There were questions about his stage presence. A concert to showcase Nick Cave on Saturday at Spring Sound arrived amid the singer’s most recent tragedy, the death of his 31-year-old son Jethro on May 9 after a struggle with mental illness. The year has also carried the memory of the 2015 loss of Cave’s 15-year-old son Arthur after a cliff accident. Still, the Australian artist faced the moment with grit, channeling his grief and anger into a cathartic performance that wove the raw heartache through his timeless hits and new material with a sense of airborne mystery.
Cave has long argued that true art must hurt to be real, and this night brought a sharpened clarity to his music. Without a long preface, the opening cry of prepare for love set the tone as the stage filled with images of catastrophe. Two selections from the album Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004) opened the set, enhanced by a vocal trio that underscored gospel tones and added a spiritual resonance to the evening.
Mavis Staples, 58 minutes of emotional euphoria at Primavera Sound
by physical contact
The performer reached out to connect with the crowd, inviting direct touch from the front row while Warren Ellis added menace with a violin that seemed to belong to another era. The music carried a ritual energy, with tracks like From It to Eternity delivering a diabolic blend of chants and post-punk bravado.
What set this Cave performance apart was the way recent material threaded into the evening. New songs carried the weight of the artist’s personal tragedies, especially the shadow of Arthur’s death, which deepened the subtext of intimate pain. Promises in songs such as Shiny Horses carried haunting lines on the accompaniment of Ellis’s wails, while I’m Waiting for You offered a melancholy piano moment. The suite expanded into Carnival, the title track from Cave’s half-album collaboration with Ellis, marked by the pandemic’s collective trauma.
beyond death
Yet Cave remained mindful of Primavera Sound’s vast audience. The most familiar crowd-pleasers dominated the second act. Beyond the tomb of Red Right Hand, the bells of the crescendo vigil in Mercy Seat, and even a rare nod to eighties-era looks, the recital felt like a manifesto. That roaring ballad that answered a certain ship song spoke with a quiet authority. The concert’s arc suggested Cave was declaring himself present, defying fate and letting his art rise above loss.
If Cave was tasked with guiding the crowd toward midnight, the festival did not forget its other legends. Blixa Bargeld, a charismatic former collaborator from Einstürzende Neubauten, joined for a macabre interlude rooted in 1980s Berlin post-punk and avant-garde impulses. The New Buildings in Collapsing set blended electric crackles, airborne textures, and Bargeld’s narrative voice, all delivered in a stark black-and-glittering aesthetic.
Little Simz conquered Primavera Sound with a masterful hip-hop lesson
industrial hardware
What followed was a Berlin cabaret atmosphere that balanced dystopian textures with krautrock influences, concrete sounds, and metallic clangs. In Zivilsatorisches Missgeschick and a reworked Sonnenbarke, brushes on a mechanical lathe created a restless atmosphere. The group demonstrated a steadier, less sensational approach while trusting a community of listeners in a digital era that often prizes spectacle. Junkyard devices, factories, and dumps provided percussion and atmosphere for Seven Screws and How Did I Die, weaving a sense of urban decay into controlled, immersive art.
Nearby, Jorja Smith offered a contrasting warmth. The English singer’s neo-soul voice carried grace and a measured sensibility, sitting between silk and sensual rhythm. After a spoken-word nod to Sade and the early Erykah Badu, the set balanced jazzy piano lines and choral textures. Tracks from the 2018 Lost & Found era, especially Be Honest and On My Mind, blended with newer material, including recent epé excerpts and Come Back Now.
ultra modern flamingo
In a grand international finale, Maria Jose Llergo performed with a vivid flamenco foundation anchored by guitar work from Mark Lopez. The performance incorporated traditional tango touches and modern electronic patterns, wrapped in a dramatic stage presentation. Llergo wore a striking red dress, and her melismas drew cheers from fans and casual spectators alike. Her Healing (2020) work was revisited with new life, while Soy Como el Oro and the latest release Que Tú Love Me highlighted an artist still rising. The evening labeled her as an ultramodern voice for Primavera, a rapidly evolving presence with many performances still to come.