Live Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds @ Riviera 9/28

Each night, Nick Cave aims to knock you on your ass, wait for you to get up, and then knock you down again. For decades now, his trademark intensity has served him well, but it's only been in recent years that he's allowed his subtle sense of humor to sneak out from under all the fire and brimstone of his live oeuvre. Backed by the ever-reliable Bad Seeds (the untamed outback equivalent of the E Street Band), Cave relished the over-the-topness of his Old Testament rants and poetic excursions at Chicago's Riviera Theatre, the first of two sold out nights that saw the 51-year old operating at an impressive peak.

Cave was certainly fueled by the no-pressure detour of his Grinderman project, which featured a pared down and raw version of The Bad Seeds, and was further powered by songs from this year's awesome Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! No one expects Cave to be anything less than committed, but it always helps to have new songs that hold up alongside the old classics. Thus for every reliable standard such as "Tupelo," "Red Right Hand," "Deanna," or "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry," there was an equally strong track-- "Night Of The Lotus Eaters,"  "We Call Upon The Author," "Midnight Man," and in particular the hushed menace of "Moonland"-- from the new disc. When in doubt, Cave and crew merely unleashed the aggro discord of songs such as "Hard On For Love," the martial melodrama "The Weeping Song" or "Into My Arms." "Everybody sing along!' he commanded, with an ironic wink, as he sat down behind the piano to play the pretty ballad.

Sweating through his shirt as he swaggered, staggered, and raged across the stage, Cave had full command of both his voice and the audience, confident that no matter how crazed he got the Bad Seeds would have his back. Really, who needs a light show when you have Warren Ellis, a wildly hirsute right-hand man who spent the night making the most noise possible from the smallest of instruments?

By the time the gang wrapped things up with the ever-profane "Stagger Lee," it was had to imagine how they'd deliver at the same energy level for their second night at the Riviera-- though they did, for nearly two hours and with a similar set list. And so they'll continue, until the whole world is at last convinced of Cave and the Bad Seeds' hard-earned legendary status.