Nick Cave’s Idiot Prayer livestream concert — featuring the singer performing solo on piano without an audience at London’s Alexandra Palace — will be released as a live album and theatrical film.
Idiot Prayer – Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace — out November 20th on CD, vinyl and streaming and available to preorder now — features all 22 songs from the unique June 2020 gig.
“The film Idiot Prayer evolved from my Conversations With… events. I loved playing deconstructed versions of my songs at these shows, distilling them to their essential forms. I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage — whenever I could find the time,” Cave said in a statement.
“Then, the pandemic came — the world went into lockdown, and fell into an eerie, self-reflective silence. It was within this silence that I began to think about the idea of not only recording the songs but also filming them.”
Idiot Prayer — also the name of The Boatman’s Call track that made its live debut on the livestream — boasts solo renditions of both Bad Seeds and Grinderman songs from throughout Cave’s catalog, as well as a new song titled “Euthanasia” and four performances edited out of the online-only livestream. Ahead of the live LP, Cave also shared the Idiot Prayer rendition of Ghosteen’s “Galleon Ship.”
“We worked with the team at Alexandra Palace — a venue I have played and love — on securing a date to film just as soon as they were allowed to re-open the building to us,” Cave added.
“On 19th June 2020, surrounded by Covid officers with tape measures and thermometers, masked-up gaffers and camera operators, nervous-looking technicians and buckets of hand gel, we created something very strange and very beautiful that spoke into this uncertain time, but was in no way bowed by it. This is the album taken from that film. It is a prayer into the void — alone at Alexandra Palace — a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history. I hope you enjoy it.”
Idiot Prayer – Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace will also premiere in movie theaters globally on November 5th; see ticket information here.
From Rolling Stone US
