It’s quite the contrast visually: the cavernous Place Des Arts stage with just a grand piano and a guitar amp on it. It’s minimal, but if anyone is capable of filling it, it’s the legendary Nick Cave. And he’s not alone; turns out the amp belongs to none other than Colin Greenwood of Radiohead! The duo arrives on stage to rapturous applause, with Nick explaining after the sombre opener, “Girl In Amber,” “we are going to do stripped-down versions of my songs.” It’s an interesting proposition; Nick’s music is generally pretty low-key and stripped down at the best of times, so I wonder how this is going to play out.
It turns out to be pretty spectacular. Colin’s bass accompaniment adds some real meat to the bones of Nick’s piano and really enhances Nick’s epic narrative on songs like “Papa, Won’t Leave You Henry” and “Jubilee Street.” It’s certainly appreciated by Nick at various points throughout the set. On “Wide Lovely Eyes,” he invites Colin to play it in: “ahh that’s beautiful, that’s why he’s in Radiohead!” Colin seems to improvise the bassline to the cover of T-Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer”; Nick approves. “Colin Greenwood, f**cking awesome!”
The moments with Nick alone are equally powerful. You can honestly hear a pin drop during “Higgs Boson Blues”; it’s so quiet. “I Need You” closes out with “just breathe…” repeated mantra-like so quickly that you wonder how Nick is able to follow his own advice. “Into My Arms” is my personal favourite, and it fits the dark, minimal mood immaculately. In Nick’s own words prior to “Black Hair,” “this is a song about despair and obsession… which is what I do!” And my word, does he do it well!
If it all sounds a bit sombre and serious, my apologies. The show is pretty hilarious at points too. Nick dedicates “Balcony Man” to the balcony, who are instructed to cheer wildly every time the word ‘balcony’ is mentioned. We do, and pretty well apparently. Nick effuses: “You were so much better than the other side of the border, so loud!” He dedicates the next song, “Carnage,” to those on the floor… to which the balcony boos! “Palaces of Montezuma” even sees Place Des Arts break out into a spontaneous clap-along, which is well received by Nick at the end: “Wow, that was great!”
Nick even has a propensity to review his own songs during the show, such as “Jesus of the Moon” (“that was really good”), “Galleon Ship” (“this has some really good lyrics”), and the aforementioned “Jubilee Street” (“that was pretty f**king good!”). He’s definitely not as serious as you think; after the main set ends and Nick wishes us all a good night, a small stampede rushes to the front for a handshake with the man himself. After indulging a few of them, he announces, “It’s OK, we’ll be back in a minute!”
The show wraps up with the pessimistic “People Ain’t No Good” after 130 minutes, which is coincidentally exactly how long he played the last time I saw him, back at a raucous MTelus in 2017. It’s been a completely different experience altogether, that’s for sure, but one that’s every bit as special.
Setlist
- Girl in Amber
- Higgs Boson Blues
- Jesus of the Moon
- Galleon Ship
- To Be Found
- Children
- I Need You
- Waiting for You
- Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
- Balcony Man
- Carnage
- The Mercy Seat
- Black Hair
- (Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For?
- The Weeping Song
- Into My Arms
- Jubilee Street
- Push the Sky Away
Encore
- Wide Lovely Eyes
- Palaces of Montezuma
- Nobody’s Baby Now
- Cosmic Dancer
- Stranger Than Kindness
- People Ain’t No Good
Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Ryan Rumpel
