Nick Cave Gets Dark and Dirty

The day after Nick Cave’s blistering, brilliant show at the WaMu/Chase/Your Tax Dollars at Work Theater, J.I.’s concert companion sent us an email. “Dude,” she wrote, “that man is fifty-one years old.” If we’re half that smart, spry, and pissed off at fifty-one, I think we’ll be pretty happy.

Cave has been around forever, and he inspires fierce devotion. The pair in the seats in front of us, decked out in full-on goth regalia, spent the entire show bouncing up and down in their chairs, looking like something out of a Pentecostal revival. Cave certainly gave the crowd what they wanted, with a healthy mix of tracks from his latest, “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!” and classics like “Tupleo” and “Red Right Hand.” He paced the set perfectly, starting strong, slowing down in the middle with slow ballads, and then bringing the energy back up again. He closed the show with “Stagger Lee,” his darkest, most decadent ballad, before sending the satisfied crowd home.

Set list:
1. Hold on to yourself
2. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. Tupelo
4. Weeping Song
5. Red Right Hand
6. Midnight Man
7. Love Letter
8. God is in the house
9. Moonland
10. Mercy Seat
11. Deanna
12. Hard On For Love
13. We Call Upon The Author
14. Papa Won't Leave You Henry

Encore:

15. The Lyre of Orpheus
16. Get Ready For Love
17. Stagger Lee