Nick Cave shares first trailer for ‘Idiot Prayer’ solo show from Alexandra Palace
Nick Cave has shared the first trailer for a new live-streamed solo show, filmed in an empty Alexandra Palace.
Idiot Prayer sees the Bad Seeds frontman deliver a unique performance of tracks from throughout his career, including early rarities and songs from Grinderman, right up to his latest acclaimed album ‘Ghosteen’.
In the new clip from the show, Cave is seen writing in a notebook ahead of the performance before he walks through the bowels of the iconic venue and eventually settles down at a piano in its main hall.
Accompanying the trailer with a lengthy note to fans, he wrote: “‘Idiot Prayer’ evolved from my ‘Conversations With…’ events, performed over the last year or so.
“I loved playing deconstructed versions of my songs at these shows, distilling them to their essential forms – with an emphasis on the delivery of the words. I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage – whenever I could find the time.
“Then, of course, the world went into lockdown. The Bad Seeds’ global 2020 tour was postponed. Studios shut down. Venues shut down. And the world fell into an eerie, self-reflective silence.
“It was within this silence that I began to think about the idea of not only recording the songs, but also filming them – and so we started to assemble a small team, including the great cinematographer, Robbie Ryan, sound man, Dom Monks, and editor, Nick Emerson, with the intention to film as soon as it became feasible to get back to business in some way.”
The show was filmed in the West Hall of the iconic London venue by award-winning cinematographer Robbie Ryan and will not be available to stream after its online broadcast on July 23. Visit here for tickets and more information.
He added: “Meanwhile, I sat at home working out how to play more songs in the ‘Conversations’ format – new songs and songs from the Ghosteen album, Grinderman songs and early Bad Seeds stuff, and everything in between.”
Describing the safety measures in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Cave said he was surrounded by “covid officers with tape measures and thermometers, masked-up gaffers and camera operators, nervous looking technicians and buckets of hand gel.”
He added that the upcoming film is the final offering in his trilogy of releases – following the 2014 documentary 20,000 Days on Earth and 2016’s One More Time With Feeling.
The timings of the July 23 broadcast are:
Australia & Asia: 8pm AEST
UK & Europe: 8pm BST / 9pm CEST
North & South America: 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT
