Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Live!

Nick Cave released 'Henry's Dream' in 1992 but, although this was album that kickstarted my love for him and his band, I didn't see him on that tour, mainly because I didn't get the album until the following Christmas!

It's a fine sounding album to my ears but Nick didn't like the production apparently, so he released an album from that tour called 'Live Seeds', which he felt better represented the songs. It is a truly amazing live album. And then he did another tour - 'The Tin Tour, I believe - to promote the live album and that, some time late on in 1994, is the first time I saw him play live.

I've seen Nick many, many times since and through numerous line-ups of the Bad Seeds. On balance, I think the touring band for 'Let Love In' was my all time favourite but it's true to say that every incarnation has had its merits, even if I do still miss Blixa Bargeld.

Last night I went to see them again at the O2 Apollo in Manchester. My regular #gigbuddy is off sunning herself somewhere far away but, fortunately, the subs' bench is of a remarkably high calibre and so I gave The Minx's ticket to Dom.

A more time consuming than anticipated drive up from London left me with no time to change out of my suit and I didn't take an umbrella on the train to Manchester, so I was ill-prepared for the deluge at Piccadilly where I met Dom. As I was running later than planned there was no time for a drink and we headed through the relentless rain to the Apollo. And so it was that I arrived looking like a Bad Seed that had been left out in the rain and feeling unnaturally sober.

Still, there was time to enjoy a couple of drinks in the bar before heading up to our seats, which were in the back row of the circle, right at the outside edge. Now, this wasn't the disaster it might have been since the sound turned out to be superb, plus the wooden barrier behind us proved an excellent place to steady my camera.

And so to the music: the band came on and launched into 'We No Who U R', the opening track from the new album, 'Push The Sky Away'. It was a slowish start, although the band sounded in fine form, but Nick only seemed to begin to hit his stride with the next track, 'Jubilee Street', which built up to a raucous crescendo in the fine and well established Seeds fashion.

A roll of thunder and we were into 'Tupelo', a huge favourite of mine, not to mention a complete surprise, so at this point I knew that this would be a memorable gig for me, even if it was rubbish from then on. But it wasn't: 'Right Right Hand' (Dom's favourite); 'Papa Won't Leave You, Henry'; 'Mermaids'; and a second big surprise in the form of 'From Her To Eternity', which served to demonstrate that right from the earliest part of his career Nick had a way with words and their delivery.

A rather slow section followed - 'West Country Girl' (meh), 'God Is In The House', 'People Ain't No Good' and 'Into My Arms' - before affairs picked up and we enjoyed a riproaring couplet of 'Hiding All Away' and 'The Mercy Seat'. 'Stagger Lee', next, was all right; I love the song but the new 'loungey' version doesn't do it for me. (The best version I ever saw was at Glastonbury in 1998: the final, apocalyptic section, containing Blixa's truly blood-curdling scream, is the only time in my adult life when I think I have ever been truly, completely 'in the moment'.) And then the main set closed with a haunting version of 'Push The Sky Away', which came to shimmering life in a way that isn't quite managed on the album.

I'm not a fan of the whole encore business but the wait was short enough before the band returned to deliver 'We Real Cool', a blistering 'Jack The Ripper' and, a final surprise, the old live favourite 'Deanna'. That would have been a great place to finish, I think, but then we were treated to a new song, 'Give Us A Kiss', the first part of which was, basically, Nick at the piano. However, any feeling of disappointment was abated by the second half in which Nick moved from the piano and the Bad Seeds took up the melody and carried it to a delicate and minimal close.

And a final word about this line up of the Bad Seeds, who now lack Mick Harvey, Nick's musical companion and sometime de facto musical director since The Birthday Party days. It was nice to see former Bad Seeds bassist Barry Adamson helping out with keyboards and percussion, and new boy George Vjestica was great on guitar. Long serving Seeds Conway Savage (piano) and Martyn P Casey (bass) were as understated yet essential as ever, while Warren Ellis (violin and anything else that comes to hand) was as extraordinary and entertaining as ever.

My final mention, though, must go to Jim Sclavunos on the drums, whom I've always found a bit leaden compared with (in my mind) proper drummer Thomas Wydler. However, Wydler is unwell and so Sclavunos is playing all the drums for this tour. From the back of the hall I didn't realise this until he stood up - he's very tall - and up until that point I'd thought how well Wydler was playing.

Whether you think you like Nick Cave or not, I'd highly recommend you see him live with the Bad Seeds if you can; they are an amazing live proposition. But then, as you can tell from the above, I would say that!