'Distant Sky'

I first saw Nick Cave play live sometime in the second half of 1994. He was playing at The Town And Country Club, promoting the (excellent) 'Live Seeds' album, which was the document of the tour that promoted his (also excellent) album 'Henry's Dream'. 

Over the twenty odd years since then, I don't think I've missed a single one of his tours but I balked at the most recent one; suddenly he was playing the enormodomes. With the exception of Glastonbury (1998?), I think every venue I've seen Cave play has been less than maybe 3,000 seats. Seeing him in an arena didn't appeal to me at all. 

But I did feel/worry that I'd missed out. so when the Minx spotted the one night only, worldwide showing of 'Distant Sky', we bought tickets to see it in Hebden Bridge. 

To cut a long story short, Dan and Abi's mum reminded me that she was away in Frankfurt so the Hebden Bridge jaunt was cancelled but then she didn't go and, anyway, it ended up being me and Dan watching the film at the Dukes in Lancaster. Not that I'm complaining: sad though I was that the  Hebden Bridge jaunt didn't happen, I do love the Dukes and Dan is great company. Plus I thought it would be a great way for him to see the Bad Seeds play for the first time. 

So, after a burrito in Go Burrito and a pre-gig drink in the Dukes bar, we went through to the auditorium, happily bumping into my friends Tony and Emma, who I had hoped might be there (she is a big fan). 

As to the film, though, that was a disappointment. Ultimately, I found that the larger venue sucked the life out of Cave's songs: the intensity was missing and the dynamics blurred. Songs like the 'Tupelo' and 'The Mercy Seat' felt 10bpm too slow and only a couple of the more atmospheric numbers worked for me. Even 'Stagger Lee' was robbed of its menace. At its worst, there was a hint of arena era Simple Minds. 

It was an odd setlist, too. I think I was disappointed by all the songs that I would normally have been excited about but, to attempt a positive ending, I really enjoyed 'Jubilee Street' and 'Push The Sky Away'. I should also say, in mitigation, that a couple of Nick Cave fans I know went to the tour and loved it. (Although I saw Emma afterwards and she felt the same as me!)

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Reading: 'The Descent Of Man' (God, I need to actually open this book up again.)