~4/26/02-NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS, Khan featuring Kid Congo Powers~

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with opening band Khan featuring Kid Congo Powers. April 21st, the Crystal Ballroom Portland. This was a show that I'd first bought tickets for MONTHS ago. Someone told me that Nick hadn't played a show in the state for at least ten years, so this could be my only chance to catch him. Obviously this was something we were extremely excited for. The tour was supposed to take place last year, but due to the events of 911 it got pushed back a bit. We got worker supreme Veronica to cover for us and Jon and I made our merry way up to Portland to partake of some fine music. Deciding to forgo the standard way of getting in contact with our friends we made our way their houses direct to pester them. Our first attempt at finding suitable drinking partners for our elitist tastes was foiled as, Mr. Murdoch was seemingly very ill. As our self educumacated "Come drink some Guiness and you'll feel way better" brand of doctoring was not believed we headed to Derek's pad to try to get him to join us. Here we found some success and the three of us made our way to Ringlers, the bar/restaurant located on the bottom floor of the building the Crystal is located in. Coming around the corner at 7ish there was perhaps a dozen diehard fans allready in line. Assuming this meant that the line wouldn't get too nuts we ordered our drinks and sat down to enjoy the scenery. Ringlers is a pretty cool place. Being a Mcnenamins it's decorated very interestingly and for a bored Soberguy there's little bits of carved wood everywhere. Probably the best OJ I've ever had came from this place. Unfortunately it was the most expensive OJ I've ever had as well. Costing $2.10, more than Jons PBR which was $1.75. Finishing our drinks we did a quick check outside to see how the line was, and discovered that it had sneaked around the corner while we blissfully drank. Time to get in line and go inside. I've come to decide that I like the Crystal quite a bit. The helps always been really cool, and I've never been searched there. Always a bonus to any concert going experience. I was a little disappointed that no cameras were to be allowed in the venue for this show, but oh well. I was hoping to pick up a shirt, but the 25 dollar charge combined with the fact that the shirts themselves were wrong (wrong dates, plus Portlands NOT in Washington last I checked) made me decide to hold on to my hard earned cash. We made our way to the front, and I managed to secure a point 3 people back from the stage. 

The opening band (which I wasn't even sure there was going to be one as I couldn't find ANYTHING saying there would be) was Khan, featuring Kid Congo Powers. Watching these two kids walk on stage I had zero idea what to expect. Khan was dressed all in white, and looked more like those pesky church people I kick off my porch from time to time than a rock star. Turns out this was the entire band: two men, one guitar, and a drum machine. And they still kicked ass. Their set was super entertaining, very funny, and just well done. The two played off of each other really really well, trading guitar playing jobs, alternating singing, and at one point Kid even climbed up onto Khans shoulders to play his guitar. Their songs featured lyrics like "Show me how to shoot you" and "Talk Dirty To Me" (and at this point they'd drop the mic to the audience to get them to talk dirty! It was great!). I was very impressed with their show, and actually wished they'd have played a little longer. Khan is the "Turkish-German king of techno lounge" and the title is well deserving. 

At this point the rude fuckers started showing up and pushing their way to the front. This really pisses me off. If you want to see a band that badly you should show up fucking early with the rest of us. Girls are the worst breed of pushy show people. I think they realize that guys will generally be polite and let them through and lose their spots. I will not. If they want to push up against me they can feel free, but I'm not gonna move. At one point a surge of people behind me pushed me into a preppy looking fellow in front of me, who turned to me and said "Do you have to stand so close to me? It's making me very uncomfortable." My response to him was "Well, I guess maybe you SHOULDN'T HAVE STOOD AT THE FRONT OF A THOUSAND PEOPLE TRYING TO GET CLOSER TO THE STAGE!!!" He gave me a look as if to say "How dare you talk to me that way", then turned around and said nothing else. Fucking people. 

Then Mr. Cave took the stage, sat at his piano, and began playing "As I Sat Sadly By Her Side" (I think. I foolishly didn't keep notes of what songs he played, so I'm going by memory here.) Next song up was "Do You Love Me" and this was the song that really got the audience going. Everyone sang along, especially during the Jingle Jangle verses. The song grew and grew until the intensity of all the musicians was just insane! Orchestrated loud insane chaos! These guys put EVERYTHING into their playing, and the sound is thunderous. At the peak of many songs the sounds they produced was earth shattering, shaking the entire theater. Simply incredible. Nick smoked throughout the show, politely took the assorted offerings handed to him by the fans, and never failed to give the audience his all. He seemingly looked into everyone's eyes at least once while holding out his hands as if in offering to rise us up. And everyone loved it. Girls, and guys, were crying, singing along, and staring into his face like he was the messiah. The band busted out a variety of songs from the new disk in addition to several old favorites. No More Shall We Part, The Weeping Song, and the always classic Red Right Hand were among my favorites. Nick added a few new lines to several songs, and on "Red Right Hand he added: 'if you don't like the girl you came here with he'll find you a completely different one!". As they neared the end they did not one but two encores, performing two songs with each. The second encore featured "Henry Lee" and "Stagger Lee". Both songs seemingly the entire audience knew, and sang along with. "Stagger Lee" ended the show perfectly, as Nick sang a verse I'd never heard before, ending with Stag putting four holes in the devils head. The band put EVERYTHING into this final song, and Blixas shrieking screaming vocals on the end sounded unbelievable. I've never really stopped to think about the considerable skills of the other members of the Bad Seeds, but seeing them live gave me an incredible appreciation for them and how tight their sound is. Overall this was a superb experience, and even the pushy fucking people in the audience couldn't keep me from enjoying myself. If you EVER get the chance to see them live you should. Sell your children to buy a ticket, but make sure you see them at least once in your lifetime.