Nick Cave responds to recent praise from Bob Dylan
Nick Cave has responded to praise from Bob Dylan, who was in attendance on November 17th to watch The Bad Seeds in Paris.
Both musicians have recently concluded European tours, but before departing back to the United States, Dylan ensured that he caught Cave’s tour in support of his latest album, Wild God, when the Australian took to the stage at the Accor Arena last week.
In recent months, Dylan has become increasingly active on X, responding to fans and sharing tales from his adventures on the road.
The legendary singer-songwriter told his followers: “Saw Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena and I was really struck by that song Joy where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now it the time for joy.’ I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right.”
Now, in the latest instalment of his Red Hand Files Newsletter, Cave revealed his response to the positive feedback from a musical icon. He began by vividly recalling, “Sitting in bed with Susie in a post-tour stupor, watching ‘Carry On Up the Khyber’ and eating Belgian chocolates (gift from a fan), my phone suddenly lit up as excited friends started sending me Bob Dylan’s tweet.”
Furthermore, Cave also stated that he didn’t even know Dylan was watching his performance, which would likely have added to his nerves, adding, “I hadn’t known Bob was at the concert and his tweet was a lovely pulse of joy that penetrated my exhausted, zombied state.”
Nick Cave says Bob Dylan using X is “admirably perverse’
On a wider note, Cave then commented, “I was happy to see Bob on X, just as many on the Left had performed a Twitterectomy and headed for Bluesky. It felt admirably perverse, in a Bob Dylan kind of way. I did indeed feel it was a time for joy rather than sorrow. There had been such an excess of despair and desperation around the election, and one couldn’t help but ask when it was that politics became everything.”
Cave also lamented the current obsession with politics in popular culture, and highlighted rock ‘n’ roll’s necessary role as a form of escapism, stating, “The world had grown thoroughly disenchanted, and its feverish obsession with politics and its leaders had thrown up so many palisades that had prevented us from experiencing the presence of anything remotely like the spirit, the sacred, or the transcendent – that holy place where joy resides.”
Looking back on the tour, he added, “I felt proud to have been touring with The Bad Seeds and offering, in the form of a rock ‘n ’roll show, an antidote to this despair, one that transported people to a place beyond the dreadful drama of the political moment.”
Manoeuvring his newsletter back to Dylan, Cave said he was “elated to think Bob Dylan had been in the audience” and signed off by thanking him for showing up in Paris, as he doubts he’ll “get an opportunity to thank him personally.”
Cave’s ongoing Wild God tour with The Bad Seeds is set to resume in April 2025 in North America.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.