Nick Cave has shared a moving response to a fan who shared that he left a Bad Seeds show early after feeling “too emotional”.
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The fan reached out to Cave on his online blog, The Red Hand Files, and admitted to the singer that he was so moved by a live rendition of ‘Into My Arms’ that he had to leave the show prematurely. According to the fan, the track – which was the first single of Cave’s 10th album with the Bad Seeds, ‘The Boatman’s Call’ – reminded him of “the amazing times” he had with an ex-girlfriend, which he knows he “will never get back”.
Responding, Cave shared his sympathies with the fan and explained how he has often noticed the intense emotions fans have to his music during live shows.
“Live music is a ritual that evokes a common emotional response to which we attach our singular experiences. When I perform on stage, I can see these unique and particular feelings play out on each face,” he began. “This is one of the great privileges of being a frontman, and it is why I spend so much time close to the audience. I love to watch the emotions on people’s faces – joy, sorrow, yearning, laughter, fear, rage.
“The concert becomes powerfully and empathetically transactional as we experience together the therapeutic nature of the music. As the show evolves, a to-ing and fro-ing of kindness emerges, energised by our mutual regard, and the healing begins.”
He continued, urging the fan to start embracing the emotions that arise and work through them, rather than try to avoid them. “A live concert can feel overwhelming, even frightening, because its emotional power can suddenly bring our most buried experiences to the surface. But feelings are meant to be felt – that’s what they are for.
“We heal by acknowledging our emotions and test our heart’s resilience by lingering within the unbearable. It is something music can help us do. We find our hearts are much stronger than we presumed, and what we thought was unbearable was nothing of the sort. Music draws forth these subterranean feelings and simultaneously rescues us from them.”
Concluding, he reassured the fan that while they feel the “amazing times” are behind them, there are many more positive experiences that will arise after confronting the hardships. “I’m happy you came to the concert in Birmingham, but I think it was a lost opportunity to ‘leave early’ from a feeling before it had run its course and done its reparative work.
“I understand it must be painful to feel those ‘amazing times’ are behind you, but they are not, there are many more to come. There will be further heartbreaks too, but hearts break stronger,” Cave added. “We must not retreat from our feelings. We must confront them. Rehearse them. Get better at them. To paraphrase Samuel Beckett – hurt, hurt again, hurt better. This is one of the things live music allows us to do – to hurt and heal concurrently. My advice? Get back out there. Live life to the fullest – and stay for the whole damn show. It’s amazing.”
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds perform live in 2024 (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty)
Cave shared his latest album ‘Wild God’ last year, and it was given a four-star review by NME. “Bad Seeds records are infamously loaded with gothic doom and gloom. Of course, this ain’t a poptastic LOLfest, and still coloured with the many shades of a life so challenging and weathered,” it read.
“But never has Cave been so freewheelin’ than on the giddy ‘Frogs’, ‘Jumping for love and the opening sky above’ as ‘Kris Kristofferson walks by kicking a can in a shirt he hasn’t washed for years’. With a lust for life, the once-dark prince is letting the light in.”
More recently, it was confirmed that the record had been shortlisted for the 20th annual Australian Music Prize, and a first-look image of Matt Smith in the upcoming TV adaptation of Cave’s book The Death Of Bunny Munro was shared.
The six-part Sky series is based on the musician’s 2009 novel, which focuses on the relationship between the titular father and his son as they both deal with grief while embarking on a road trip. An exact release date has not yet been shared, although the series is expected to arrive at some point this year.
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