One of the world's great showmen capped off 10 days of entertainment at All Points East in Victoria Park on Sunday (August 28).
While on record Nick Cave is literary and often stately, backed by the Bad Seeds on stage he is a livewire, playing through the emotions, joy to tears.
Earlier in the day Robert Glasper gave an engrossing afternoon jazz performance, with stunning virtuoso drumming provided by Justin Tyson.
A nine-piece Spiritualized created a wall of strobes and space rock with songs like Lay It Down Slow, and pure gospel in So Long You Pretty Thing.
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood had headbanging fun swapping guitar and bass with The Smile, and Sleaford Mods had heading-nodding fun in the North Stage tent. Their revved-up club beats might have been better suited to Saturday’s dance line-up. Instead you could sense a fair few people mouthing "Ki-wa-nu-ka?" to suggest a move to the West Stage.
The collected Bad Seeds were the day's focus, though, and Cave bounded straight to the crowd for the opening Get Ready For Love, the stage extended so that he could literally embrace the audience.
Superb sound quality benefited the work of a master songwriter with pieces like Bright Horses ("And everyone is hidden, and everyone is cruel,
and there's no shortage of tyrants, and no shortage of fools"), and every word of songs like O Children could be milked for emotion.
But it is not cynical. Cave has suffered incredible grief in recent times and the tears during I Need You must be real ("just breathe, just breathe").
But he is funny too. That's what those who haven't seen a live performance miss, a charismatic star charming the crowd (and mocking their Wilco T-shirt).
The Bad Seeds are a powerhouse and violinist and guitarist Warren Ellis remains one of the great underappreciated rock stars.
The Mercy Seat is as monumental as ever and the "hit" Red Right Hand clangs in all the right places.
Setlist
Get Ready For Love
There’s She Goes My Beautiful World
From Her to Eternity
O Children
Jubilee Street
Bright Horses
I Need You
Waiting For You
Tupelo
Red Right Hand
The Mercy Seat
The Ship Song
Higgs Boson Blues
City of Refuge
White Elephant
Encore
Into My Arms
Vortex
Ghosteen Speaks
The Weeping Song
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