Exceptionally Uncaught

Last time I saw Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was when they played Canberra in 2002. I remember thinking at the time that Cave looked amazingly good for someone who done that much drugs and was pushing 50. Like David Bowie, he seemed to have come through it all pretty much untouched. When the Cave and the rest of the Seeds took the stage, I thought "wow, he's looking older". Thinking back, it was probably a combination of the lighting, and the fact that he is three years older.

All that was quickly forgotten as the band exploded into song. They opened with Abattior Blues, with Cave dancing around the stage and leaning in close to random people in the crowd. The majority of the songs were off the Lyre of Orpheus/Abattior Blues, with a couple of the more classic songs. There was nothing from Nocturma, but I kind of expected that - I heard somewhere that the Seeds weren't going to tour that album, so I guess that means not playing it live. Not that it was a bad thing - the two new albums are fantastic live. Hearing a couple of the songs I didn't really like played live has really changed my opinion of them, that's how good the performance was. There She Goes My Beautiful World was brilliant, and I was really please to hear Supernaturally live. I was a bit sad I didn't get to hear Nature Boy live, but two out of three was pretty good.

I was a bit disappointed with a couple of the older songs they played. The Mercy Seat was still awesome, but I remember the Canberra performance building up better and just sounding huger. The Weeping Song seemed a little lackluster. But I guess it's all relative - a performance like that from someone else would have still be pretty awesome.

I think the concert in Canberra was better, but this was still a fantastic show.