Fremantle Park, Saturday January 17th, 2026 –

Nick Cave has been good to Perth (unlike his bass player’s band who have not been to Perth since the nineties. Come on Colin, let the other Radioheads know it’s a nice place to visit), with regular visits in one form or another. Last time he toured with the bad seeds was about a decade ago, so the audience appeared itching and ready to hear how the years have aged the band (like fine wine, to use the cliche).

Playing in the spacious setting of Fremantle Park, and down the road from my old high school, Nick and the band put on an arena sized show with giant screens and lights to boot, and boy did they bring the scale. From Wild God on this fan was blown away by the bigness of it all, and happy to see the veteran performer at his best. How age and experience conditions performers always amazes me. Every time “Bring your spirit down” popped up on the big screens the chills spread further through this reviewers body and justified the spending of the standard high ticket price on a show that left me reliving moments for days.

Performing mostly tracks from the Wild God album, with some classics and deep cuts in between, noone in the audience seemed unhappy (apart from the usual jerks yelling requests – please audiences, never do this unless asked by the performer, let them play the show they have practiced so hard to get right). Emotional, exhilarating, it had it all. When he closed solo on the piano playing the now recontextualised Into My Arms, the emotion was hard to contain. Thank you Nick and band, and please keep coming and sharing your hearts with us.

Before ending the review, I must make special mention of Aldous Harding, who I’ve only discovered a few weeks ago after my wife told me she’s supporting, and thank god she told me. I’ve since been absolutely blown away and obsessed with the brilliant NZ performer. Aldous walked on like she hadn’t seen a crowd of this scale before and wanted to ignore us and pretend she was in her room at home, but she brought an incredible vocal range and intensity that had this reviewer feeling chills. From tongue in cheek (Leathery Whip) to pure emotional outpouring (Horizon), she was a perfect warm up to the main show. Can’t wait to hear new material from Aldous this year, and fingers crossed a tour of her own to Perth.