Nature Boy (Conversations with Nick Cave, Birmingham Symphony Hall, 17th June 2019)

On arrival at the gig, everyone was given a card before being seated, the front was a black and white image of the photo above, the back, more interestingly, contained the words below:

Birmingham Symphony Hall is the largest gig venue I've attended in a while and an opulent setting for a rock gig, even one as left field as this one. The PA announced we should be seated by 7:25pm as the gig would start promptly at 7:30. I had a great view of the stage from the front row of the upper circle. The stage was laid out with a bunch of tables at which randomly selected audience members were sat, and, of course, a grand piano - for this was to be an entirely acoustic evening, with Nick on piano and vocals only.

Bang on 7:30 the lights dimmed, the stage only illuminated by the lamps on the tables of those lucky enough to be seated there, and the recording of Nick reading his poem 'Steve McQueen' (from the film 'One More Time With Feeling') played across the sound system...

As the poem faded away, Nick entered the stage to rapturous applause, his path illuminated by a man with a torch.  He sat at the piano and was straight into 'God is in the House'.  

As the title of the event says, this is an evening of  talk and music and so, after the first song, Nick was up and standing at the mike, explaining why he was doing this, that it was an extension of the Red Hand Files, a way of getting a closer and more intimate relationship with his audience.

The mechanics of asking a question were explained - throughout the audience there were men in yellow waistcoats (with a red hand logo on the back - nice touch!) holding a radio mike and a red stick that would flash so Nick could see where the questions were coming from, and then the mike would be passed to the audience member, who had to stand up and ask their question in front of 2000-odd people. As Nick said, "fucking terrifying...for you...and for me".

As anyone who has read any of the Red Hand Files will know, Nick's fans will ask the most intimate and challenging of questions, and on the night the questions covered the range of human emotions and experience.

Some of the toughest questions, which had Nick really digging deep, came from people who'd lost children, one in particular who'd lost a son to a tragic accident, not unlike Nick's loss of one of his twin sons.

Others touched on addiction, song writing and the creative process, as well as more positive messages of thanks from couples brought together through a love of his songs.

Nick asked questioners if they had a song they'd like him to sing an, as much as possible - some songs really don't work with just Nick and a piano, the set was in part chosen by the audience.
Not all questions were quite so earnest: one man, clearly a local, asked, "Nick, if you were from Birmingham, would you support the mighty Aston Villa or the rubbish Birmingham City?", the audience laughed, as did Nick, and he replied, "Are they football teams?", then "whichever you prefer", the guy then asked "Do you want me to sing you a song?", Nick's reply was a hasty, "Wrestle the microphone from that guy".

Inevitably, there was a question about 'Peaky Blinders': "This question, Nick, is about Birmingham."

"A few years ago, a new show aired on BBC and the opening scene had a man walking down a bleak street in early-1900s Birmingham, Small Heath, I think it was, to your song Red Right Hand."

"Tell me, have you seen a spike in interest in your music as a result of Peaky Blinders?"

"Fucking Birmingham," Nick replied and he and the audience laughed, "Of course."

"It's a great show. But so many people come up to me and say 'I'm a huge fan' and have discovered my music through Peaky Blinders, and that's the only song they know.", he laughed and the banter went on...

One of the stipulations to the audience at the start of the show was absolutely no photography, and pretty much everyone complied, though the yellow-jackets enforced it too, hence no pictures from the night, at least none taken by me.

The music and questions were interspersed and often a question was followed by a request for a song: one person asked about the song 'Stagger Lee', which Nick said he wasn't sure he could play without the band, but then went on to play a full-bodied acoustic version to great applause.

Amongst his own songs were a couple of personal favourites of his by other people, one was 'Avalanche', a Leonard Cohen song, and another, from an album he described as a favourite album, was 'Cosmic Dancer' from T Rex's 'Electric Warrior', there was even room for a Grinderman song.

Personal highlights of the set were, 'Into My Arms', 'Jubilee Street', 'Stagger Lee', and 'Higgs Boson Blues'.  Special mention must go to Nick's performance of 'Stranger than Kindness', which was requested by an audience member. Nick said the music was written by "that lovable fascist, Blixa Bargeld" and words by Nick's then partner, Anita Lane, whose words "don't cast me in a very good light". Really powerful performance of the song.

The entire set lasted two and three-quarter hours and had the audience spellbound from start to finish.  This was one of the top gigs I've ever attended. All I want to do now is see Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds play a full gig together.

Here's the set playlist, first on YouTube...

...and also in Spotify form...

 

[See Guardian review of Cardiff gig here]