Tag: nick cave
Cruel World 2025 At The Rose Bowl: We’re Only Happy When It Rains
Rob Shepyer
May 20, 2025
Cruel World 2025 at the Rose Bowl was the fourth iteration of the festival, but some strange alignment in the distant goth cosmos caused a number of firsts in Cruel World history. Rain fell on Los Angeles’ goth community as they all gathered at the Rose Bowl for what music fans recognize as goth prom. Cruel World is much more than a goth fest, though—’80s music, metal, and punk all performed in gloomy Pasadena over the weekend. Never before did the concertgoers, wearing their finest layers of black, actually dress appropriately for the weather—until now. Some came to Cruel World to see Devo “Whip It” like it was 1980, some came to be in the palm of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand”, others came just to get a one-day vacation with New Order before “Blue Monday. Whatever the motivation, the festival once again found appropriate meaning in its name. This year it was cold and dreary, with imported London fog infused with LA smog. Most people prefer not to experience a concert drenched from head to toe, but as a departure from the brutal heat of previous years, it had some upsides. The rain forced many Cruel Worlders looking for shelter
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Forty Years of Youth: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Forum
Audrey Kemp
October 25, 2018
With forty years of innovation and grandeur, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds showed they can not only remain current, but pack the Forum with multiple generations of fans. related content: Photo Recap: The Smashing Pumpkins Oh So Shiny And Bright Tour At The Forum Sunday night’s special guests were the dream pop four-piece from New York, Cigarettes After Sex, who have garnered their own global fame in the past decade. The Forum’s emptiness provided exceptional acoustics and auditory echoes, yielding romantic slow dance music for the lucky few filing in. The people who arrived early enough to catch them were charmed to hear some old favorites off of their first EP, I., including “Nothing’s Gonna Hurt You Baby” and “Dreaming of You”. The stadium was pitch black for the exception of some ambient lights, provoking a sensation of starlight — the perfect contexture for Cigarettes After Sex. Jacob Tomsky’s minimalist drumming complimented Greg Gonzalez’s aspirate vocal for “Apocalypse” while polka dot projections popped on and off of the scene. Their mellow performance would stand in stark contrast to the high energy live act yet to come. Nick Cave bounded on stage with his six Bad Seeds for a performance that can’t
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