what is it with me and ex-heroin addict Virgoan musos?
Okay, Nick. I have to talk about Nick. Before I completely forget what little I can remember.
Have to admit I was pretty tired from Laurie the night before and working the whole day. Plus on the way back from Laurie, I was crossing the road outside the lovely Gothic church, discussing Broken Flowers with the FF, and totally forgot to avoid the stupid dent in the stupid road that's been there ever since I moved here some eighteen months ago. It was a pretty graceful fall, about two seconds, and I managed not to break the album but it left me with a pretty fucking deep graze on my left knee which is still hurting almost a week later.
So, somewhat lamed and tired, we went on Monday night to see Nick Cave and Grinderman do the last of their three gigs at the Enmore. Apparently, they would do a Nick Cave and Bad Seeds set first and then Grinderman. To be perfectly honest, I was going just for the Bad Seeds stuff. As much as I initially appreciated Grinderman, the album just didn't grab my interest as I'd hoped. It stayed about a day in the stereo and whenever I put it on the iPod, I always end up skipping the songs. Which vaguely troubled me cos I'm definitely not averse to raw rock. Witness Holding The Void and the Mess Hall. And even within the Bad Seeds ouevre, I fucking love Let Love In. Very odd.
It was only in talking that night to the FF that I figured it out. I love the melancholic melodies that Bad Seeds do so well, the quiet-loud dynamic, the soaring majestic sounds and the heartbreakingly aching sounds. Grinderman totally lacks everything I like about the Bad Seeds. It's all right. I don't find it offensive. It just doesn't do anything for me. I'd much rather listen to Bad Seeds who give me distinct pleasure.
So I went with mild hope and more tiredness. We knew there'd be a support but had no idea who it would be. When I bought us tickets, the only ones available were front of stage. I winced at the time and knew I'd be hugging the back barrier rather than pushing my way to the front, having no idea of what Nick Cave audiences might be like. We did just that and were very glad we were there rather than behind the barrier or even up in the mezzanine. As the gig continued, I went a little closer to the stage. The FF went even further, I could totally see her being drawn ever closer into the spell of Nick.
And omigod the support was totally unexpected. A verrah hot male tap dancer joined by a female tap dancer. He was incredibly good but then it got me wondering why I didn't find her just as good. Possibly cos she took off her hat and her hair was loose and she smiled and wasn't quite as forceful? He was all lean controlled lines and face obscured by his pea cap. So he was all discipline and loud focused power while she seemed messier? Hrm. I wish I knew what they were called.
To my surprise, Grinderman went first. I knew about the horrible ZZ Top beards and the hideous Seventies suits but oh Christ, I didn't realise Nick really is losing his hair. For about the first two songs, I was quietly appalled and horrified and really wishing he would either shave it all off or wear a bandana or something. Bald spot! Not my beautiful Nick! *sobs* I've been looking at this icon too long, is what. By the end of the night? I had completely forgotten about it, didn't even notice it anymore. He was just beautiful to me.
Omg, he was so perfectly dressed. Now that I think about it, he wore a similar black suit with white shirt for the Leonard Cohen tribute which was my first ever sight of him and I'm fairly certain it's been his gig look for ages. Whoever suggested it totally hit the nail on the head. It's such a perfect outfit for his long thin form, for the way he flails around, for the way he veers tween evangelistic preacher and rock god and sometimes exudes them both at the same time. I loved how there was a great sleek sheen to it, to the black jacket and trousers as well as the gleaming white shirt open halfway down his lean lovely chest with the small golden pendants. Sooooooooooo nummy.
I didn't care much for the Grinderman set but I'll say this. When they burst into Get It On as the second song, the coloured lights blazed on and the proscenium burst into patterns and I had this "OMG I HAVEN'T BEEN TO A GIG FOR SO LONG" moment. Talk about fierce visual aural love, to see a gig at the Enmore which is an experience in itself, to stand there in such a beautiful historic venue and be assaulted by sound and colour, to lose yourself in the absence of narrative, to dream in that universal language of music and feel the vibrations come up through the floor, through your soles, the heat and roar of a crowd around you. I had one hand on my black purse and I swear to god it was vibrating entirely on its own. So freaky awesome.
The FF had exactly the same reaction and beat me to saying it after the gig, that we've gone to so many screenings and plays this year but not gigs and it's such a great different experience. Mind you, then I remember that the past two years or more have been mostly dominated by gigs for me. I don't regret the lack of gigs this year. Cos what I have seen has been varying degrees of satisfying. And well, can't deny the sheer awesomeness of the fact that I will start and end this year with a Muse gig, even if the second one will be from very far away. Light, colour, roar, wahey!
Grinderman was a fraction more enjoyable live. I'll say that. Certainly it was very easy to groove along with. And okay, perhaps I was shellshocked and fascinated enough by the sight of Nick Cave to not pay much attention to the music and not mind that I wasn't loving the music. Nick on guitar, Nick having guitar strap issues, Nick politely saying to some lady: "Fuck you." *lol* He said it with such excellent inflection that I had a total moment of vindicated love. Hee. Our Nick.
Admittedly when they played the one song I adore on that album, I Don't Need You (To Set Me Free), that bass got me good and proper and argh, huge love! The set seemed to go by very fast. For which I was cravely grateful. We waited around for a while and then back they came for the Bad Seeds set.
And omg that was just so beautiful and kinda mindblowing. I knew they would be reinventing the songs but I thought it would all be in a sort of slowed down acoustic fashion. So NOT! They thickened and rocked out The Weeping Song, The Ship Song, Messiah Ward! And they SLOWED DOWN THE MERCY SEAT!
I pretty much mentally passed out at that point. It was so awesome. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Cos omg, it worked so well! Totally a case of a live rendition making that song completely new and reinvigorating the album version for you as a listener. The next day I listened again to the proper version and omg. So gobsmacked.
And he got us to sing the chorus of Into My Arms which I was dreading cos I cannot ever listen to that song cos it's so raw and intense it breaks me, I cannot bear it. But live, it turned into an anthem and because everyone else was so moved, that made it slightly easier to bear. It was an incredible experience. And we did the same for God Is In The House cos Nick had fucked his voice by then. The weird thing is even when his voice is fucked, it's still beautiful and emotive. Only Nick, honestly. Okay, maybe Peter Gabriel too.
Red Right Hand was I think the second song they played. Talk about sheer delight. To hear it live is so different to the spacey creepy feel on the album. Pure fascination. Admittedly, that was slightly ruined for me by the stupid fucking girl (and guy to some extent) behind me who sang very loudly, so loudly that sometimes I couldn't even hear Nick. The FF felt the same, in fact we both moved away precisely because of that.
And I refined my gig rules some more.
Rule No 1: All placements will be assigned according to height. Short people in the front, tall people in the back. Drunken horny yobbos will not be admitted. End of story.
Rule No 2: All long and/or bushy hair must be tied back and constrained.
Rule No 3: All big bags must be left at the door. If you're in the crowd, I don't want your stupid fucking bag banging into me while I'm trying to enjoy the gig.
Rule No 4: If you can hear yourself singing, you shouldn't be singing. I totally understand the urge to sing, believe me. You know the words, you love the words, the words swell out of your throat, I understand that urge, seriously. But bloody well mouth them if you have to. Because, lady, we came to hear Nick Cave. Not you!
And he complained that nobody likes The Rock Of Gibralter but we were going to hear it anyway. And someone held up a huge gold medallion which he took and put on and wore for pretty much all the gig. And omg, during the actual Grinderman song, he leaned down and got a guy from the audience to sing the 'Hey hey hey's which the fellow did note perfectly. I got minor goose flesh at that point. And they took requests all through the Bad Seeds set and played Deanna.
At several points, Warren Ellis rocked out on his violin. I was having weird flashes of the universe sending me neon signs what with Laurie playing the violin the very night before and totally waking Arushka who sat in my body and looked out through my eyes and reacted to both Laurie and Warren playing the fuck out of their violins in very different ways. Fiddle, violin, whatever. Fucking awesome.
It seemed like the Bad Seeds set went for much longer than the Grinderman set. Which makes sense cos there was a lot more to choose from but also I experienced every song in the Bad Seeds set whereas Grinderman didn't move me much. When they said goodnight and left the stage, the noise was incredible and I honestly wondered if the mezzanine would come down from the footpounding and screaming going on up there. Can the Enmore as an art deco heritage theatre venue withstand that sort of impact, seriously? I was having visions of plaster shaking loose and structures trembling. Holy mother of god.
We clapped and yelled for the longest time and they did come on for a pretty long encore. Which omg, included an audience participation version of The Lyre of Orpheus with us singing "oh momma!" It was fabulous and kinda hair-raising and I nearly wet myself with happiness.
Really, I'm completely fascinated by the allure of Nick Cave. Cos he's not actually sexy. I mean, I wasn't standing there feeling physical lust like I had in the same venue with Courtney Taylor-Taylor or even Kav Temperley, like I have with so many other musicians in so many other venues or even just watching them on DVD. He doesn't actually exude sex appeal.
But you can't look away. Maybe it's sheer charisma, pure power of expression and personality. And he's not scary. I'm honestly getting to the point where I want to go "What d'you mean, Nick Cave's scary? He's not scary, he's perfectly normal!" And then I realise "okay, um, maybe most people don't make a whole abum called Murder Ballads or write songs with words like R is for rape me, M is for murder me or Eurydice's eyes popped from their sockets and her blood pooled in the sheets." Or, as he sang on the night, ran through the streets?
Still, I don't know. I just can't be afraid of Nick Cave or even feel the menace of him. I know other people might feel that. But it's just Nick. He understands the whole dynamic of beauty and horror, he communicates that with humour and intelligence. And I can't help but smile at that.
It was a pretty wonderful gig. So glad I was there. Even though it meant I missed new episodes of both Supernatural and Californication, argh.
And I kept my promise to myself and bought The Abattoir Blues Tour DVD yesterday.
Also, yay, new Goldfrapp album in February! Less pop and more atmosphere, double yay!
Have to admit I was pretty tired from Laurie the night before and working the whole day. Plus on the way back from Laurie, I was crossing the road outside the lovely Gothic church, discussing Broken Flowers with the FF, and totally forgot to avoid the stupid dent in the stupid road that's been there ever since I moved here some eighteen months ago. It was a pretty graceful fall, about two seconds, and I managed not to break the album but it left me with a pretty fucking deep graze on my left knee which is still hurting almost a week later.
So, somewhat lamed and tired, we went on Monday night to see Nick Cave and Grinderman do the last of their three gigs at the Enmore. Apparently, they would do a Nick Cave and Bad Seeds set first and then Grinderman. To be perfectly honest, I was going just for the Bad Seeds stuff. As much as I initially appreciated Grinderman, the album just didn't grab my interest as I'd hoped. It stayed about a day in the stereo and whenever I put it on the iPod, I always end up skipping the songs. Which vaguely troubled me cos I'm definitely not averse to raw rock. Witness Holding The Void and the Mess Hall. And even within the Bad Seeds ouevre, I fucking love Let Love In. Very odd.
It was only in talking that night to the FF that I figured it out. I love the melancholic melodies that Bad Seeds do so well, the quiet-loud dynamic, the soaring majestic sounds and the heartbreakingly aching sounds. Grinderman totally lacks everything I like about the Bad Seeds. It's all right. I don't find it offensive. It just doesn't do anything for me. I'd much rather listen to Bad Seeds who give me distinct pleasure.
So I went with mild hope and more tiredness. We knew there'd be a support but had no idea who it would be. When I bought us tickets, the only ones available were front of stage. I winced at the time and knew I'd be hugging the back barrier rather than pushing my way to the front, having no idea of what Nick Cave audiences might be like. We did just that and were very glad we were there rather than behind the barrier or even up in the mezzanine. As the gig continued, I went a little closer to the stage. The FF went even further, I could totally see her being drawn ever closer into the spell of Nick.
And omigod the support was totally unexpected. A verrah hot male tap dancer joined by a female tap dancer. He was incredibly good but then it got me wondering why I didn't find her just as good. Possibly cos she took off her hat and her hair was loose and she smiled and wasn't quite as forceful? He was all lean controlled lines and face obscured by his pea cap. So he was all discipline and loud focused power while she seemed messier? Hrm. I wish I knew what they were called.
To my surprise, Grinderman went first. I knew about the horrible ZZ Top beards and the hideous Seventies suits but oh Christ, I didn't realise Nick really is losing his hair. For about the first two songs, I was quietly appalled and horrified and really wishing he would either shave it all off or wear a bandana or something. Bald spot! Not my beautiful Nick! *sobs* I've been looking at this icon too long, is what. By the end of the night? I had completely forgotten about it, didn't even notice it anymore. He was just beautiful to me.
Omg, he was so perfectly dressed. Now that I think about it, he wore a similar black suit with white shirt for the Leonard Cohen tribute which was my first ever sight of him and I'm fairly certain it's been his gig look for ages. Whoever suggested it totally hit the nail on the head. It's such a perfect outfit for his long thin form, for the way he flails around, for the way he veers tween evangelistic preacher and rock god and sometimes exudes them both at the same time. I loved how there was a great sleek sheen to it, to the black jacket and trousers as well as the gleaming white shirt open halfway down his lean lovely chest with the small golden pendants. Sooooooooooo nummy.
I didn't care much for the Grinderman set but I'll say this. When they burst into Get It On as the second song, the coloured lights blazed on and the proscenium burst into patterns and I had this "OMG I HAVEN'T BEEN TO A GIG FOR SO LONG" moment. Talk about fierce visual aural love, to see a gig at the Enmore which is an experience in itself, to stand there in such a beautiful historic venue and be assaulted by sound and colour, to lose yourself in the absence of narrative, to dream in that universal language of music and feel the vibrations come up through the floor, through your soles, the heat and roar of a crowd around you. I had one hand on my black purse and I swear to god it was vibrating entirely on its own. So freaky awesome.
The FF had exactly the same reaction and beat me to saying it after the gig, that we've gone to so many screenings and plays this year but not gigs and it's such a great different experience. Mind you, then I remember that the past two years or more have been mostly dominated by gigs for me. I don't regret the lack of gigs this year. Cos what I have seen has been varying degrees of satisfying. And well, can't deny the sheer awesomeness of the fact that I will start and end this year with a Muse gig, even if the second one will be from very far away. Light, colour, roar, wahey!
Grinderman was a fraction more enjoyable live. I'll say that. Certainly it was very easy to groove along with. And okay, perhaps I was shellshocked and fascinated enough by the sight of Nick Cave to not pay much attention to the music and not mind that I wasn't loving the music. Nick on guitar, Nick having guitar strap issues, Nick politely saying to some lady: "Fuck you." *lol* He said it with such excellent inflection that I had a total moment of vindicated love. Hee. Our Nick.
Admittedly when they played the one song I adore on that album, I Don't Need You (To Set Me Free), that bass got me good and proper and argh, huge love! The set seemed to go by very fast. For which I was cravely grateful. We waited around for a while and then back they came for the Bad Seeds set.
And omg that was just so beautiful and kinda mindblowing. I knew they would be reinventing the songs but I thought it would all be in a sort of slowed down acoustic fashion. So NOT! They thickened and rocked out The Weeping Song, The Ship Song, Messiah Ward! And they SLOWED DOWN THE MERCY SEAT!
I pretty much mentally passed out at that point. It was so awesome. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Cos omg, it worked so well! Totally a case of a live rendition making that song completely new and reinvigorating the album version for you as a listener. The next day I listened again to the proper version and omg. So gobsmacked.
And he got us to sing the chorus of Into My Arms which I was dreading cos I cannot ever listen to that song cos it's so raw and intense it breaks me, I cannot bear it. But live, it turned into an anthem and because everyone else was so moved, that made it slightly easier to bear. It was an incredible experience. And we did the same for God Is In The House cos Nick had fucked his voice by then. The weird thing is even when his voice is fucked, it's still beautiful and emotive. Only Nick, honestly. Okay, maybe Peter Gabriel too.
Red Right Hand was I think the second song they played. Talk about sheer delight. To hear it live is so different to the spacey creepy feel on the album. Pure fascination. Admittedly, that was slightly ruined for me by the stupid fucking girl (and guy to some extent) behind me who sang very loudly, so loudly that sometimes I couldn't even hear Nick. The FF felt the same, in fact we both moved away precisely because of that.
And I refined my gig rules some more.
Rule No 1: All placements will be assigned according to height. Short people in the front, tall people in the back. Drunken horny yobbos will not be admitted. End of story.
Rule No 2: All long and/or bushy hair must be tied back and constrained.
Rule No 3: All big bags must be left at the door. If you're in the crowd, I don't want your stupid fucking bag banging into me while I'm trying to enjoy the gig.
Rule No 4: If you can hear yourself singing, you shouldn't be singing. I totally understand the urge to sing, believe me. You know the words, you love the words, the words swell out of your throat, I understand that urge, seriously. But bloody well mouth them if you have to. Because, lady, we came to hear Nick Cave. Not you!
And he complained that nobody likes The Rock Of Gibralter but we were going to hear it anyway. And someone held up a huge gold medallion which he took and put on and wore for pretty much all the gig. And omg, during the actual Grinderman song, he leaned down and got a guy from the audience to sing the 'Hey hey hey's which the fellow did note perfectly. I got minor goose flesh at that point. And they took requests all through the Bad Seeds set and played Deanna.
At several points, Warren Ellis rocked out on his violin. I was having weird flashes of the universe sending me neon signs what with Laurie playing the violin the very night before and totally waking Arushka who sat in my body and looked out through my eyes and reacted to both Laurie and Warren playing the fuck out of their violins in very different ways. Fiddle, violin, whatever. Fucking awesome.
It seemed like the Bad Seeds set went for much longer than the Grinderman set. Which makes sense cos there was a lot more to choose from but also I experienced every song in the Bad Seeds set whereas Grinderman didn't move me much. When they said goodnight and left the stage, the noise was incredible and I honestly wondered if the mezzanine would come down from the footpounding and screaming going on up there. Can the Enmore as an art deco heritage theatre venue withstand that sort of impact, seriously? I was having visions of plaster shaking loose and structures trembling. Holy mother of god.
We clapped and yelled for the longest time and they did come on for a pretty long encore. Which omg, included an audience participation version of The Lyre of Orpheus with us singing "oh momma!" It was fabulous and kinda hair-raising and I nearly wet myself with happiness.
Really, I'm completely fascinated by the allure of Nick Cave. Cos he's not actually sexy. I mean, I wasn't standing there feeling physical lust like I had in the same venue with Courtney Taylor-Taylor or even Kav Temperley, like I have with so many other musicians in so many other venues or even just watching them on DVD. He doesn't actually exude sex appeal.
But you can't look away. Maybe it's sheer charisma, pure power of expression and personality. And he's not scary. I'm honestly getting to the point where I want to go "What d'you mean, Nick Cave's scary? He's not scary, he's perfectly normal!" And then I realise "okay, um, maybe most people don't make a whole abum called Murder Ballads or write songs with words like R is for rape me, M is for murder me or Eurydice's eyes popped from their sockets and her blood pooled in the sheets." Or, as he sang on the night, ran through the streets?
Still, I don't know. I just can't be afraid of Nick Cave or even feel the menace of him. I know other people might feel that. But it's just Nick. He understands the whole dynamic of beauty and horror, he communicates that with humour and intelligence. And I can't help but smile at that.
It was a pretty wonderful gig. So glad I was there. Even though it meant I missed new episodes of both Supernatural and Californication, argh.
And I kept my promise to myself and bought The Abattoir Blues Tour DVD yesterday.
Also, yay, new Goldfrapp album in February! Less pop and more atmosphere, double yay!