It's been a busy year for veteran goth rocker Nick Cave: back to back touring with two different bands (Grinderman and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and a new critically acclaimed album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! released in the spring. But one of the highlights had to be last weekend's 'homecoming' gig in Cave's adopted city of Brighton & Hove, where he was joined by the current Bad Seeds line-up of Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos and Warren Ellis. Even in the uninspiring surrounds of the drab Brighton Centre, this eccentrically ageing assemblage bewitched their ecstatic fans with a spine-tinglingly powerful and utterly transporting set.

Looking not unlike a character from Dr Seuss, with his now trademark goofy moustache and floppy black hair, the cadaverous icon strutted about the stage with a vigour belying his 51 years - engaging with the audience in an uncharacteristically affable manner. Tracks from the latest album were interspersed with crowd-pleasing classics such as 'Red Right Hand', 'Mercy Seat' and 'Deanna'. Some of these songs are over 20 years old, and yet are still delivered with heartbreakingly raw conviction. In the spirit of legendary departed Chansonniers Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel, Cave's mellifluous, immaculately enunciated vocals adapt easily to suit both tender love songs and bitter raging assails. His profound vocal and physical presence lent a compelling, almost cinematic quality to the event, suspending us in an awed-dreamlike state for the (all too short) duration.

The rest of the Bad Seeds were on equally good form, especially Warren Ellis who rocked out on his electric fiddle, greying mane flailing. After a rattlingly tight hour and a half of near-seamless performance, the band acted out the usual charade of going off stage, before returning for the inevitable encore. Obliging the over-excited punters by taking requests, which included 'Straight to You', 'Oh Mama' and 'Hard On For Love', they finished on the suitably profane 'Stagger Lee' - and for one intoxicating moment we were all teenage rebels once more.

Rowan Stanfield
www.rowstar.blogspot.com