Ol' Nick is no stranger to these shores, having made the trip to Liss Ard a couple of times in the past few years, and also doing the lecture circuit, piano and poetry book in tow. This weekend, he brought some old friends along with him - there was a palpable sense of anticipation at the Olympia as we awaited the overdue return of The Bad Seeds to Dublin.
Older, wiser, and dare I say, tamer, but still as thin as a rake, Cave looked every bit the scary mod undertaker in his skinny suit and winkle-pickers. His unruly hair is thinning on top, and his demonic onstage persona seems a little more theatrical, but his passion for storytelling and allegory, along with a penchant to declaim a little too forcefully, hasn't waned. Songs like Oh My Lord, Lime Tree Arbour and Henry Lee conjured up gothic images of nefarious deeds beneath the bower, and the music undulated between waves of thundering, vengeful violence and tender, deathbed caresses.
The Bad Seeds - Blixa Bargeld and Mick Harvey on guitars, Conway Savage on keyboards, Martyn Casey on bass and Thomas Wydler on drums were joined by a relatively new recruit, violinist Warren Ellis from Dirty Three. With his gangly, flailing legs and whirling dervish delivery, Ellis added sandblown shades to songs like Hallelujah, God Is In The House and Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow, three of the better tunes from the so-so new album, No More Shall We Part.
Cave uncovered old favourites such as The Weeping Song, The Mercy Seat and The Ship Song, reminding us he was once the finest torchbearer of doomed romance and deadly retribution. The fire and brimstone has fizzled out a bit, but the malevolent spark of greatness is still there.
