Monday 16 October 2017

The Genius of Nick Cave

#27: God Is In The House [live]

This just has to be one of my all-time favourite performances from Later... With Jools Holland. Nick and the Bad Seeds around the piano for an exquisite, intimate rendition of God Is In The House from 2001's 'No More Shall We Part'. There's a bit during the last verse where the camera pans in slowly on Nick as he practically whispers, hovering in closeup while he sings "If we all hold hands and very quietly shoouuut 'Hallelujah'..." before it retreats for the final few lines. I love that part. The song? A tale of a rather sinister-sounding Christian utopia sung in places with barely-concealed venom. Only Nick Cave is capable of a song like this, and the performance - simply stunning.



2 comments:

  1. Remarkable. A true hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck performance.

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  2. It's a song that I only enjoy in the live setting....I'm not convinced the studio recording came close to nailing it. And you're right, the performance on Later was spellbinding.

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