Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live at the Glasgow Academy
Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsMy exposure to the music of Nick Cave has been neither long standing nor entirely satisfactory. An early aural assault dealt out by his 1984 debut offering with the Bad Seeds From Her To Eternity did not sit well alongside the rest of my musical inclinations at the time. That record could well be described as "challenging" and after hearing it I promptly forgot all about Cave and his Bad Seeds.

I was forcibly acquainted with the 1996 Murder Ballads CD through it being played regularly at the company where I worked at the time and I gradually gained a grudging respect for what Cave and co. offered there. Recently I have grown to rather like The Boatman's Call (1997) and No More Shall We Part (2001) and so it was with a degree of excitement that I boarded the train to Glasgow on the way to seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds perform at the Carling Academy yesterday.

Support was provided by ex-Seed Barry Adamson and his brand of jazzy lounge funk and dub soul washed over the growing number of expectant Bad Seeds fans filling the hall. I get the feeling his music would be better appreciated on CD rather than in this live environment. It wasn't what I was expecting from the person who wrote the soundtrack for David Lynch's creepy mind bender Lost Highway.

By the time Nick Cave took to the stage the place was packed. Cave's drooping moustache combined with long slicked back hair revealing a receeding hairline lend him a vampirish look and his wiry arms stretch out to acknowledge the glasgow crowd's welcome. The set list, unsurprisingly, is heavily loaded with tracks from the newest record Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! and as a result the gig is an energetic garage rock-fest. Being more a fan of Cave as a balladeer at the piano I was to be just a little disappointed he didn't spend a bit more time sat at the keys rather than strutting around the stage with his guitar. Having said that it was still a hugely entertaining 2 hours. The encore brings out some crowd pleasers such as Deanna and Into My Arms and the fans go home happy.
Written by Kevin
Monday, 05 May 2008
 
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