Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

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Alexandra Palace, London 
25th August 2005 

After having sold out the early 2005 'Abbatoir Blues' tour in short order, and delivering stunning sets to 2,000 seaters across the country, Nick Cave's return to London last night should have been a triumphant event before 8,000 ecstatic acolytes.... 

Well.... sort of. 

Cave led the Bad Seeds on stage, and they stormed into 'Get ready for love' followed by the crowd pleaser 'Red right hand', and the problems became apparent immediately; Nick and the boys were on fine form, and as tight as a drum... from what could be heard through the appalling sound quality. The main hall of Alexandra Palace is architecturally awesome, but acoustically appalling - Cave's voice came across clear enough, but the complex arrangements were lost in the distorted white noise backing him. Unfortunately, the sound man's answer to this appeared to be to increase the volume, which helped not a jot! 

Sound quality aside, though, the set list differed somewhat from the early 2005 shows in that whilst the Abbatoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus double album still featured heavily, there were more crowd pleasers & greatest hits on show, from the obligatory 'mercy seat' to the surprise return of 'weeping song'. 

Finishing the main set after only 75 minutes with a storming version of 'there she goes, my beautiful world', there followed a long wait for the encore during which he had plenty of time to have the sound man hanged, but no... by the time Cave finished the encore with a somewhat perfunctory 'Stagger Lee', sound levels had deteriorated further, and the hall was beginning to empty. 

Triumphant return, or damp squib? About 50/50 & the jury's still out (and my ears are still ringing).

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Jim Garten Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin & Razor Guru Joined: February 02 2004 Location: South England Status: Offline Points: 14693	Topic: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Posted: August 26 2005 at 03:56
	Alexandra Palace, London 25th August 2005 After having sold out the early 2005 'Abbatoir Blues' tour in short order, and delivering stunning sets to 2,000 seaters across the country, Nick Cave's return to London last night should have been a triumphant event before 8,000 ecstatic acolytes.... Well.... sort of. Cave led the Bad Seeds on stage, and they stormed into 'Get ready for love' followed by the crowd pleaser 'Red right hand', and the problems became apparent immediately; Nick and the boys were on fine form, and as tight as a drum... from what could be heard through the appalling sound quality. The main hall of Alexandra Palace is architecturally awesome, but acoustically appalling - Cave's voice came across clear enough, but the complex arrangements were lost in the distorted white noise backing him. Unfortunately, the sound man's answer to this appeared to be to increase the volume, which helped not a jot! Sound quality aside, though, the set list differed somewhat from the early 2005 shows in that whilst the Abbatoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus double album still featured heavily, there were more crowd pleasers & greatest hits on show, from the obligatory 'mercy seat' to the surprise return of 'weeping song'. Finishing the main set after only 75 minutes with a storming version of 'there she goes, my beautiful world', there followed a long wait for the encore during which he had plenty of time to have the sound man hanged, but no... by the time Cave finished the encore with a somewhat perfunctory 'Stagger Lee', sound levels had deteriorated further, and the hall was beginning to empty. Triumphant return, or damp squib? About 50/50 & the jury's still out (and my ears are still ringing).
	Jon Lord 1941 - 2012