The past few years have been fascinating for Nick Cave, even by his standards. Capitalising on the abrasive direction he went with Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus, Grinderman was formed and then Dig!! Lazarus Dig!! released to take that unsettlingly demonic direction to its natural conclusion.

His show at Hammersmith Apollo in May was along those lines.
Here, although he stalked around the stage pointing his pelvis at his public screaming his brimstone with a scowl on his face, he allowed more scope for the more ‘gentle’ (I used that term loosely) side of The Bad Seeds. So, he sat at the piano and sang songs like ‘Into My Arms’ and ‘Nobody’s Baby Now’ among others. It was nice, but it wasn’t what he was here to do. ‘Weeping Song’, ‘Nature Boy’ and a truly volcanic version of ‘Midnight Man’ drew us back to recent form, Warren Ellis at his side posturing, umm, explicitly. Ellis for a few years now has matched and sometimes exceeded his frontman for grisly coolness.

At one point, Cave throws his lanky frame into the audience, before poking his head above the sea and striking a pose reminiscent of Martin Sheen’s emergence from the murky river in Apocalypse Now.

An angry encore consists of ‘Hard On For Love’ and ‘Stagger Lee’, and then it’s all over, and as with every Nick Cave gig we all leave feeling satisfyingly invaded. In no other situation could a bunch of greying, addled middle-aged men behave so gloriously lasciviously and not have a visit from the local Community Police Officer.

Barnaby Smith