Festival announced in honour of Bad Seeds legend Conway Savage

A festival will be held in Ireland later this year to honour the late Conway Savage, former pianist with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. 

Savage passed away in 2018 at the age of 58 after battling a brain tumour. He played on every Bad Seeds album from 1992’s ‘Henry’s Dream’ to 2013’s ‘Push The Sky Away’ (except ‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’) and also had an acclaimed solo career over multiple decades. 

During his life, Savage had a close connection with Ireland and specifically with the town of Dundalk in County Louth, dating back to the 2000 when he played at the Spirit Store venue with fellow Australian musician Suzie Higgie. They were promoting their collaborative album ‘Soon Will Be Tomorrow’ and Savage returned to the town many times in the following years. 

Now, the Dundalk Democrat has confirmed that a festival named ‘These Are The Waves: A Celebration of the Music of Conway Savage’ will be held in Dundalk from September 12 to 14. 

On the Friday night, a line-up of musicians including Higgie, the Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey and PJ Harvey collaborator Terry Edwards will play a concert of Savage’s music. Higgie will play ‘Soon Will Be Tomorrow’ in full on September 13, while Harvey will hold an ‘In Conversation’ session on the same day. 

Find tickets for all events at the festival here. 

When news of Savage’s death was announced, the Bad Seeds wrote: “A member of Bad Seeds for nearly thirty years, Conway was the anarchic thread that ran through the band’s live performances. He was much loved by everyone, band members and fans like. 

“Irascible, funny, terrifying, sentimental, warm-hearted, gentle, acerbic, honest, genuine – he was all of these things and quite literally “had the gift of a golden voice”, high and sweet and drenched in soul.” 

Nick Cave added: ”On a drunken night, at four in the morning, in a hotel bar in Cologne, Conway sat at the piano and sang ‘Streets of Laredo’ to us, in his sweet, melancholy style and stopped the world for a moment. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Goodbye Conway, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.”