Live God by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Live God by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, 2025 album

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are one of the bands I follow the most, and over the years I have appreciated them the most outside of progressive rock.

Last year they released the beautiful Wild God, released five years after the previous one, produced with Warren Ellis. Cave's hope that the album would have an impact on listeners, a mix of depth and contagious joy, that it could strike an emotional chord, was fully satisfied in my case, and my appreciation grows with every listen. It is currently the 2024 album I have listened to the most since its release, of any genre. The lyrics are by Nick Cave, the music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Live God follows its release and is a live album, the recording of tracks taken from the “Wild God Tour” concerts, described by many attendees and by Nick Cave himself as an exhilarating, transcendent, and cathartic experience.

I did not attend those concerts so I cannot compare the album with the concerts themselves.

Instead, I saw his concert in Rome on July 22, 2025, without the Bad Seeds and with bassist Colin Greenwood from Radiohead in a semi-acoustic duo that managed to deliver great emotions; the two performed songs spanning the extraordinary career of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Beautiful concert.

What I heard in Wild God was a whole different story. I confirm what others have said, an exhilarating album that brought me back to the emotions I felt at previous concerts seen here in Rome at the Palazzetto dello Sport and at the Parco Della Musica with the full lineup, but above all to the first time I saw him live, it was June 7, 2008 for the "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" tour, in Athens at the Lycabettus Theatre, on top of the hill overlooking the city.

It was a fantastic concert for me, during which I heard for the first time live masterpieces from his repertoire that led me to listen to other songs and other albums, until I had listened to them all. The Lycabettus is high up, it was a beautiful clear night and a perfect intersection of events, perspectives, and magic, so that the rectangle of starry blue sky framed by the stage structure, which had no backdrop, included up in a corner a beautiful shining full moon.

Kick Cave asked the band to lower the volume, approached the audience and in a light tone, almost whispering, said "Look, we have the moon on stage...".

Live God is simply an extraordinary album, a powerful, magical, and moving record, with authentic moments like the microphone falling and the interaction with the audience, an ecstatic and very participative audience.

The tracks come from the most recent album and from the band's historic repertoire:

Frogs (from Wild God)
Wild God (from Wild God)
O Children (from Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus)

From Her to Eternity (from From Her to Eternity)
Cinnamon Horses (from Wild God)
Tupelo (from The Firstborn Is Dead)
Conversion (from Wild God)
Bright Horses (from Ghosteen)
Joy (from Wild God)
I Need You (from Skeleton Tree)
Carnage (from Carnage)
Red Right Hand (from Let Love In)
Papa Won't Leave You, Henry (from Henry's Dream)
Into My Arms (from The Boatman's Call)
As the Waters Cover the Sea (from Wild God)

Great album, masterful performance by Cave and the band. To listen to and listen to again.

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page

LineUp

Bass – Colin Greenwood
Drums, timpani, percussion – Larry Mullins
Electric guitar, acoustic guitar – George Vjestica
Phonograph [Live sound technical manager] – Barak Koren
Keyboards – Carly Paradis
Percussion, vibraphone, tubular bells, drums – Jim Sclavunos
Violin, tenor guitar, synthesizer – Warren Ellis
Vocals, percussion – Janet Ramus, Miça Townsend, T Jae Cole, Wendi Rose
Vocals, piano – Nick Cave