Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds brought the house down at Barclays Center (review, pics, setlist)
With a four-piece choir behind the band, Cave is like a Pentecostal preacher working his congregation while Warren Ellis is an exorcist casting out demons from his amp…
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds shows are often called a religious experience, and Thursday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center it was hard not to make that analogy. With a four-piece choir behind the band, Cave is like a Pentecostal preacher, bounding from his piano down to the runway at the crowd barrier, pacing the line as fans sing along and reach out to touch him.
At 67, Cave remains lanky and boundless in the energy department, though after the first of the night’s many showstoppers, “Jubilee Street,” he told the crowd, “Second night of the tour, five songs in and I’m like, “fuck I shouldn’t have been sitting on my ass for the last three months.'” He and The Bad Seeds kept up the pace for more than two hours, spacing out the powerhouse moments (“From Her to Eternity,” “Tupelo,” “Red Right Hand,” “The Weeping Song”) with quieter material, but the entensity never wavered.
Nick really feeds off his audiences and they were giving 100% too, though maybe too much at times. While he was at the barrier between songs at one point a fan held up a setlist for him to sign, complete with Sharpie. Nick obliged, but said “Ok, but do you know I’m doing a concert right now?” There was also a funny moment, after a few “Brooklyn!” shouts from Nick, someone shouted “New York!” which turned into a debate from the crowd over how they should be addressed. “Look, don’t murder yourselves over this,” Nick joked and it led to a running gag where he addressed the crowd differently each time, eventually saying near the end of the night “Thank you, whatever you are!”
While the focus is on Nick, multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis matched him in the charisma departement, seeming less a musician than an exorcist on stage, casting demons out of his amp, spinning around and conducting the band and the crowd with his violin and bow. The current lineup of the band is all around phenomenal, from drummer Toby Dammit, to bassist Colin Greenwood (on loan from Radiohead) and especially percussionist Jim Sclavunos, who bashed tambourines, and played xylophones and giant Morricone chimes. And the choir added so much, including a little choreography.
The main set, which included most of last year’s Wild God, climaxed with a killer triple shot of “Red Right Hand,” “The Mercy Seat” and “White Elephant” from Cave and Ellis’ 2021 album Carnage. They then returned for a four-song encore, starting high with “Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry” and “The Weeping Song,” and then winding down with “Skeleton Tree” before Nick closed the night with a solo piano rendition of “Into My Arms.” What a show. Wild God indeed.
St. Vincent opened the night with an entertaining, lightly theatrical set full of guitar fireworks and a little choreography. She had canceled her opening slot at Nick’s Boston show due to illness, but she seemed back up to speed in Brooklyn, and excited to be there. Annie Clark told the crowd that a lyric in Cave’s song “There She Goes, My Beautiful World” is where she got the name St. Vincent. A full-circle moment that made things all the evening all the more church-y.
Check out photos from Barclays by Dana Distortion, plus video and setlists for The Bad Seeds and St. Vincent, below.
SETLIST: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Barclays Center 4/17/2025
Frogs
Wild God
Song of the Lake
O Children
Jubilee Street
From Her to Eternity
Long Dark Night
Cinnamon Horses
Tupelo
Conversion
Bright Horses
Joy
I Need You
Carnage
Final Rescue Attempt
Red Right Hand
The Mercy Seat
White Elephant
Encore:
Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
The Weeping Song
Skeleton Tree
Into My Arms
SETLIST: St Vincent @ Barclays Center 4/17/2025
Reckless
Broken Man
Fear the Future
Los Ageless
Flea
Cheerleader
Pay Your Way in Pain
New York
Sugarboy
All Born Screaming
