His satanic majesty

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, 7TH NOVEMBER 2004, WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL

Set list: 'The Lyre Of Orpheus' / 'Hiding All Away' / 'Messiah Ward' / 'Abattoir Blues' / 'Nature Boy' / 'Easy Money' / (at this point I lost it a bit but I know all the following were played: 'Breathless', 'Babe, You Turn Me On', 'Carry Me', 'Get Ready For Love', 'Supernaturally') / 'O Children' / 'There She Goes, My Beautiful World' // 'The Weeping Song' / 'Henry Lee' / 'Deanna' / 'Red Right Hand' / 'God Is In The House' / 'City Of Refuge' / 'Stagger Lee'

Love. Disgust. Hope and warmth. Malice and foreboding. Songs of beauty. Stories of violence. Weightless balladry. Blazing fury. Carefree days of sunshine. Dark nights of the soul. Gossamer threads of guitar. Bar-room blues on PCP. The sublime. The ridiculous. "Babe, you turn me on". "Routine atrocity". "GET READY FOR LOVE!!!" "THERE IS A WAR COMING!!!"

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds experience.

Stick-thin and of vampiric complexion, Cave himself is a talismanic frontman, priest of love singing sweetness and light and prophet of gloom barking out the Old Testament, but always aware of the absurdity of it all. Throwing shapes in his sharp suit and pointed shoes, he reminds me of Vic Reeves.

Behind him are the Bad Seeds - placid guitarist Mick Harvey, tuft-haired bassist Martyn P Casey, drummers Thomas Wydler and Jim Sclavunos, chainsmoking keyboard player Conway Savage, new guitarist / piano thumper James Johnston and dishevilled multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis whose psychopathic attacks on his violin are something to behold. Plus four gospel backing singers.

They sound incredible.

For anyone not in possession of the new LP, the main set is likely to be something of a disappointment. All 13 songs are lifted from Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus, only four album tracks not getting an airing. For those of us that do own it, though, it's simply awesome. As someone who admittedly has had difficulty making it past the first CD because it's so damn good, this live performance brings out the comparable merits of the second CD, most notably 'Supernaturally' and 'Easy Money'.

Even then, though, from the moment they reappear and Cave says, "So, what do you want to hear?", the encore's just a little bit special. Cave sneering the reference to "moral sneaks in the White House" in 'God Is In The House'; the explosions of noise in 'Red Right Hand'; the entirety of 'Deanna' ("I ain't down here for your money / I ain't down here for your love / I ain't down here for love or money / I'M DOWN HERE FOR YOUR SOUL"); blood-soaked murderfest 'Stagger Lee' making gangsta rap look like kids' stuff.

He doesn't play 'Do You Love Me?', but if he had I would have shouted "Yes".

(Incidentally, if you happen to attend a gig that my girlfriend and I are at, don't piss her off by shoving her out of the way, insisting on standing right in front of her thus blocking her previously unimpeded view and generally behaving like a cunt. She will have absolutely no hesitation in rubbing chewing gum into your shirt. Tosser.)