{"id":138518,"date":"2025-10-22T15:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138518\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:20:09","slug":"a-spirit-of-hope-is-an-essential-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138518\/","title":{"rendered":"A spirit of hope is an essential thing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds<\/a> have announced new the live album \u2018Live God\u2019, capturing the acclaimed tour of their 2024 album <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-wild-god-review-3788381\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018Wild God\u2019<\/a>. Check out details below, along with footage of the title track and our interview with drummer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/jim-sclavunos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Sclavunos<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/music-interviews\/nick-cave-interview-hope-faith-carnage-new-bad-seeds-grinderman-cancel-culture-coronation-3448005\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nick Cave interviewed: \u201cThere\u2019s no metric that says virtuousness makes good art\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-bad-seeds-2024-wild-god-tour-berlin-setlist-photos-footage-report-anita-lane-3798249\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stellar \u2018Wild God\u2019 tour<\/a> saw the band play across the UK, Europe and North America in 2024 and \u201825. Now, a live album of 18 tracks recorded across the dates will arrive on Friday December 5 in partnership with Play It Again Sam on premium double gatefold vinyl LP, double CD and digital formats. A first taster comes with a live recording of the song \u2018Wild God\u2019 from their Paris show.<\/p>\n<p>The record captures the entirety of \u2018Wild God\u2019 \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-wild-god-review-3788381\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">which NME hailed as \u201cwith a lust for life, the once-dark prince letting the light in\u201d<\/a> \u2013 along with a smattering of classics and fan favourites including \u2018Into My Arms\u2019, \u2018From Her To Eternity\u2019, \u2018Tupelo\u2019 and \u2018Red Right Hand\u2019, as well as cuts from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/nick-cave\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cave<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/warren-ellis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Warren Ellis<\/a>\u2018 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/nick-cave-warren-ellis-carnage-review-2887522\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lauded collaborative album \u2018Carnage\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cave described the shows as \u201can antidote to despair\u201d, with longtime drummer and percussionist Jim Sclavunos agreeing that \u201cthis tour seemed distinctly more embracing of a love of life\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Transcendental\u2019 is too pretentious a word, but it\u2019s something like that,\u201d he told NME. \u201cThere was a really buoyant, joyous spirit to the whole thing. We\u2019ve trodden down the path of being doom and gloom for a long time \u2013 surly men in black and all that jazz \u2013 but we\u2019ve obviously moved on some time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Describing the mindset that led to the euphoric mood of the tour, Sclavunos admitted that \u201cwe\u2019re all just happy campers these days\u201d. When asked about Cave\u2019s vibe in recent years, he replied: \u201cI don\u2019t know, I can\u2019t be objective about that. We\u2019ve been touring together since 1994. I\u2019ve lost all perspective, frankly. In some ways he\u2019s exactly the same, but in others so different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The buoyant approach to the gigs came aided by some new live musicians, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/radioheads-colin-greenwood-on-the-euphoric-intensity-of-nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-after-true-privilege-of-joining-as-live-bassist-3798997\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving the whole gospel gang on board brings a very different mood to proceedings and the tour bus and everything,\u201d the percussionist and solo star told NME. \u201cThey\u2019re great fun to tour with. Colin is a very nice fellow, our keyboard player Carly Paradis is a lovely lady (despite the fact that she\u2019s Canadian!) I also love playing with Larry [Mullins, drums] \u2013 I\u2019ve known him a long time. I love locking in with him on percussion and stuff. Then there\u2019s that guy Nick and the hairy one, Warren \u2013 they\u2019re alright too!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3901148\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BAD_SEEDS_LIVE_Credit-Megan-Cullen_2.jpg\" alt=\"Jim Sclavunos on stage with The Bad Seeds. Credit: Megan Cullen\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Jim Sclavunos on stage with The Bad Seeds. Credit: Megan Cullen<\/p>\n<p>Sclavunos also noted how the band and fans had found the shows to be a tonic, given the current turmoil of world events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t really escape the news these days,\u201d he said. \u201cEven the most banal detail of life is political, it seems. You can\u2019t escape it, and I don\u2019t try. I\u2019m not addicted to watching the news either. You get all that information heavily bombarding you one way or another anyway. Everybody\u2019s got an opinion about something.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t believe in strictly apolitical music, but I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s strictly a requirement to deliver a political message in music, and I don\u2019t think we ever do that. But I do think that a spirit of hope is a nice and essential thing to be communicating to people at this point in the 21st century. We\u2019ll do our part in that respect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This comes after Cave recently repeated his political stance that he is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-is-neither-on-the-left-nor-right-finds-both-sides-indefensible-3896193\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cneither on the left nor on the right\u201d of the spectrum<\/a>, \u201cfinding both sides indefensible and unrecognisable\u201d. He ultimately called for a human approach for a \u201cbroken but beautiful\u201d world where it is everyone\u2019s \u201curgent and moral duty to repair it where we can and not to cause further harm, or worse, wilfully usher in its destruction\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing is, someone will always try and hang a tag on you, and they\u2019ve been doing that all our lives,\u201d Sclavunos responded. \u201cEverybody gets compartmentalised and identified as one thing or another, whether they want to or not, whether they believe it or not. That\u2019s unavoidable and how humans behave.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that what we do has reverberations. I\u2019m sure Nick, like all of us, deeply considers where he stands on things and has opinions. We\u2019re all human, and Nick isn\u2019t any different to anyone else. He\u2019s just magnificently talented!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3901153\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BAD_SEEDS_LIVE_Credit-Megan-Cullen_3.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds live, 2024. Credit: Megan Cullen\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"  \/>Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds live, 2024. Credit: Megan Cullen<\/p>\n<p>The musician and former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/SONIC-YOUTH\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonic Youth<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-cramps\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Cramps<\/a> drummer remained tight-lipped about The Bad Seeds\u2019 plans for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-reveals-huge-run-of-2026-european-headline-and-festival-tour-dates-buy-tickets-3897455\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">their huge summer 2026 outdoor shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, that would be telling, wouldn\u2019t it?\u201d he said when quizzed. Yes, it would. Please do so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo! Something will be different, and hopefully it will be very impressive,\u201d he replied. \u201cWe do what we do and we do it intensely. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re going to start playing pop hits. It\u2019s very different looking out to a concert hall of devotees to a field of people at a festival \u2013 the challenge is to grab them and hold them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sclavunos was equally coy about progress on any new Bad Seeds material, but said he \u201cabsolutely\u201d hoped and believed that the positive and larger-than-life energy of \u2018Wild God\u2019 and the tour would bleed into it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to impart any top secret information, even if it doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI hate to be coy. When there\u2019s something to talk about, you can be sure we\u2019ll talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3901155\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/BAD_SEEDS_LIVE_Credit-Megan-Cullen_4.jpg\" alt=\"Jim Sclavunos on stage with The Bad Seeds. Credit: Megan Cullen\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\"  \/>Jim Sclavunos on stage with The Bad Seeds. Credit: Megan Cullen<\/p>\n<p>Sclavunos was also a member of Bad Seeds\u2019 beloved garage rock offshoot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/grinderman\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Grinderman<\/a> alongside Cave, Ellis and Martyn P. Casey. The band recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/grinderman-to-reissue-full-discography-on-eco-friendly-vinyl-and-cd-3863939\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reissued their full discography on eco-friendly vinyl and CD<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/warren-ellis-interview-nick-cave-bad-seeds-wild-god-grinderman-death-bunny-munro-3790972\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ellis telling NME that he\u2019d \u201cnever say never<\/a>\u201d to a reunion (but that they\u2019d \u201cbetter get on with it\u201d as they reach an age beyond acceptance for the four-piece\u2019s brand of sleaze).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think me and Warren are very keen. It\u2019s down to Nick if he dares, if he\u2019s man enough, if he\u2019s Grinderman enough!\u201d joked Sclavunos on the chances of a return.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-on-the-new-bad-seeds-album-and-the-chances-of-more-from-grinderman-3449133\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This comes after Cave told NME<\/a>: \u201cWe could do a Grinderman record, because Grinderman is essentially improv. It\u2019s musically challenging and you don\u2019t really know what you\u2019re going to get, but I don\u2019t think we could make a four-on-the-floor rock\u2019n\u2019roll record any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Responding to his bandmate\u2019s comments, Sclavunos added: \u201cIt remains to be seen, but I\u2019ll tell you this much: it\u2019s an awful lot of fun to play in a small ensemble. Grinderman compels you to play in a very different way as a four-piece, compared to a very large band like the Bad Seeds. They\u2019re both great but both different. I hope we do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3901139\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/live_god_art.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds announce new live album 'Live God'. Credit: Press\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\"  \/>Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds announce new live album \u2018Live God\u2019. Credit: Press<\/p>\n<p>Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds release \u2018Live God\u2019 on Friday December 5. <a href=\"https:\/\/nickcave.lnk.to\/livegod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pre-order it here<\/a>, and check out the full tracklist below.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Frogs\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Wild God\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018O Children\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018From Her to Eternity\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Long Dark Night\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Cinnamon Horses\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Tupelo\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Conversion\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Bright Horses\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Joy\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018I Need You\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Carnage\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Red Right Hand\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018White Elephant\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She is)\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Papa Won\u2019t Leave You Henry\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018Into My Arms\u2019<\/strong><br \/><strong>\u2018As The Waters Cover The Sea\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The band will hit the road again next year by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-announce-first-australian-and-new-zealand-tour-in-nine-years-buy-tickets-3887196\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time in nine years<\/a> before <a style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &#039;Segoe UI&#039;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &#039;Open Sans&#039;, &#039;Helvetica Neue&#039;, sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-reveals-huge-run-of-2026-european-headline-and-festival-tour-dates-buy-tickets-3897455\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a run of UK and European headline and festival dates<\/a>, including <a style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, &#039;Segoe UI&#039;, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, &#039;Open Sans&#039;, &#039;Helvetica Neue&#039;, sans-serif;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-announce-huge-2026-brighton-preston-park-gig-its-going-to-be-big-bad-and-beautiful-3892673\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a massive outdoor show at Brighton\u2019s Preston Park<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/ticketmaster-uk.tm7559.net\/c\/2862475\/431519\/7559?sharedid=NME&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.co.uk%2Fnick-cave-the-bad-seeds-tickets%2Fartist%2F743143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Visit here<\/a> for tickets and more information.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the TV adaptation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/tv\/nick-cave-novel-the-death-of-bunny-munro-tv-adaptation-starring-matt-smith-3550178\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cave\u2019s cult classic novel The Death Of Bunny Munro starring Matt Smith<\/a> received its London premiere last week \u2013 with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/nick-cave-and-warren-ellis-to-score-new-tv-adaptation-of-the-death-of-bunny-munro-3882843\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cave and Warren Ellis having recorded the score<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Cave &amp; The Bad Seeds have announced new the live album \u2018Live God\u2019, capturing the acclaimed tour&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[18,117,19,17,7162,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-138518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-live-music-news","13":"tag-music"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}