At the Pantheon show, Nick Cave reminded again what a great stage artist he is

Even if the voice of the Australian giant is far from his best, this was probably his best performance in Israel.

Cave gave his all from the first note to the last song, but precisely when he was not near the audience and played the piano in the most painful songs, he let everyone touch him in the most polished way.

Performance review

Salon associate

08/24/2022

Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 08:40 Updated: 08:45

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Gave it all.

Kyiv (Photo: Orit Panini)

"Who brought the devil back in the answer?" asked Shahar Ben Barak in the Ma'ariv newspaper in 1990, referring to the album "The Good Son" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

"Kyiv, like a monster that conquered his creation, managed to overcome the devil in his midst and jump over the fence towards the sane world," was the language of the criticism, "Kyiv's hope remains to get out of hell with dignity."

32 years later, and Nick Cave continues to fight demons and ghosts through his music.

The Dark Prince may have managed to escape from hell, but he arrived at Live Park in Rishon Lezion - the place where good music comes to perish.

Kyiv's concert was supposed to be held at the Bloomfield Stadium, but the Corona epidemic postponed the concert and the new date did not fit with the stadium's schedules, and the concert was moved to the hell of the concert facilities in Israel.

These are not only the problems with parking and the traffic jams at the exit (in themselves a big nightmare), and not even the disgraceful conditions in the field (two urinals for thousands of men, and toilet paper that ran out an hour before the start of the show for the women) - but mainly the level division of the amphitheatre, which makes everyone who is not at the front of the stage feel as if he is in another show.

In other words: Nick Cave had to deal not only with Hampi's objective flaws, but also with the fresh memories of the fans who saw him in Eliyahu's hand in 2017 and expected to experience spiritual ascension again like then.

Wonderful song selection.

Kyiv (Photo: Orit Panini)

But the truth is that it doesn't matter at all.

When you scrape away the constant layers of exaggeration about "religious event" etc., you are left with the music - and this time, even if Nick Cave's voice is far from his best, it was probably the best music performance he gave in the Holy Land.

It starts with the wonderful selection of songs, which thanks to the corona break imposed on the band became a real hits collection.

This continues with the contemporary and very successful version of "The Bad Seeds", led by Warren Ellis - Wizard Woz to you - along with three backing singers, who added a gospel flavor to the performance, the music set the tone for almost two and a half hours.

And above all: the Australian feller himself, who simply gave his all from the first note to the last song.

Cave and the band opened as strong as possible, with a return to the rock days of "Get ready for love" followed immediately by "There She Goes, My Beautiful World".

From here, somehow, it still managed to get better.

The setlist cleverly mixed the hits from the beginning of the career with the painful songs of the band's last trilogy of albums.

Looking for the outstretched hands.

Kyiv (Photo: Orit Panini)

There is no physical barrier between the singer on stage and the audience, from the very first song Kyiv stretches out his hands to the audience and lets anyone who wants to touch him.

It becomes a farce sometimes, when instead of hands people hand him their phone.

from the signs of the times.

The atmosphere changes as soon as Kiev sits down at the piano.

One after the other he performs "I Need You" and "Waiting For You" - the two most painful songs of one of the greatest artists of pain in history.

These are the two songs that are most associated with the personal tragedy of Nick Cave, who lost two of his four sons.

Cave doesn't explicitly address loss, but his music does.

These are not naturally the most bouncy songs in the show, but precisely when he is far from the audience, sitting at the piano, he let us all touch him in the most polished way.

The hit parade continued with "Red Right Hand" which is also known as the theme song of "Peaky Blinders";

The eternal "Mercy Seat" in a relatively short version, which reminded a little more of the great cover of Johnny Cash than the original and claustrophobic performance of Cave;

And for dessert "Ship Song", from the same 1990 album in which Kyiv "captured his passion".

Aalek.

Cave mentioned what a great stage artist he is (in addition to being a poet, singer, writer, sculptor and a few other things he excels at) in "Higgs Boson Blues," an epic poem that examines the chaotic life of the 21st century through the eyes of a teenage Australian.

In the segment where Cave describes Miley Cyrus watching a pool, he suddenly breaks down, and starts repeating the words "Hannah Montana" over and over.

He approached the crowd, looking for the outstretched hands to grasp.

"Hannah Montana," he kept calling out the name of Miley Cyrus' famous character, the one his sons loved when they were young.

More in Walla!

Less than two months after his son's death, Nick Cave appears wrapped in overwhelming anger

To the full article

A huge stage artist.

Kyiv (Photo: Orit Panini)

The encore opened with Nick Cave alone on the piano, in a no less perfect performance of "Into My Arms".

There was no need for backing singers, certainly when the large crowd finally decided to join as one unit to support Kyiv, who for the first time raised his eyes to the amphitheater with great excitement.

Later he will perform, rather surprisingly, the classic "The Weeping Song", which he gradually returned to the set list in the last performances.

Warren Ellis gives a work on the electric violin as he does on quite a few other instruments throughout the evening, and Cave himself engages the audience in an entertaining way (with a song that describes children's tears, yes?) but this is the song where naturally everyone misses guitarist Belix Bergald, who gave for years the experimental touch for the bad seeds - and balanced the gloomy band leader with quite a bit of humor.

Bottom line: you don't need to use the root KSF or KSM to describe Nick Cave's performance.

It is likely that many reviews published today will use such words, such as the word "mesmerizing".

It may be that several hundred fans who stood near the stage and did not stop physically touching their idol really felt bewitched and enchanted, but the rest of the viewers of the show had to simply "make do" with a huge music show by a huge artist.

I hope he comes again soon.

I wish it was anywhere else but Rishon LeZion.

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