Just got home from seeing Nick Cave live for the first time tonight at the ACL taping after having listened to his records for 32 or 33 years now. Ive never been a slavish fan but admire his longevity and output. As far as modern recording artists go hes in a pretty elite class that to my mind only includes Tom Waits. Dude can twist some words and like Waits has an unconventional and unique voice that you either love or hate. The material is always dense and well conceived and would come off as pretentious in just about anyone elses hands. I realize the set was tailored for the TV show taping. The sound and lights were great. The Bad Seeds were hyper-dynamic. Nick Cave is a consummate performer and was in fairly complete control. I did enjoy it...BUT...it seemed he was never really in the moment. Im not suggesting that he was punching the clock by any stretch of the imagination, but, that maybe it was more Broadway than rocknroll in some respects. For all the singing about passion, the devil, desire and lust, etc. it felt somewhat passionless and maybe a little too flawless. I guess I wanted to see a little Jerry Lee drunkenly forgetting a verse, Jeffrey Lee nodding out the second half of the set or Little Richards wig going askew and other than a few exchanges with the audience it lacked that certain something to give it a more genuine feel. But the price was right (thank you Nanette Labastida) and Id go see him again...with Grinderman.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 05:59:13 +0000
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