Nick Cave - Canberra Theatre Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Cave

Canberra Theatre Centre

28 November 2022

 

I used to see Nick Cave everywhere. When the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra opened, they seemed to have only one painting.  A graffiti portrait of Nick Cave.  It became a bit of a joke between my wife and me. “There’s bloody Nick Cave again”. Every exhibition seemed to find a way to jam in that Nick Cave painting. 

 

The thing was that neither of us liked Nick Cave.

He was never really my thing. It’s not even that he did nothing for me.  I actively disliked him. I always thought that he was just too pretentious. I felt that he was an artist I should have liked but didn’t. Every artist that I like cite him as an influence but he left me cold.  However, one of the things that occurred in lockdown was that I re-evaluated his back catalogue. The excellent Skeleton Tree album was the gateway which then lead me to explore his entire back catalogue.  A strange thing happened.  I first started to admire his work and then I slowly started to really like it! 

 

Seeing him at the Canberra Theatre was a revelation.  It’s a bit of a cliché to say that Nick Cave is like a preacher from an alternative secular universe.  But he certainly brings a religious fervour to his performance.  It was mesmerising.  The performance was very much like being in a church in the deep south where all the emotions that a human can experience have free reign to be expressed.  Not only sadness and grief, but surprisingly joy, levity and wicked humour were also on display. 

 

His latest albums deal with the tragic loss of his son and the show leant heavily on this material. If on record the songs seem like they have the most personal lyrics imaginable, in a live setting the slight changes of delivery bring them to another level.  The holding onto notes and emphasising certain lines make you feel you are literally watching someone process the grief that losing a child must bring.  It is almost too much to bear witness to.

 

There were other moments where you felt you were in the presence of an evangelist preacher and you didn’t want to do anything that might break the spell and others where you felt like if this charismatic front man would ask for your soul, you would willingly give it to him.  Yes, it was that powerful. 

 

It feels like a cliché to say that I’m converted.  But nothing about the performance was a cliché.

 

I feel that I’m a new convert to the Church of Nick. 

 

Spilt Milk Festival

 

The Wombats, Spacey Jane, Genesis Owusu

Spilt Milk

Warning… Old Man alert.

Do you know the problem with the kids these days?  it’s that the like the same music we liked growing up.  Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Journey.  They’re all good bands (Ok, maybe not Journey…) but something feels a bit off.

What they should be liking is music that makes their parents say “Turn off that NOISE”.

Which leads me to Genesis Owusu.  Canberra’s own superstar performed at Spilt Milk to a packed tent in the early evening and… how do i say this nicely … as much as he has rock star charisma (and let’s face it, he does.  in spades) I really couldn’t tell much difference between what he was doing and karaoke.  There were no musicians on stage and while I don’t equate “guitars = real music” I feel that you need something more than just a singer.  Sure, he had 3 dancers - or vibe merchants - that brought a particular “male energy” to the performance.  That’s me trying to say it was quite aggressive.  Maybe i just don’t like that kind of music.

Also, the sound mix was terrible.  All bass. Distorted bass that overwhelmed the vocals. I guess that might be a problem if you’ve pre recorded your backing track. there’s not much a sound mixer can do on the night.  

But the packed tent showed that the kids actually loved it.  So in a weird way that made me feel good.  The kids are alright!

I worked my way to the main stage to see Spacey Jane and they’re a really good indie rock band.  Definitely a cut about the standard indie rock fare.  Sure, we’ve heard this a million times before, but that’s not a bad thing.  They were very good. Obviously it wasn’t just me who liked them as the arena was packed. The kids are alright!    

It’s terrifying to think that the Wombats are not a new band (they released their debut album in 2007) but a band who have a long catalogue of hits.  The great thing was they played most of them.  A band that knows how to please a festival crowd. They were really great. The Wombats, much like the kids, were alright! 

Crowded House - Stage 88

 

Crowded House

Stage 88

11 November 2022

In the end, there was nothing to worry about. It all worked out.  We were in the hands of a master. 

 

It is well established that a great crowd feeds a great band to bring them to a great performance.  It’s a positive feedback loop.  The seating arrangement at Crowded House’s show at Stage 88 did the band no favours.  At the end of the day there was really no doubt that we’d all leave very, very happy having listened to an incomparable songbook of hits.

The stage set up had seats in front of the stage, with a general admission area up the back.  People literally had picnic blankets and chairs. I know that CH are a nostalgia act… but really what have we become?  Are we all that old (spoiler… yes). It was initially hard for the band to make a connection.  Not only was there a seated front part of the crowd, there was a  huge gap between the stage and front row of seats.  It was about 5 metres.  Maybe more.  However, near the front of the stage, but to the side of the chairs, was a small area where I was standing. Let me rephrase that. Where I was dancing. Along with, surprisingly, not that many people.  Let’s say there were twenty people initially.  That crowd grew as the night went on and we were having a great time.  The band definitely noticed and complemented us a couple of times.  

In the middle of the gig, Neil Finn came down from the stage and stood in the middle of the vast gap.  Right up against the barrier he performed a song to the front rows. The gig was transformed.  The seated area finally stood up.  I don’t blame them. If you’re paying hundreds of dollars for a seat, you don’t want to be a d*ckhead and stand in front of someone else who has also paid hundreds of dollars for a prime seat.  Having said that, by coming to the front himself, Neil Finn gave permission for everyone to stand.  It was a great moment.  He had the whole crowd in the palm of his hands for the rest of the evening. 

As I was saying before, he’s a safe pair of hands.  That might sound like a band handed compliment. But it’s not. It was a great night.  A great gig.  Safe in the hands of a master craftsman.