult chaperones.
- These were two spectacular shows…but not perfect ones (what show ever is?). So let’s start with a couple negatives and move on to the many positives.
- Negative 1: I love Push The Sky Away. I think it’s fantastic record. But in a live setting I was a bit disappointed with the use of the loops. I have no problem with loops being used generally so I’m actually wondering why it bothered me so much with the Bad Seeds and I think I’ve realized it was because it WAS the Bad Seeds. The first two songs each night featured 37 people on stage (most songs did, actually) yet Conway Savage and Ed Kuepper didn’t touch their instruments until the third song. When you have that talent on stage it seems such a waste when a sampled loop fills the room.
- Negative 2: This was more of a problem on the first night and again it was the new songs. At times Cave was entirely too dependent on his lyric sheets. I’ve always hated it when lead singers need to read their own lyrics from a sheet but others I’ve seen do it did it with flair and it never impacted their singing of the songs (looking at you, Mr. Michael Stipe). Nick Cave, however, really battled at times on one or two songs where he pretty much lost the melody as he looked down at the lyrics.
- Jubilee Street and Higgs Boson Blues, the two standout tracks from the record and the ones with the most words…Cave didn’t look at the lyric sheets once. And they killed live. Jubilee Street was especially memorable. Playing the album in order each night meant it came very early in the evening when it should be wrapping up sets. It’s just incredible live (the sixteen members of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the children’s choir certainly helped as well).
- The children’s choir were great. They hung around each night until The Ship Song finished and then headed home to bed. They didn’t sing on every song but when they did it was pretty special. O Children, Push The Sky Away, and the aforementioned Jubilee Street utilized their little voices the best.
- The string sections highlights were a little different. Both nights featured Warren Ellis conducting them like a complete mad man during From Her To Eternity and that is not a sight I will forget any time soon. They also brought tremendous grace to Love Letter, one of my favourite Nick Cave ballads. Watch Warren go nuts with the strings below…
- Warren Ellis was just a joy to watch all night (both nights) really.
- Barry Adamson!
- Cave was chatty both nights, both nights swearing in front of the kids and then apologizing. The best banter came early on in the second night when he commented that the front row were a lot younger than on night one. He said night one felt like a Leonard Cohen show.
- I think my favourite moment happened on the first night. Before Deanna was played, Warren Ellis was having equipment problems. Stalling for time, Cave chatted a bit before being convinced to head to the piano for an impromptu version of God Is In The House. I always love unscripted moments in an otherwise pretty scripted show and this was no different. I don’t think Cave got all the verses in but the band slowly joining in as they remembered the chords was a total joy.
- Jack The Ripper was really loud.
- Both nights ended with Stagger Lee because, really, what can you play after that? The way Cave embodies that character is both incredibly engaging and incredibly frightening. The man knows how to command a room.
- I found it odd that the lighting was very different each night (most notably on Jubilee Street). Perhaps related: it looked like the second night was professionally filmed.
- Round 3 Saturday night at the Enmore Theatre. Hoping for a somewhat different show…
Setlist February 26, 2013
We No Who U R
Wide Lovely Eyes
Water’s Edge
Jubilee Street
Mermaids
We Real Cool
Finishing Jubilee Street
Higgs Boson Blues
Push The Sky Away
From Her To Eternity
Red Right Hand
O Children
The Ship Song
Jack The Ripper
God Is In The House
Deanna
Your Funeral My Trial
Love Letter
The Mercy Seat
——
Stagger Lee
Setlist February 27, 2013
We No Who U R
Wide Lovely Eyes
Water’s Edge
Jubilee Street
Mermaids
We Real Cool
Finishing Jubilee Street
Higgs Boson Blues
Push The Sky Away
From Her To Eternity
Red Right Hand
O Children
The Ship Song
Jack The Ripper
Deanna
Love Letter
The Mercy Seat
——
Stagger Lee
