Photo credits: Courtesy of the artist<\/p>\n
Review by Jaya Kohol<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As a long time fan, I was overjoyed to hear that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds were coming to Agganis Arena, a venue right on Boston University\u2019s campus. With a friend in town, we entered the arena and found our seats with little time to waste, as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds took the stage right at 8:30 p.m. on the dot.<\/span><\/p>\n Born in Victoria, Australia, Nick Cave got his start in music in the iconic 70s post-punk goth rock band The Birthday Party. The band quickly garnered a reputation as “the most violent live band in the world\u201d due to their shocking performances and frontman Cave\u2019s haggard and almost emaciated look. The group found a cult following amongst many post-punk and goth fans, but the band\u2019s time together soon came to an end in 1983. The end of The Birthday Party signaled the beginning of a new era for Cave.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beginning in 1984, Cave and his accompanying band The Bad Seeds released 18 studio albums, with their latest release in 2024 titled \u201cWild God.\u201d Cave frequently cites religion, specifically both the Old and New Testament, as inspiration for his lyric writing and music style. He isn\u2019t afraid to vocalize his wavering doubts about God and the universe. Cave\u2019s writing remains one of the highlights of his work as a whole, he himself even uses a typewriter to craft his lyrics in order to remain more grounded with his work. Sonically, the band has a wide bandwidth, playing everything from haunting psycho-rock performances such as on their album \u201cFrom Her to Eternity\u201d to emotionally driven folk ballads as on \u201cThe Boatman\u2019s Call.\u201d Cave stands out amongst the echoing piano and violin with his unique baritone voice, one so unmistakably his own, a profound medium for his lyrics of love, violence, rebirth, and death.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cave took to the crowded stage, covered with instruments, a stunning black grand piano, and a large platform where The Bad Seeds stood, as well as his backup singers. As soon as Cave had his hand on the microphone, he yelled out to the crowd emphatically, \u201cBoston!\u201d I was surprised to see that Agganis Arena was almost sold out, seats filled with goth-rock fans, and a mostly older crowd. Beside the stage were two large screens, projecting Cave\u2019s distinctly worn face in black and white. The show began with the lead single \u201cFrogs\u201d from their recently released album. Despite being 67 years old, Cave was wrought with energy as he bounced around the stage, grabbing hands of fans at the barricade, singing into adoring eyes. The set continued into \u201cWild God\u201d and without hesitation, Cave began pounding away with a fervor at the keys of the piano, the screen behind the band aglow with the lyrics of the song.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t have been a true Nick Cave concert without the band including by far their most popular song \u201cO Children\u201d on the setlist. As Cave began to sing the melancholy lyrics, his divinely-dressed backup singers echoed the chorus back to him with somber beauty that enchanted both myself and the audience alike. The entire area was filled with an ethereal energy, effervescent and almost unearthly. Mixed between the piano ballads such as \u201cI Need You\u201d were their more experimental songs such as \u201cThe Mercy Seat,\u201d \u201cTupelo,\u201d and \u201cRed Right Hand.\u201d Cave has a mystical like performance on stage, an unmistakable aura of mystery and grace. As songs crescendoed to their peaks, Cave haphazardly threw the microphone across the stage with a vehemence, returning to the piano to expound haunting chords.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After two breathtaking hours of music, Cave thanked the audience for their time and promptly exited the stage, only to return moments later with the rest of the band to play a three song encore consisting of the songs \u201cPapa Won\u2019t Leave You, Henry,\u201d \u201cThe Weeping Song,\u201d and \u201cSkeleton Tree\u201d a song the band hasn\u2019t played live since 2017. Cave left the stage and the audience continued to cheer, demanding another encore, and Cave emerged once again\u2014this time alone\u2014to finish with a fan favorite, \u201cInto My Arms,\u201d a somber ballad filled with lyrics of devotion and true love. The show couldn\u2019t have ended on a better note. My friend and I left Agganis amongst the hoards of black clothes, still captivated by Cave\u2019s moving stage presence and performance. The memory of this show will remain one that I cherish for a lifetime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credits: Courtesy of the artist Review by Jaya Kohol As a long time fan, I was overjoyed to hear that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds were coming to Agganis Arena, a venue right on Boston University\u2019s campus. With a friend in town, we entered the arena and found our seats with little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21925,"featured_media":48082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[350,2373],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48083,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48055\/revisions\/48083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}