Has the theme tune for this year’s Conservative Party conference been picked yet? Because it’s hard to see how they could do better than our original doomsday prophet: the moon-faced grinch Nick Cave and his discordant orchestra of deliverance.
This is the age of the dog-house-fire meme, after all. There’s a cost of living crisis, an energy crisis, a political crisis, and a total lack of urgency from our chillaxing, trainer-wearing leaders. And nobody finds comfort in chaos quite like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. At his best, Cave’s back catalogue is a cosmic blend of the funereal and the enraptured – both elegy and ecstasy. For this two-hour performance at All Points East festival in east London’s Victoria Park, Cave has brought along the gospel choir that now accompanies so many of his live performances.
