Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live in Brighton: Rock’s wild god triumphs at huge homecoming
Nick Cave returns to his adoptive hometown, bringing along Kylie Minogue, to deliver a joyful sermon with a mammoth career-spanning set
“Fucking Brighton! This is overwhelming. Deeply overwhelming,” Nick Cave gasps after ripping through opener ‘Get Ready For Love’. Understandably so – it’s the first time Cave has performed with the Bad Seeds in his adoptive hometown since 2013. He may have achieved mythic status among Brightonians, but it’s evident his return to the stage at Preston Park is just as, if not more, meaningful to him.
Brighton has been central to Cave’s life and creativity for nearly a quarter of a century. In the 2014 documentary 20,000 Days On Earth, Cave likened the ominous winter weather to his inconsistent moods, while the seaside city’s seedy underbelly provided the backdrop for his novel The Death Of Bunny Munro and the Bad Seeds’ opus ‘Jubilee Street’. His bond is profound, and seemingly mutual. It felt like the entire city has been champing at the bit since news of Cave’s homecoming was announced. Tickets sold out instantly. Exclusive merch drops saw queues snaking around the entire festival site. The local cinema is playing his favourite films in tribute. Cave even treated fortunate passers by to an impromptu rooftop gig at local record store Resident, which he anointed “the best fucking record shop in the world.”
His homecoming swiftly snowballed into a city-wide event – and Cave snatched at the chance to repay the faith. Expectedly dressed to the nines in the blackest of jet black suits, punctuated only by a patterned tie, Cave entered the fray embodying the prowling preacher man of yesteryear that cast out macabre tales from life’s shadowy corners. But Cave has since transformed into a beacon of love and vulnerability in the face of unimaginable loss. Love was tangibly the sentiment of the day, given the vocal exchange of adoration between those on stage and in the 50,000 strong congregation.
The Bad Seeds – which currently includes Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on bass – are firmly in their gospel era, if you can call it that. Elevated by a celestial backing chorus throughout, it’s the shattering performance of ‘Joy’ at the midway point which brings Brighton to its proverbial knees. A truly devastating song about making a choice to embrace life’s light in your darkest hour, pin drop silence washed over Preston Park.
Still, Cave offered plenty of menace when it mattered, with a setlist which pulled from all eras of his back catalogue. ‘From Her To Eternity’ had Preston Park in a stranglehold. Stalking anthem ‘Red Right Hand’ seared like the July heat whilst the Bad Seeds simmered intimidatingly throughout ‘The Mercy Seat’, seeing Cave’s creative co-conspirator Warren Ellis thrash and contort in a trance-like state. Even Kylie Minogue made a gobsmacking surprise appearance for their gorgeous 1995 duet ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’, returning the favour after Cave made a cameo during her Sunday Legends set at Glastonbury in 2019.
Thankful, raspy voiced and clearly overcome with the emotion of the occasion, Cave took every opportunity to clasp the hands of the honorary Bad Seeds he’s sown in the audience. Brighton’s loyalty to Cave has never been in doubt. But after the tragic loss of his son Arthur, the city’s sympathetic inhabitants became an inescapable miasma of grief, prompting Cave and his wife Susie to relocate to Los Angeles. Spellbound by Brighton’s charms and open-hearted residents, however, they were both lured back by the city’s gravitational pull.
For the encore, Cave paid tribute to Susie and their life in Brighton together, with a tranquil rendition of ‘Wide Lovely Eyes’. But it was the solitary, hymnal ‘Into My Arms’ that brought the triumphant show to its conclusion, ensuring that this historic homecoming will be a moment Brighton will clutch on to for a long, long time.