Skeptics questioned the tone of Nick Cave’s Primavera Sound performance this Saturday. The singer’s last tragedy was the death of his 31-year-old son Jethro, on May 9, after a long battle with mental illness (and in 2015 Cave also lost his 15-year-old son Arthur in a cliff accident). Yet the Australian artist faced the moment with raw resolve, pouring pain, hurt, and anger into a cathartic show. True to his essence, he wandered through the haunting edges of his most towering classics and recent albums.
Cave has long argued that art must wound to feel real, and he appeared as unshaken as ever about giving his music lasting meaning. Without any formal introduction, he stepped onto the stage with the Bad Seeds, a loyal crew seen as the horsemen of the apocalypse, launching into a defiant cry of “Get ready for love.” The set leaned into gospel inflections, and from a track on which two songs were dropped from the album Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus (2004), the mood intensified.
by physical contact
A preacher-like figure reached into the front rows, seeking direct contact, while at his side the multitasking force of Warren Ellis added intensity with a razor-edged violin. The performance pulled from another era, blending a spectral vocal babble with a post-punk brassiness in pieces such as From Eternity to Eternity.
The night’s emotional arc reached its peak with Mavis Staples delivering 58 minutes of euphoric power at Primavera Sound.
The difference in this current run lay in the band’s latest material, especially the supernatural mood of Ghosten, which carried the weight of Arthur’s passing and its quiet, piercing subtext. A standout moment arrived with Brilliant Horses, where Ellis’s howls met relentless guitar punch. I’m Waiting for You, a melancholy piano piece, offered another quiet relief. The sequence broadened with Carnage, the title track from Cave and Ellis’s collaborative half-album, a work born from pandemic-era collective trauma.
beyond death
Cave remained mindful of the festival’s grand scale, and the night’s biggest moments came from his well-known repertoire. The crowd heard Red Right Hand in a renewed, ceremonial blaze, and the set swelled with In Crescendo and a sense of mercy in the air. Tupelo, from the eighties, resurfaced, followed by a blazing rendition of Song of the Ship. This leg of the tour, now in its second act after a start in Aarhus, Denmark, carried a commanding authority. Cave stood resolute against fate, lifting his art beyond the shadow of death.
The performance journeyed through an expansive arc, balancing personal grief with a universal festival energy, and left a lasting impression of resilience and purpose.
Little Simz conquered Primavera Sound with a masterful hip-hop lesson
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If Cave’s gravity could shake the crowd, another formidable moment rose with Blixa Bargeld and Einstürzende Neubauten. Emerging from a root of 1980s Berlin, Bargeld and company delivered a macabre, industrial aesthetic. The latest album Alles in allem (2020) framed their set as a careful dance around power and noise, where electric crackle, airborne textures, and narrative sounds met a brooding stage presence. Bargeld appeared in black, eyes stenciled with glitter, a striking silhouette against a dark backdrop.
industrial hardware
The performance unfolded with theatrical flair, recalling a dystopian Berlin cabaret. The repertoire drew on krautrock and concrete music, featuring the metallic squeal of plates and tubes. In Zivilisatorisches Missgeschick, the friction of brushes and machinery created an eerie underworld where light seeped through cracks. The ensemble pursued a calmer, more composed path, relying on disciplined sonic textures rather than sensationalism. Factory junkyard and landfill motifs—Seven Screws and How Did I Die?—lent the set a restless, lingering calm.
Primavera Sound 2022 also spotlighted Beck, who unleashed a funk-kissed party vibe. The night’s other beacon was Jorja Smith, a British star whose neo-soul voice balanced warmth and edge. Her live arrangement blended graceful phrasing with supple rhythm, drawing from Still Lost and Found (2018) and her more recent material, with thoughtful grooves and intimate delivery marking the performance.
ultra modern flamingo
From Cordoba, Pozoblanco, María José Llergo offered a striking contrast of flamenco roots and contemporary sound. In a red dress with a sweeping skirt, she delivered refined melismas and a stage presence that mixed tradition with a modern sensibility. Her set opened with Flamenco diction anchored by Marc López’s guitar, then gradually incorporated electronic textures for a more current edge. Llergo has continued to evolve, resurfacing songs like Healing (2020) and newer material such as Soy como el oro and Que tú love me, a testament to her evolving artistry as Primavera kept its pulse fast and fearless.