Grinderman, featuring Nick Cave and other members of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds rolled through Chicago last night at The Riviera. That’s quite the upgrade in terms of venue size from their previous 2007 stop at The Metro.
But even a space that is triple the size wasn’t big enough for the ferocious Grinderman sound.
This striking delivery with a flair for the dramatic is a perfect accomplice to Cave’s dark twisted subject matter and spastic stage manner.
But this is not to say that these guys aren’t having any fun. In fact, it almost seems like Grinderman is their playground in which to let loose, compared to the more structured and polished performances of the Bad Seeds.
And I must say, I’m a bit happy that he’s nixed the porn ‘stache that he’s sported the past handful of years, as the baby-faced Cave contrasted nicely with his ogre-bearded bandmates.
The band played all nine tracks off their new record, ‘Grinderman 2’ and nearly the entire debut album in the 80-minute set…but I for one was hoping for at least one Bad Seeds song to conclude the proceedings.
Photos were allowed for only the very first song, so I had to work fast. My bad though, for having my zoom lens attached at the very moment Mr. Cave approached the crowd and was literally balancing directly over my head. That’s a shot I’d kill to have had, but all I could do was look up and watch. Enjoy.
For Grinderman music and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds video, check out the yesterday’s Grinderman post.
