Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Kick Off European Tour With Live Rarities, Pogues Cover

On Wednesday night, Knick Cave — sorry. My head is elsewhere this morning. Nick Cave. You know I saw Nick Cave play Madison Square Garden once? The only time that the White Stripes played the world's most famous arena was in 2007, and they booked Cave's band Grinderman and the late country legend Porter Wagoner as their openers. That was a good night at the Garden. It probably wasn't as good as last night at the Garden, but it was still good.

Anyway. Nick Cave. Right now, he's taking a break from writing inspirational newsletter aphorisms to tour Europe with his Bad Seeds. Or maybe he's not taking a break. Maybe he's completing both tasks simultaneously. Last night, the Bad Seeds kicked that tour off with a show at Malahide Castle & Gardens, outside Dublin, and they played a bunch of songs that they haven't done in a long time. Here they are, for instance, doing 1994's "Nobody's Baby Now" for the first time since 2017.

Here they are, playing 2004's "Hiding All Away" for the first time since 2013 and transitioning it into the Carnage song "White Elephant."

As their first encore, the Bad Seeds busted out "Stranger Than Kindness," from 1986's Your Funeral... My Trial. Introducing the song, Cave said that it was "the Bad Seeds song that I really love the most," but the band hadn't performed it since 2015. Cave didn't write that song; instead, it was Blixa Bargeld and the late Anita Lane.

According to Setlist.fm, the Bad Seeds also played "Train Long-Suffering," from 1985's The Firstborn Is Dead, for the first time since 1989, but I haven't found any video of that one yet. The band ended the set by saluting the Irish crowd with a cover of the Pogues classic "A Rainy Night In Soho." Cave sang that song at Shane MacGowan's funeral in 2013, but the Bad Seeds hadn't played it live as a band since 1997. The crowd seemed to really, really appreciate that one.

You can never properly judge a live show through the medium of amateur fan videos, but this one looks fucking awesome — cantankerous old songs, expansive newer ones, deep cuts, anthems, a fully seasoned band with gospel-style backup singers. They did "The Mercy Seat" and "Red Right Hand" and "Into My Arms" back to back to back, for fuck's sake. If I lived in Europe, I would make sure to catch the Bad Seeds on this tour.

SETLIST:
01 "Get Ready For Love"
02 "From Her to Eternity"
03 "Wild God"
04 "O Children"
05 "Train Long-Suffering" (First time since 1989)
06 "City Of Refuge"
07 "Nobody's Baby Now" (First time since 2017)
08 "Tupelo"
09 "Carnage" (with the line "listening to Sinéad O'Connor" instead of "reading Flannery O'Connor")
10 "Joy"
11 "Rings Of Saturn"
12 "Bright Horses"
13 "Henry Lee"
14 "The Mercy Seat"
15 "Red Right Hand"
16 "Into My Arms"
17 "Hiding All Away" (First time since 2013, with "White Elephant" outro)
18 "Hollywood"
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19 "Stranger Than Kindness" (First time since 2015)
20 "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry"
21 "Jubilee Street"
22 "The Weeping Song"
23 "Wide Lovely Eyes"
24 "A Rainy Night in Soho" (Pogues cove, first time since 1997)