Is it possible that Nick Cave doesn't perform for an actual existing audience, but rather for an imaginary one? Maybe something like performing in front of a mirror?

Whilst onstage, Nick consistently keeps his eyes averted from the audience, even while looking directly at a member of it. Except on rare occasions, he keeps his eyes noticeably unfocused.

Also, his gestures often seem to serve the purpose of keeping his personal distance from the audience, kinda like when we fiddle with our hair while we try not to pay attention to someone raving on at us. These gestures are numerous: running his fingers through his hair (which a lot of folk do onstage, we note), rubbing his face with his hands and forearms; these are all acts of distraction, not designed to gain our attention.

He seems to actively dislike the audience intruding into his consciousness, as though his sense of himself as a performer is a fragile construct; that, whilst a quite genuine and personal expression, it is difficult for him to maintain; being threatened by the grasping presence of the audience.

If there's anything which appeals about this man, it is this very sense of vulnerability which we know so well, amply evidenced above, which manifests itself in a delicate thread throughout his 'career'.

Even his choice of cover versions - I Put A Spell On You, Avalanche, The Singer, By The Time I Get To Phoenix - demonstrate this.

If more proof were needed, it becomes obvious that the characters in his songs - from Nick the Stripper to Saint Huck - are equally fragile constructs of himself. It is interesting that audiences are very violent in their verbal abuse towards Nick. Although his capability to project is great, he does not actually participate with the audience. Even when he used to be dragged into them, or even jump in, it all remained a purely personal expression, not actually participatory at all. Needless to say, the audience picks up on this in its unconscious manner, and seeks to attract his attention, to redress the balance.

Of course, this brings us to the whole question of what an audience's expectations are, and how to deal with them. Or not to deal with them.

Which is one way of saying that quite often he'll be purporting to express one aspect of a song, and his gestures and attitude will in fact parody (or exaggerate to the point of being ridiculous) what he's singing. But we, because we're so used to dealing with a performer purporting to express direct honesty, take Nick's gestures as some extreme and also valid expression.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright by Robert Brokenmouth, 1988.
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