November 25, 2004
Nick Cave and the Memories
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds played last night at the Heineken Music Hall, which is why we didn't go, the Heineken Music Hall is under BOYCOTT for various reasons, not least of them the great St-Germain-disaster-of-2002.*
This morning there was a review of the concert in De Volkskrant which completely validated (ooh, now I'm trilingual, I can write American too!) our decision not to go as it bemoaned the lack of feeling Cave injected into his music, especially the older numbers. Poor Nick, I blame the venue!
The review DID mention that the Bad Seeds had been around for 20 years. This was a bit of KING HIT at 10.30 on a frosty winter's morning over your first coffee. 20 YEARS? I still think of the Bad Seeds as the NEW Nick Cave band. The new-fangled-trendy-not-sure-if-I'll-buy-this version of Nick Cave after The Birthday Party and those fun lovers, The Boys Next Door. Who will ever forget "Door Door" and the classic "Shiver"? Does ANYONE know what I'm talking about?
I can remember going to the Seaview Ballroom in St Kilda, (when it was a decrepit goth hangout, looooong before it became the George) and seeing Nick and the Birthday Party upstairs in the Ballroom. They weren't meant to be using the Ballroom for gigs as it didn't meet building safety requirements and as the crowd danced you could feel the old springy floor moving up and down in what became an increasingly alarming manner. (The Ballroom was probably one of the few venues that would be raided just as often by the Fire Brigade - responsible for building regulations regulation- as by the Police) The floor was bouncing up and down and Nick Cave had stripped down to his leopard skin undies (or was that a Cramps gig?) and sang the longest version of Nick The Stripper ever.
It must have been 82 or '83, I had a fake ID, a Black Russian, Depeche-Mode-hair, a crush on Roland and was desperately trying to look mean. I didn't realise it at the time but I was failing dismally!
*Other reasons include the knee high slush of beer and cracked plastic beer containers you end up wading through by the end of every concert, the fact that they serve only Heineken beer, the complete lack of atmosphere, (Its name 'Black Box' is the most inspiring thing about the place, seriously!), the fact that you have to catch the Metro to get there, the fact that its not the Paradiso, the stupid-token system, need I go on?
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