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Nick Cave begins first tour in four years

Cave's son Jethro died just several weeks ago

By Sam Moore

Nick Cave in a black and white studio
The latest instalment of Cave's newsletter is a heartfelt one. (Photo: Press)

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have started their first tour in four years.

Headlining Denmark’s Northside Festival on 2 June, the band dug deep into their back catalogue to give a first live outing to b-side ‘Vortex’ and a live performance of ‘Get Ready for Love’ for the first time since 2009.

As well as playing some relative rarities, Cave also performed some of his best known hits including ‘Red Right Hand’ which also serves as the theme song for Peaky Blinders and ‘Into My Arms’ which is about his relationship with PJ Harvey.

The start of the tour comes just weeks after the death of Cave’s son Jethro at the age of 31. While not confirming the cause of death, Cave released a statement which said: “With much sadness, I can confirm that my son, Jethro, has passed away. We would be grateful for family privacy at this time.”

Jethro is the second of Cave’s children to predecease him. His other son Artur died in 2015 after falling from a cliff in Brighton.

Cave and the Bad Seeds have a busy summer touring schedule that includes a headline slot at All Point East Festival in the UK.

Other headliners scheduled for the Victoria Park festival include Gorillaz, The Chemical Brothers, Kraftwerk, Tame Impala, The National and Disclosure.

Cave is headlining the final night of the festival on 28 August. Also playing on that day is Michael Kiwanuka, Jehnny Beth, Sleaford Mods and Aldous Harding.

His appearance at All Points East will be his only UK date of 2022.

However, Cave will be playing All Together Now Festival in Ireland at the end of July. Other acts to play All Together Now include Underworld, Groove Armada, Jungle and Self-Esteem.

Cave is also scheduled to play Primavera this weekend (4 June). He is playing the same night as Gorillaz, Jorja Smith and rapper Tyler the Creator.