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Archive for the ‘Nick Cave’ Category

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 26, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Philadelphia, PA, The Met Philadelphia on April 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT AnicTTEND: April 26, 2025] Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I saw Nick Cave back in 2017 and it was a great show an a terrible show at the same time.  Nick was great but the crowd around me was so annoying.  And a lot of things went wrong that kept me from getting there at a reasonable hour, so I was really far back.  Blah Blah Blah.

I don’t really like Nick’s newest, mellow, sad album.  I hadn’t even listened to this new one.   And since this was the tour for this album, I didn’t really plan to get tickets.  I did look at them when they were announced and they were really expensive.  So I didn’t even bother getting a ticket.

Looks like he did play songs I wanted to hear and I’m sure the crowd would have been better behaved.  But it’s totally fine that I didn’t go.

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Gogol Bordello / Amigo the Devil (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, May 6, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Amigo the Devil, Gogol Bordello, Jersey City, NJ, Kim Gordon, Nick Cave, White Eagle Hall on May 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 6, 2022] Gogol Bordello / Amigo the Devil

I have seen Gogol Bordello twice.  The first time I had so much fun I couldn’t wait to see them again.  My recollection of the second time I saw them (this time in Philly), was that I got pushed so far back by the pit that I didn’t really enjoy myself.  But my write up of that show is all positive, so maybe I’m misremembering.

They were so much fun that I would like to see them again.  And this show was showing huge support for Ukraine.  So I was bummed to miss it, but  I’d already had tickets to a show (Destroyer) and wound up going to a different show (Pup).

We’ll see where they play next time around (they are always touring).

Amigo the Devil is Danny Kiranos an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and banjo player. His music is influenced by American folk, country, rock, and heavy metal, with themes of murder, death, and other dark subject matters which has led to his music being called “Dark Folk” or “Murderfolk”.  He is the son of a Greek father and a Spanish mother, and was influenced by the traditional music of both cultures.

I listened to a few of his songs.  They are very banjo heavy and I expected not to like it (especially since the lyrics are so dark) but i found myself quite entranced by him.  Perhaps he is the American version of Nick Cave.

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The Avett Brothers (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2021) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Avett Brothers on September 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 21, 2021] The Avett Brothers [rescheduled from September 24, 2020 and June 9, 2021]

I enjoyed them last time I saw them, but the crowd was terrible,  Nevertheless, it would take a lot to get me to go to The Mann Center to see them–it’s just too inconvenient for me.

Maybe some other tour.

~~~~~~~~

I saw The Avett Brothers a couple of years ago in Bethlehem. I’d always heard that they were fun live and yes they were.  But oh man, was I in a bad place.  I was far back and behind a wall of people who just didn’t seem to want to let me look between their giant heads. (more…)

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The Avett Brothers (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, June 9, 2021) [rescheduled date, rescheduled again]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Avett Brothers on June 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: June 9, 2021] The Avett Brothers [rescheduled from September 24, 2020; moved to September 21, 2021]

indexI saw The Avett Brothers a couple of years ago in Bethlehem. I’d always heard that they were fun live and yes they were.  But oh man, was I in a bad place.  I was far back and behind a wall of people who just didn’t seem to want to let me look between their giant heads.

I’ve had a few disappointing concerts, but this one was hugely disappointing because of that.  I thought I’d like to see them again as long as they keep releasing rocking anthemic songs.

It’s possible I’d only heard about this show after it had been postponed.  I’m not sure I would have gone all the way to The Mann for The Avett Brothers (especially since I was going to be there the night before for Nick Cave).  I was hoping that the postponed date would mean they’d play a show closer to me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  But we’ll see.

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The Avett Brothers (The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 24, 2020) [POSTPONED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, The Avett Brothers on September 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: September 24, 2020] The Avett Brothers [moved to June 9, 2021]

indexI saw The Avett Brothers a couple of years ago in Bethlehem. I’d always heard that they were fun live and yes they were.  But oh man, was I in a bad place.  I was far back and behind a wall of people who just didn’t seem to want to let me look between their giant heads.

I’ve had a few disappointing concerts, but this one was hugely disappointing because of that.  I thought I’d like to see them again as long as they keep releasing rocking anthemic songs.

It’s possible I’d only heard about this show after it had been postponed.  I’m not sure I would have gone all the way to The Mann for The Avett Brothers (especially since I was going to be there the night before for Nick Cave).  I was hoping that the postponed date would mean they’d play a show closer to me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  But we’ll see.

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Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds / Weyes Blood (Skyline Stage at The Mann Center for Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2020) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Coronavirus, Deftones, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Weyes Blood on September 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: September 23, 2020] Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds / Weyes Blood

indexNick Cave is now forever associated with disasters for me.  I was supposed to see him in 2001 about a week after 9/11 but he cancelled that tour.  Now, I had a ticket to see him and Coronavirus made him cancel this tour as well.

At least I got to see him once in the interim.  The show was amazing, but the venue was terrible–crowded, packed, people singing every word loudly in my ear and I couldn’t get anywhere near him.  I thought I’d really like to see him one more time and this seemed like a good opportunity.

I don’t love going to The Mann Center because it’s so far for me.  But they do tend to have great acts.  Plus, this one was going to be at The Skyline Stage which I’d never been to before (it’s general admission, a smaller stage).

The Mann Center wound up cancelling all of their shows this summer, but I see that Nick cancelled his whole tour.  I do hope he decides to come back (and play a venue closer to me).

Weyes Blood is a quiet band.  Nataile Mering is the main force behind the band and she sings beautiful, delicate music.  I’m not sure how this would translate in an open air venue, but I was very curious to find out.  I hope they team up next time as well.

 

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Nick Hornby–“Pop Quiz: What does the new Top Ten list mean?” (New Yorker, August 20 & 27, 2001)

Posted in Alanis Morissette, Bizarre, Blink 182, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, CSN&Y, D12, Essays, Linkin Park, Lucinda Williams, Marvin Gaye, New Yorker, Nick Cave, Nick Hornby, Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, Wilco on September 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: D12-“Bizarre” (2001).

Hornby said that this track, a skit on the D12 album, was “I think the single most dispiriting moment of my professional life so far this millennium.”  Which meant I had to see what was so horrible.

I didn’t want to listen to the whole D12 album because I basically agree with his sentiments, I just think he;s way over the top into curmudgeonland.

So this skit starts with guys talking about hos and general sex ideas.  Then a guy introduces Bizarre (one of the D12) to Cindy.  She asks about Eminem (which is pretty funny) and he says he doesn’t know who that is.  He starts hitting on her and then farts very loudly.  When she protests, “the fuck you didn’t” he says, “Girl chill out, that shit came from my soul.” Which also made me chuckle.

Then he farts loudly again and asks for a kiss.  And that’s pretty much it.

It’s juvenile and light-hearted (which is probably necessary given how dark and misogynistic the rest of the album seems).  But I can’t imagine anyone wanting to hear it more than once if you were actually listening to the album.

Nevertheless, you have to be a real curmudgeon to not enjoy humor in music.  And, given his reaction to Blink 182, I’m guessing Hornby likes his bands to be Sophisticated, only.

[READ: September 10, 2020] “Pop Quiz”

I have enjoyed recent essays by Hornby in which he jokes about being a curmudgeon.  But boy was he ever a real musical curmudgeon in 2001.

He says that back in July 1971, the top ten list included Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones, Whats Going On by Marvin Gaye, a live album by CSN&Y and Aretha Franklin Live at the Fillmore East.  He says even the most curmudgeonly critics probably gushed over this list.  [Let’s gloss over the fact that there were a lot fewer albums released back in 1971 and that record sales were pretty well determined by radio airplay etc–so you had a pretty set idea of what would be popular].

But now there are many different top ten lists, probably because most critics don’t like what’s on the actual top ten list.  Many of those critics from 1971 are still critics today.

He says there is literary, critically approved pop–Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Nick Cave–none of whom trouble the Billboard statisticians much.

But he was unfamiliar with most of the people on the top ten on July 28, 2001.  So he decided to listen to them all (more…)

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Nick Hornby–“Sweet Misery” (New Yorker, May 28, 2001)

Posted in Anna McGarrigle, Essays, Kate McGarrigle, New Yorker, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party on September 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

may2801SOUNDTRACK: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS-“As I Sat Sadly By Her Side” (2001).

caveNick Hornby reviewed Cave’s album No More Shall We Part in may of 2001.  I had listened to the album a lot back then but hadn’t in a while.  I found that I enjoyed it just as much now as I did back then.  although I feel it suffers a bit from excess.  At 52 minutes, there’s a song or two too many.

But I was dismayed at the way Hornby dismissed this opening song.

“As i Sadly Sadly By Her Side” is a storytelling song with a repeated refrain.  While it is true that there is no chorus, there is certainly a catchy repeated moment.

The song starts with a terrific slow bass line.  It is staggered and smooth at the same time.  A pretty piano melody sprinkles through as he sings.

There is drama in the song and it slow grows more intense as the strings are added in.  Intense is a relative word to be sure, as the intensity goes from maybe 2 to 4 out of ten, but even that small increase does provide drama.

It is an intensely personal moment between two people–unlike just about any other song I’ve heard.

[READ: September 20, 2019] “Sweet Misery”

This essay is subtitled “The mellowing of Nick Cave.”  This was written in 2001.  Imagine what it would be called if it was written today.

The mellowing refers to his then new album No More Shall We Part which Hornby says is “in patches, so transcendentally beautiful that one can be forgiven a small spasm of impatience: if he had this in him, why did he waste all of those years shouting at people?”

Hornby begins by talking about the ubiquity of pop music in 2001.  How when he was fifteen it was hard to hear the music he liked.  But now (in 2001), if you’re fifteen you can hear it figuratively anywhere.  [In 2019, it is literally anywhere].

Cave’s records with The Birthday Party (in the later 1970s) were “a punk-inspired and self-consciously apocalyptic noise whose main purpose, apparently, was to terrify the audience into submission.” (more…)

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Terry Moore–Strangers in Paradise XXV #7 (2018)

Posted in Abstract Studio, Adventure, Colombia, Death, Egyptology, End of the World, Feminism, Graphic Novel, Grinderman, Math, Murder, Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Parenting, Skottie Young, Terry Moore, The Birthday Party, The Flaming Lips, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends, Unfinished series, Violence on August 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS AND HEADY FWENDS-“You Man? Human???” (2012).

2012 saw the release of this very strange collaborative album.  Whether The Flaming Lips had entered the mainstream or if people who’d always liked them were now big stars or maybe they all just liked doing acid.  Whatever the case, The Lips worked with a vast array of famous (and less famous) people for this bizarre album.  Here it is 8 years later. Time to check in.

Nick Cave’s most recent music has been quiet pretty and tender.  It’s easy to forget that he has often been a wild man of Australian punk.  His Grinderman albums emphasized that noisy history of his and this song seems perfect for Cave.

In fact, this track seems like a song he could have released with the Birthday Party forty years ago. It’s abrasive and kind of rambling–although with more modern production and sounds. It also has a slow pummeling bass notes with lots of chaotic drumming.

Unlike most of the songs on the record which have falsetto vocals, Cave’s deep voice really stands out.  He is reciting a fairly crazy story of pools and chlorine and how you can touch him if you want.

Quintessential Cave mixed with a few Lips.

[READ: August 1, 2019] Strangers in Paradise XXV #7

Katchoo was falling off a cliff.  In the wide shot we see there is water down below (and a small boat).

She lands in the water and rockets down pretty far (some creepy eels greet her before she takes off back up to the surface).

The man on the boat tries to fend her off with a long pike, but he’s no match for Katchoo who avoids the gun shots until the boat takes off.

Back home, we see Francine and her (cool) Aunt Libby in some relative domestic happiness–Katchoo hasn’t warned her about he gunman yet.

Koo resists taking out the garbage. Francine asks, “when do you want to do it”  “Later when I grow up.”

When she puts the trash in the bin, she smells…something.  Which we see is a pile of cigarette butts and a shoe.  But she is called in before she sees what it is.

Katchoo goes to a small hotel.  There’s a man sleeping in the tub.  I’m unclear what that is meant to signify, but Katchoo leaves before he wakes up.

The book ends back home with Koo unable to sleep (she is reading I Hate Fairyland, by Skottie Young).  She heads downstairs (at 3AM) and sees a male shadow looking in their glass windows. Yipes!

Don’t mess with these cute kids, you hear me!

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Evan Dando (Monty Hall, Jersey City, NJ, October 1, 2018)

Posted in Elvis Costello, Evan Dando, Hair, Jersey City, NJ, John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Mary Lou Lord, Misfits, Monty Hall, Nick Cave, NRBQ, Rolling Stone, Smudge, The Bevis Frond, The Jayhawks, The Replacements, Townes Van Zandt, Victoria Williams, WFMU 91.9 FM--Jersey City, NJ on October 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 1, 2018] Evan Dando

Back in 2015 I saw that Evan Dando was playing at the New Hope Winery.  I had no idea that there was a concert venue so close to me and that Evan Dando would be there.  For some reason, I was unable to make that show, (Thurston Moore was also playing there around that time and I couldn’t make that either, so we must have been away).

Since then I have monitored the Winery to see what other cool bands would be playing there.  Sadly, pretty much since that day, aside from Dar Williams (who is awesome) everyone playing there is a cover band.  Which sucks.

I have loved The Lemonheads since college and It’s a Shame About Ray is a stellar album.  I’d never seen him play, so when I saw he had announced one show (which has since turned into a small tour) at Monty Hall in Jersey City, I knew I had to go.

Evan came out pretty late by any standard.  But I wasn’t even sure if he was going to show up.  He seemed surprisingly discombobulated (he forgot his capo) and it took a pretty long time or him to get set up.  This was all fairly surprising since he’d been doing this forever.

He had a total artist look: pants that were filthy and a suit jacket that had a giant rip under the armpit (and which seemed too small for him).

He was wearing glittery flip flops!  (more…)

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