Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with Ed Kuepper at the guitar : I couldn’t miss that event for nothing even if I had to travel to Dresden in Germany (close to the Czech Republic !) June 21th (the Music Day in France !) to see them for the unique show which was not played in a festival during their current European tour 2009.

A nice intimate atmosphere in Junge Garde, an amphitheater with 3500 people (ref.the press) among the beautiful trees in the town’s central park, which allowed me to be in front of the stage without any big troubles : I can’t appreciate a show at another place, so close to the energy !

 
Nick Cave the charismatic poet and Ed Kuepper the guitar’s devil !!

Nick Cave taking the guitar to add still more electricity in the air…the threatened dark clouds disappeared subitely from the sky for our luck (it was raining almost all the time I was in Dresden !!).

 

Nick happy to have put the rose he got from a fan in Warren Ellis ‘ shirt : the poor had the both hands busy on his violin and couldn’t protest; Nick outside the stage, fascinating the audience with his voice and hands…

« Midnight Man »‘s excerpt just to give you an idea of the ambiance Live on stage and surely one of my favorite songs !

 

Ed Kuepper very focused in the music, Thomas Wyller who did a fantastic job using every tools which make sounds to beat his drums; Nick always involved 100% in his lyrics. The words I can remember which chronologically came through my head during the show : Magnifique, Excellent, Intensity, a dramatic intensity which gives you thrills on the skin.

« Papa Won’t Leave You Henry »‘s excerpt : a magic moment with Ed Kuepper at the acoustic guitar accompagning Nick Cave who told us a new story always as close as possible to the audience…

All the 7 Bad Seeds on the same pic (from right to left) : Ed Kuepper (guitar), Thomas Wyller (drums), Conway Savage (keyboards), Martyn Casey (bass), Jim Sclavunos (drums), Nick Cave (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Warren Ellis (very small guitar and violin).

 

Ed Kuepper and Nick Cave constantly moving from a place to another one; another word coming to my head later was : Elegance in their attitudes, subtleties in the light shows (which unfortunately were not really captured by my slow camera) and sometime the feeling to penetrate in their musical laboratory where they are re-creating Live a new performance every night. By the way, even if front of the stage the sound quality was simply perfect ! Congratulations to Matt Crosby the sound engineer !

 

Ed, Nick and Thomas; Nick often pointing the sky; everybody singing the backing vocals. The show started precisely at 8:30 pm with the twilight and fortunately finished at 10:30 in the night allowing us to appreciate at least the colorfull light show with the music climbing in crescendo until the last song « Get Ready For Love » and the red and white lights effects at their maximum : Nice sentence for a goodbye !

PS : I was allowed by the security to enter in the audience with my small compact camera (no extra lens; the clips are just filmed with the basic video option) thanks to the management teams who are admitting right now that everybody who has a mobile phone in his pocket has in the same time a camera and a video recorder too. Nice they accepted now my little camera without phone. In fact at the AC/DC’s show in Marseille it was allowed too but I didn’t know it ! I dedicated all these pics and clips to Nick Cave’s and Ed Kuepper’s fans in Australia hoping you could see them Live too one day ! Thanks to Martyn and Gudrun who were my fantastic hosts in Dresden ! Thanks to Ed for everything : terrific to see him again in person and on the stage ! Long Life to the Bad Seeds !! For the European fans, check their tour’s next dates on their myspace pages and don’t miss them !

Meltingpod Connections : Update June 29th
I found Dresden gig’s set list in Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds Forum : Tupelo, Dig Lazarus Dig !!!, Red Right Hand, Deanna, Midnight Man, The Ship Song, Henry Lee, Moonland, The Mercy Seat, Love Letter, There She Goes My Beautiful World, The Weeping Song, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Stagger Lee, (encore) Breathless, Straight To You, We Call Upon The Author, Jesus Of The Moon, Get Ready For Love and Lucy !! btw : I’m sure « Get Ready For Love » was the last song though…:)
PS : Thanks to the Queensland Music Festival, Ed’s next act after this tour, who chose my very first video at l’Olympia 2008 to present Ed’s work !!