Nick Cave live in Vienna

I’d never heard of Nick Cave until this year when I participated in a workshop run by the Vienna Poetry Academy and discovered that he taught there in 1998, and found a lecture he gave.

This, I guess is all part of the synchronicity I recently mentioned. Last night’s solo performance at the Wiener Konzerthaus was an initiation and a fabulous experience.

Nick Cave, with three members of his band, played to an almost full house, starting just after 7.30pm. At 9pm he left the stage and people moved like quiet surf up to the stage, filling the aisles and demanding an encore. He came back and played with three members of his band (percussion and drums, viola (I think), guitar, and Nick on the grand piano and guitar) for more than another 30 minutes. Then he said goodnight. There were cries for more, and he came back for a last encore finale. The performance was almost two and a half hours with no intermission.

I wanted to get a teatowel, but they were sold out; but I did manage to pick up a CD – The Best of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. I definitely know who he is now. Wow! On the way out I saw a sign indicating to patrons that the decibel level would be higher than usual and that they had thingies to protect patrons’ ears. (So glad I missed that on the way in.) The opulent chandeliers made it through the evening and so did I. A compleat experience.