Encoring with “In the Ghetto” at his recent Spit appearance, Cave let the quiet passion of the single give way in to a Tom Jones swagger, belting out the song as if he were in the Star Search finals (judging by the bevy of females swooning at his feet, I figure he won). True to form, he did not seem jovial during his performance; in the midst of opening “Box for Black Paul,” he was so uninvolved with the audience, I wasn’t sure that we’d get more than one song. Fortunately, Cave was so taken aback at the adoring response, he continued. Although some of the record’s oblique humor got lost in the onstage chaos, Cave proved to be an adept showman; if he’s indifferent for mere fans, he’s dead serious about his disgust. Jeffery Lee Pierce of the Gun Club once joked that his band would destroy all music. Not to discount his efforts, but no one’s met that challenge as successfully as Cave.
Related:
Carnal knowledge, Photos: Brand New at House of Blues, Photos: Devendra Banhart at Berklee, More 
- Carnal knowledge
When I interviewed Nick Cave for the Phoenix three years ago and he told me — drolly, languidly, literarily — that his next writing project was about “a sexually incontinent hand-cream salesman” on the south coast of England, I assumed he was taking the piss.
- Photos: Brand New at House of Blues
Photos from Brand New's Boston stop on their Daisy tour
- Photos: Devendra Banhart at Berklee
Photos of Devendra Banhart at the Berklee Performance Center.
- Photos: Metric at House of Blues
Metric live at House of Blues Boston, November 20, 2009
- Brand new funk
Evan Hanson and Brendon Bjorness-Murano, better known as lyricist 90Sevan and beatminer/composer Low B, teamed up just seven months ago to form Broken Ground.
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Only Hunter S. Thompson could come up with a line like that; no one else had his knack for the near-Biblical proverb. Few writers outside of Madison Avenue or the New Testament can sum up a zeitgeist so cannily in a phrase.
- Bio beware
Elvis Perkins has got a backstory on him.
- New attitude
The rock career of UK upstarts the Big Pink has been one of finding, at the intersection of sheer bloody noise and haunting melodies, the commonality of hate and love.
- Sing your life
Charles Spearin's Happiness Project — to be performed this Friday at the Middle East Downstairs as part of a trio of Torontonian acts — was originally just that: a project.
- A band, a part
My lingering qualms with Devendra Banhart's new album have very little to do with its substance and more to do with its consistency, a quality that throughout What Will We Be? seems present only in its glaring absence.
- Wale | Attention Deficit
It turns out there is merit behind the billion-dollar hype machine that’s been propelling Wale since he surfaced on the face of URB two years ago.
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Topics:
Flashbacks
, Entertainment, Music, Nick Cave, More
, Entertainment, Music, Nick Cave, Nick Cave, birthday party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Less
