At the end of 2025, we hardly needed "Live God" to tell us what a Nick Cave live show represents. Both for the artist and for the audience. More than concerts: a uniquely ritual dimension, whatever shape they take. Whether it's just piano and voice (as rediscovered this past summer), the post-Covid/"Carnage" era (also captured on record), or the full-throttle dimension with the Bad Seeds. It's precisely with the Bad Seeds that Cave returned last year with "Wild God" and the accompanying tour, from whose European dates the tracks of "Live God" were drawn.
The track selection is the most interesting aspect of this release. The sequencing - different from the actual live setlists - offers a perfect coexistence of Cave's many souls. Priority obviously goes to "Wild God" - enhanced by the presence of four female voices - as made clear from the title itself and the opening one-two punch: "Frogs" and "Wild God". From there, the journey weaves together the sublime passages of "Ghosteen", even more wrenching live, the great classics - from "Tupelo" to "Papa Won't Leave You Henry" via "Into My Arms" - and the works written "solo" with Warren Ellis for "Carnage". Sealing the balance is "I Need You", stripped of the synthetic layers of "Skeleton Tree".
Revisiting one of the most intense and moving moments of Cave's output, we see how the artist keeps "making peace" with a record that - by his own admission in "Faith, Hope and Carnage" - represents a complicated period, both artistically and personally.
What emerges is a fully realized narrative, where the various phases that have marked the Australian musician's recent career and life (grief, pain, faith, isolation, the return to life) lock together through "I Need You", "Bright Horses" and "Joy".
The listen captures the whole of Cave's soul: the wilder, more visceral side in direct contact with the crowd, as on "Red Right Hand", as well as the side that, seated at the piano, touches the deepest chords.
"Live God" doesn't just make you want to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds again as soon as possible - it also leaves a trace of bitterness in those who missed these performances live.
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09/12/2025
This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Alessio Belli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.
Tracklist
- 1. Frogs
- 2. Wild God
- 3. O Children
- 4. From Her to Eternity
- 5. Long Dark Night
- 6. Cinnamon Horses
- 7. Tupelo
- 8. Conversion
- 9. Bright Horses
- 10. Joy
- 11. I Need You
- 12. Carnage
- 13. Red Right Hand
- 14. White Elephant
- 15. O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)
- 16. Papa Won’t Leave You Henry
- 17. Into My Arms
- 18. As the Waters Cover the Sea
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