Some gigs feel like events, and others feel like reckonings. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ homecoming at Preston Park landed firmly in the second category. The city had been consumed over the last few days by long queues at Resident record store to secure one-off merchandise & records, culminating in a surprise gig on the rooftop earlier on Friday.
From the moment Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds arrived out on stage into Get Ready for Love, it was obvious that we weren’t going to be eased in gently. It was a jolt, the kind that snaps your senses awake and tells you to pay attention because something serious is about to unfold.
From Her to Eternity followed like a descent into the underbelly, Cave pacing the front barrier with that familiar preacher meets devil energy. When Train Long‑Suffering rolled in, The Bad Seeds locked into that grinding, hypnotic groove they do better than anyone. Nick quipped that they had played this earlier in the day in The Lanes at Resident and finally got it right, so they’d most probably f*ck it up right now!
Wild God, one of my favourites of the newer material, was delivered with the confidence of a song that already belongs in the canon. O Children felt like the emotional pivot: “Some child has managed to sneak into the gig, let’s sing these words to them“, said Cave “O Children, lift up your voice, lift up your voice, Children, Rejoice, rejoice” This felt like Nick at his most human.
The run of Tupelo, Carnage, and Joy was pure force, with Nick describing his duet album with Warren as their attempt to be Simon & Garfunkel. For me, Joy was a standout track from Wild God; the lyrics “I woke up this morning with the blues all around my head, I felt like someone in my family was dead” are just a snippet of the poignant lyrics.
We were treated to Where the Wild Roses Grow with Nick introducing the one and only Kylie Minogue to the stage with the crowd erupting. Kylie walked on with this calm, almost understated presence, and Cave softened in a way only she seems able to coax out of him. It was magic and completely unexpected.
The Mercy Seat and Red Right Hand were both crowd favourites. The Weeping Song felt communal, “this is a Weeping Song, but we won’t be weeping long” as it was introduced by Cave.
Jubilee Street was a late set masterpiece. It started fragile and built into that towering, euphoric crescendo that Cave seems to summon from somewhere beyond himself. It felt like a moment where band and crowd locked perfectly into place. Although I may be biased.
The night finished with Cave performing Into My Arms solo. Hearing it stripped down, in a field, with thousands of people suddenly silent, like time had just stopped
Walking out of Preston Park, it didn’t feel like I’d just seen a concert. It felt like I’d been dragged through something raw, something deeply human. This wasn’t just a great homecoming but a reminder of why Nick Cave remains one of the most compelling performers alive.
