Quick review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I absolutely know how ridiculous it is to review this now. But once I have saved a draft I feel the obligation to finish it. 

We got lucky and were invited to the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album promo show at Admiralspalast and, needless to say, we did not say no. Why would we? 

The evening began with the showing for a short documentary that had been made about the making of the album. Not only was the documentary really well made and truly let you feel the atmosphere of the recording process, it was also a very nice touch to obscure the stage and show the film before the gig as it rose tension and put people at ease all at once. We reclined in our seats, watched the magic on screen and were excited for what Mr. Cave would have to offer.

With him were the Bad Seeds, naturally, plus a classical string section and a small children's choir. In all, there were 15 people on stage at times. They went straight into it and although there was some talking and crowd interaction here and there, the group did not need lengthy breaks as you sometimes get with those that have been in the business for a long time. No, they played one song after the other and all I can say about that was that it was magic. The new songs are fantastic yet again, the old ones mesmerise us over and again, the performance was sterling, the childrens choir worked real well. It was all very artistic but not at all prentious. A feast for all senses if I may sound like a spa advert here for a second.

There is nothing that has not been said about Mr. Cave already and all of it is true. He is one of the few musical geniuses of current times, he is so sexy you want to eat him, and he has a persona that intrigues you over and again. To see him perform in such a relatively intimate atmosphere is a treasure I will keep for a long time to come.

© Robin Eisenberg