Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA 5/1/02
Fucking brilliant show. Anyone who has heard this Australian and his ever growing international band of backers (eight guys on stage on this night) knows he’s got impeccable goth-rock credentials. His music is dark and steeped in religious imagery. He loves murder, death, pain.but he’s redeemed by love. This is a man who embodies many of the best qualities of Black Sabbath, Leonard Cohen, and the Sisters of Mercy. What one doesn’t know until Nick Cave is seen is that he has tremendous charisma and presence.
Bathed in purple light, smoking cigarettes and decked out in what appeared to be a pine green corduroy jacket, the stylish and bombastic Cave showed himself a master of theatrics and especially dynamics. Crescendo dynamics, not the Nirvana kind. On one extreme was the melancholy strings, the minor piano keys, the brushes on drums and the triangles. At the other extreme were and the thundering two guitars, a shredding violin, bass, piano, electric piano, the crashing drums and percussion, and Nick’s screams matching wailing feedback which would have made Deep Purple fans grin. From the mournful beauty of Into My Arms to the menacing bell ringing on Red Right Hand, Cave put on a clinic in pacing and juxtaposition.
When Nick asked, Do You love Me,? the answer from the sold-out Orpheum was clear, even before the four encores.
-Eric Holland