Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds @ The Warfield in San Francisco
A friend gave me Tender Prey 20 years ago for my birthday. I had never listened to Nick Cave before and overnight Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds became my number #1 rock band to follow.
Though I still go to to rock concerts (even to go see lesser bands), though not as much as back then, life is such that I had never seen Nick Cave perform live. That was until a couple of days ago in San Francisco.
Over the years, and being as obsessed as I am with this band, my passion rubbed off on my family. So much that I was not the only one excited by finally going to go see Mr Cave. Which is perfect of course. Life is good when you, your wife and your kid are excited about the same stuff.
We had tickets for the floor, as I always do just in case there’s going to be some mosh. Though many of his songs are very moshable, he’s such a special artist with such special music, that I was guessing that people would be more interested in absorbing his stuff as much as possible, as opposed to absorbing other people’s fists on their noses. Either that or the majority of his followers are middle age men like me, who lost their smelly teen spirit and are not going to get caught in a mosh. Losers.
Anyway, no moshing this time and like Fabienne said “you don’t go to opera to slam dance, you go to watch the show”. Wow. Seeing Nick Cave has the same gravitas as going to the opera. I like that.
In fact, I was a little worried that Nick Cave, after all these years and with nothing to prove, would either be tired of performing and just stand there and sing, or act like a diva. Boy was I wrong. So much energy, so much playing with the crowd, so much humor.
Yeah, it was a beautiful show. Great music, great performance, great set, no special effects. After the man himself, it was hard to take my eyes off Warren Ellis (not that one, this one). The man does all sorts of crazy things with his violins and his mini guitars.
The Hard Rock Chick has a nice post about the gig, and Blah Blah Blog has some nice pictures. My pictures aren’t as nice, but they are mine.
One of 1,000 Best Nick Cave songs:
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Special announcement:
In a couple of weeks my other favorite band :p Gogol Bordello will be in the city again and I want to see them again. My passion for GB hasn’t rubbed off on the family yet, and I think I will have to work very hard to convince them. In fact I don’t think I can convince them. I’m looking for someone to join me. It’s for a good cause and moshing is almost guaranteed!
