August 26th, 2026Gigs with Darren Lowe
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Vilnius, Lithuania – August 18
Kalnų Parkas, in the beautiful city of Vilnius, Lithuania, an amphitheatre amidst a parkland with nearby stunning views of the city and, as we are in Europe, a castle nearby. Summer tour here, only a few dates left, this being the only one in the Baltic region, the crowd is huge, reverential and unfortunately, wet.
This is the first rainy day over the last week of glorious late summer sunshine, I’ve been told this happens a lot. The weather holds out for the over two and a half hours of this mesmerising interactive emotional concert experience.
As my mate Andy said earlier in the year in Melbourne, David Byrne is theatre, Nick Cave is church! Perfect. Over the time ( did I mention the length of gig?) we were in the presence of Nick’s sermon-like prowling of the stage, crowd surfing, joking, interacting with the crowd, and moving as one with a 10-piece band. Not afraid to try new or not recently performed material, starting again. Is that in G minor? Do I come in first?
The 21-song setlist draws from the breadth of his work, more so than in the earlier tour, which leaned more towards his latest album Wild God.
So, the highlights? After a stunning assault to the senses, Get Ready For Love, an oft-repeated ‘F***king Vilnius’ was bellowed to rapturous applause. The band are astonishing.
Warren Ellis, as always, violin, guitar, synthesizers, loops, backing vocals. Jim Sclavunos drums, percussion, and backing vocals. George Vjestica on guitars and backing vocals. Colin Greenwood bass, (Radiohead), Larry Mullins on keyboards, piano, percussion, and additional drums and Carly Paradis, keyboards, synthesisers. Backing vocalists (Touring Choir) are Janet Ramus, T Jae Cole, Miça Townsend, and Wendi Rose.
Early tracks were strongly featured on setlist. Tupelo and Train Long Suffering from The Firstborn Is Dead were standouts. Gospel/spiritual themed O Children and Joy featured the phenomenal touring choir. Warren Ellis was, as usual, visually and aurally mesmerising, but shined particularly on duo work from Carnage, dedicated to Patricija and all mothers, and of course staples such as The Weeping Song. Is it just me or is the ringing of a bell on Melbourne trams the same pitch as the familiar intro to Red Right Hand? (I know, that’s really music nerdy!)
I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, but I already understand how significant the line “the Russians moved in” from Jubilee Street feels here — perhaps Cave gave it extra emphasis.
The ensemble is superb: a unified force that is part rock ‘n’ roll spectacle, part interactive spiritual experience. A chilling version of Henry Lee featuring Janet Ramus, stepping out from the chorus; amazing.
Nick does remarkably well to crowd surf and perform from the audience in a suit, especially at his older years. Skeleton Tree, which he admitted is difficult to include in the setlist, left the crowd gasping at its fragility and raw emotion. On a whim, the band added Cinnamon Horses with Cave asking again what key it was in and who starts. A solo keyboard intro to The Mercy Seat gave the song even more of an impact with its building crescendo. City Of Refuge with its haunting harmonica intro was a perfect opening to the encore.
The epic Hollywood from Ghosteen featured the lyrics projected in Lithuanian as a prelude the encore. Thousands of people whispering the lyrics to Into My Arms has to be heard, and seen, to be believed, re-start and forgotten lyrics adding to audience connection. Stunning. F***king Vilnius indeed.
