Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live at Mad Cool: the once-dark lord delivers a big dose of joy

“Get ready for looooove,” bellows Nick Cave as he and his Bad Seeds drag us into Saturday night and use the closing hours of Mad Cool 2026 to take us to church and blow the bloody doors off with an explosive blues-rock opener. Grabbing the outstretched hands of his clamouring devotees as he balances from one to the other, resplendent in a pristine but unseasonable three-piece suit, Cave appears every bit the cult preacher man, returning the love in kind: “Thank you, Madrid. Thank you, fucking Spain.”

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“Fucking Spain” and “fucking Madrid” will get repeated shout-outs throughout the evening. “You’re awesome. This is beautiful,” he beams after a feral outing of ‘From Her To Eternity’. Here we are in 2026, the once prince of darkness, the tortured poet, the Vampire’s Wife’s husband, grinning like a kid in a candy store. “Woo-wooooooo woo!” he makes the sound effects for mid-80s deep-cut ‘Train Long-Suffering’, “In the name of paaaain!” Let the kid play.

It takes a special energy to bring such a sense of euphoria to this level of gloom, but Cave has been open about his journey from grief to open-heartedness via his Red Hand Files and every album he’s made since the passing of his son Arthur, over a decade ago. For him and the Bad Seeds, this is all about exorcism and the celebration of the human spirit. You feel it in the growing celestial glow of ‘Wild God’ beckoning all to “BRING. YOUR. SPIRIT. DOWN.” You feel it as Warren Ellis contorts himself to hammer at his violin through the pained ‘Oh Children’, before strutting and thrusting his pelvis like some Rasputin-Elvis hybrid. You definitely feel it in every breath exhaled from the Bad Seeds’ backing gospel choir, particularly when Janet Ramus comes to the front of the stage to take up PJ Harvey‘s part in ‘Henry Lee’ and really give it some fucking pipes.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live at Mad Cool 2026. Credit: Javier Bragado

For every jet black booming thunderclap like ‘Tupelo’, there’s a moment of reflection. ‘Carnage’ kicks off a slower section of the set which coincides with a mild exodus of British people finding a corner of the festival to watch the England vs Norway match in the World Cup, while the majority who remain for the sermon are rewarded in kind with a lesson in “a tiny little world with a great big heart”, ‘Joy’. A heavenly ode to better times for those who have “all had too much sorrow,” the song seems to bring the glint of a tear to each of Cave’s eyes. He’s not alone.

Through the gossamer tenderness of ‘Rings Of Saturn’ to the “long, terrible, grotesque beautiful story” of ‘Papa Won’t Leave You Henry’, Cave and his travelling circus of fabulous freaks are in full crowd-pleasing mode with impish spirit. “You don’t like that Super Mario t-shirt?” he offers to a nearby fan, altering the lyrics to eternal goth banger ‘Red Right Hand’. “He’ll get you a completely different new one”. Imagine that, by order of the Peaky Blinders!

There’s only something of a dip in the meandering and cerebral ‘Hollywood’ filling up a large bit of the end of the set, but who else could get a clap-along going for something like ‘The Weeping Song’, bring Mad Cool to a teary delighted chorus for ‘Into My Arms’ or get us lost in the inescapable upward tornado of ‘Jubilee Street’. That’s the song that captures what nights like this are for Cave and these Bad Seeds: “I’m transforming, I’m vibrating, look at me now!” 

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds live at Mad Cool 2026. Credit: Javier Bragado

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds played:

‘Get Ready for Love’
‘From Her to Eternity’
‘Train Long-Suffering’
‘Wild God’
‘O Children’
‘Tupelo’
‘Carnage’
‘Joy’
‘Rings of Saturn’
‘Henry Lee’
‘The Mercy Seat’
‘Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry’
‘Red Right Hand’
‘The Weeping Song’
‘Jubilee Street’
‘Hollywood’
‘Into My Arms’

NME is the official media partner of Mad Cool.

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