It was quite a surprise when, last year, Nick Cave took to the road with Warren Ellis, the only member of his usual ensemble and his closest Bad Seed spirit, leaving the rest of them behind; and it’s quite a surprise now when, only a couple of days before its release, the duo announced the issue, on August 25th, of “Australian Carnage – Live At the Sydney Opera House”: a glorious document of their homeland concerts, a part of the “Carnage” tour.
The record gathers the best Cave ‘n’ Ellis’ performances from December 16th, 17th and 18th – which had almost identical setlists – and features RADIOHEAD’s Colin Greenwood on bass. By picking nine out of eleven “Ghosteen” songs and six out of eight “Carnage” pieces to take the bulk of these shows – at least, on the record, as there were a few more encores than made it to this album (and there will be even fewer on its vinyl version) – the veterans focus on their relatively recent output. An interesting proposition – and, arguably, a rather sad one, in terms of mood.
& WARREN ELLIS –
Australian Carnage
1. Spinning Song
2. Bright Horses
3. Night Raid
4. Carnage
5. White Elephant
6. Ghosteen
7. Lavender Fields
8. Waiting For You
9. I Need You
10. Cosmic Dancer
11. Breathless
12. Hand Of God
13. Shattered Ground
14. Galleon Ship
15. Leviathan
16. Balcony Man
17. Hollywood
18. Ghosteen Speaks
