Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Fremantle Park, Fremantle, WA
Saturday, January 17th
Back in 2014, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds performed at the Fremantle Arts Centre to an – as always – enraptured crowd. There was, however, a moment of pause when he graciously accepted a round of applause by calling out “thank you… Perth.”
Awkward. It may only be 22km, but once you are in Fremantle you are simply not in Perth and cannot be addressed as such. Having returned to Western Australia several times over the years since, this was Cave’s first visit back to the Port City and he enunciated the location both enthusiastically and often throughout his two hours on stage.
“Thank you, Fremantle,” he shouted, alongside variations such as “thank you fucking Fremantle!” Fremantle, of course, welcomed him into its open arms.
Aldous Harding had opened with a set that was both ethereal and enigmatic, and as the dark of night set in, the anticipation was palpable.
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From the moment Cave sauntered onstage and greeted the crowd with a wave and a high kick, it was as though there was a pact with the audience – much like his Red Hand Files website and mailing list, Cave and his people were here for each other.
“Frogs” was a majestic opener, immediately showcasing the harmonious talents of backing vocalists Wendi Rose, Janet Ramus, Miça Townsend, and T Jae Cole, who frequently enabled the songs to ascend to the heavens throughout the evening.
It was followed by the title track of 2024’s Wild God album, of which eight tracks were featured in the set. Most artists with a catalogue and history approaching Cave’s would rarely consider such a large inclusion of new material, but such is the relationship between Cave and his fans – and the quality of the music that he continues to release – that not a beat is missed. When not at the piano Cave prowled the front of the stage, engaging and holding the hands of those in the first few rows. “I look fantastic?” he responded to an early compliment before observing himself on the big screens. “Oh yeah, I do. I look like a Mormon.”
He’s a serious man but Cave is also self-effacing. “This is an old song. Ancient. It’s coming to you in a Zimmer frame. It’s mid-period Nick Cave,” he said at one point. What followed was the beatific cautionary tale, “O Children”. Emerging from out of his seat, Warren Ellis launched into a lilting, loving violin solo that entwined with the harmonies of the backing vocalists.
“Jubilee Street” and “From Her to Eternity” were slightly re-geared from their traditional form but both, in their own way, built from a slow burn into discordant controlled chaos, like a gunfight that descends into chaos before control is restored in the form of silence. George Vjestica’s guitar prevailed throughout the shootout, tasteful yet untempered against Carly Paradis’ keyboards and Larry Mullins and Jim Sclavunos’ sophisticated percussive assaults. Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood – still filling in for Martyn P. Casey – was strident on bass.
These moments were vital and epic. Songs such as “Long Dark Night” and “Cinnamon Horses” offered a quieter respite, but the operatic tribal blues of “Tupelo” soon called out to the moon. The set finished on a roll with “Red Right Hand” (“here we go fucking Fremantle!”), “The Mercy Seat”, and the relentless “White Elephant”.
The Bad Seeds all featured in black and white and sepia tones on the giant video screens, adding to the dynamics of the songs and giving a sense of the communal machine that is the band itself. They turned on a dime for the encores, from the melancholy beauty of “Wide Lovely Eyes” (Cave’s wife Suzie Bick’s favourite song, played for the first time in 13 years), the dramatic strut of “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry”, “Weeping Song”, and the bareboned “Skeleton Tree”.
They are all worlds within a world, Cave’s world, and so it was fitting that he signed off alone at the piano for the ever-evocative “Into My Arms” before wandering off away into the night. This time he didn’t forget Fremantle — given the inspired evening that transcended, Fremantle will never forget him.
Check out Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ remaining tour dates here.
