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| Subj: | Nick in Cork |
| Date: | 1997-8-19 |
| From: | MLT Info |
Brendan Mcgreen wrote:
I've heard a rumour (fairly reliable source) that Nick will attend a festival in Cork (Ireland) at the beginning of September (3rd to 7th). Seemingly he's coming to see Patti Smith perform. I don't know if it's a spoken work thing or what. Anyone any info on this or Nick's interest in Patti Smith and know if Nick plans to perform (spoken or otherwise).
Nick is confirmed to appear as a "special guest" at Liss Ard 97 (a cultural event to be held in Liss Ard, Skibbereen, Co Cork, Ireland form September 3rd to 7th), although the details of what he will be doing will probably remain undecided until the actual event. The organizers & host (Patti Smith) are leaving the content his contribution up to him.
Liss Ard 97 has a Web site: http://www.lissard.com which gives more detail. If anyone is unable to access this and would like a text fact sheet about the event, just e-mail me & ask.
Cheers!
Janet
MLT
| Subj: | Nick at Liss Ard |
| Date: | 1997-09-10 |
| From: | Brendan Mcgreen |
Nick also has two performances on Thursday the 4th.
The first was a 'gig' proper with Nick playing in a room in the House at Liss Ard, in the afternoon! It was just Nick and a piano and about 30-40 people. It was billed as 'Nick Cave: Music & Poetry'.
Among the stuff he did was The Carny, The Mercy Seat, several songs from The Boatman's Call. He also did a spoken word version of the 'X-Files' piece he did with the Dirty Three, introducing it with 'Anyone ever hear of the Dirty Three?' He couldn't believe that anyone in West Cork had!
Later that evening, Nick showed up at the poetry reading with Patti Smith, as scheduled. All he did was a spoken word version of The Carny. When the crowd insisted for more, he borrowed a lyrics book from Patti Smith and read a lyric by Hank Williams.
Ciao,
Brendan Mcgreen
| Subj: | Nick at Liss Ard - Skibbereen |
| Date: | 1997-09-09 |
| From: | cvodb |
Well, ain't I the lucky girl...
I heard about the Liss Ard Experience a few days before I left for one of my regular Irish holidays. Information was scarce, even from the Liss Ard home page but a few phone calls and e-mails told me what I wanted to know. I was put off by the frankly ridiculous prices of the event... I mean, 150 pounds for a few days of vague poetry and music? Apart from that, Skibbereen is a five and a half hour drive from Dublin. However, my partner was up for the idea - mainly because his childhood hero Patti Smith was playing and I could certainly do with a relaxing trip to the country.
I weasled the two of us into the event on a press pass. When we arrived in Skibbereen, the people in our Bed and Breakfast told us a bit about the estate on which the festival was going to be held. I had spoken to the owner of Liss Ard, Veith Turske, on the phone - and my imagination had got the better of me. A German 'blow-in' (as foreign settlers are called in Ireland), probably mega rich, who buys up 140 acres of land and turns it into a New Age resort... then needs money to upkeep the estate and calls in on some friends from a former life to help him out. Myself and partner dreamed up a wild story about drug smuggling and weird cults...
As far as the locals was concerned, we weren't far off the mark. They had not been told of the event. Although Liss Ard in its current state has existed for quite a number of years, they knew very little about its owner - and had not been informed of the festival. They spoke to us of rumours of drug smuggling. This put a smile on our faces, as you can imagine.
We skipped the first day of poetry readings and Smith's acoustic performance. That was a stupid move, because Michael Stipe - who has become the major ligger of the western world, we'd seen him huddle with Naomi Campbell and other 'stars' at the U2 gigs earlier in the week - had come down to play with Patti... and to 'plant a tree'.
On the Friday, we went down to the estate and walked around the gardens before the first gig was on. The Liss Ard foundation is all about the preservation of nature and keeping the natural environment of the area safe... but the way the gardens had been set up seemed extremely clinical and... well... German, or Japanese to us. The Liss Ard estate looks nothing like Ireland should look like. Carefully layed out roads lead you to meticulously cut grass lands... a man made 'crater', which was an impressive heap of rubble with a huge oval hole in it, with a temple-like entrance leading to... an altar! If there wasn't cult activity going on there already, it certainly had all the makings for it.
We got ourselves some drinkies and grub from the hospitality tent - watched Bleddyn Butcher rub shoulders with loads of other arty looking folk and waited for our first event: Nick's reading of The Flesh Made Word. This was held in the 'Celtic Meeting Place'. (An area around a tree on a hill, basically.) A few benches had been set up - for an audience of about 40. (Not counting the gnats!) I think of those 40 - about 20 had actually paid in. The rest were Nick's following (Butcher and co.) and about 3 professional camera crews. Underneath the tree, a synth had been set up for Nick to play. It was crooked.
Nick arrived, looking uncomfortably out of place in these surroundings. He sat down and after some difficulties with the synth started to play Lime Tree Arbour. He stopped after a few lines and started again. He never finished the song - stopped near the end and said 'I can't do this'. Then he read The Flesh Made Word - stumbling over the words quite a bit. It wasn't as good as last time I saw him do this - also in Ireland - at Whelan's in Dublin. It must have been horrible to have to perform his stuff in the open air, in the bright sunshine... with a wobbly keyboard and microphone. He must have felt totally naked. Still, we were spellbound - and the whole thing was quite a thrill. After the reading, Nick did two more songs, asking us whether the sound was good enough. Someone called out 'no worse than usual' and Nick answered: 'That's Irish humour, isn't it?' He played Brompton Oratory and Little Empty Boat. Not having seen the gigs in Amsterdam earlier this year through illness and exhaustion, for me it was a beautiful opportunity to hear the songs off The Boatman's Call album. After this short performance, Nick talked with the fans a bit - signed books and bits of paper. Someone asked him "Is Nick Cave your real name? It's way too cool to be your real name." Nick muttered that it was and that he just was lucky that way.
Then we endured the long wait till the evening for the main event with Jack L (a Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, Gavin Friday - rip off), Nick and Patti Smith. This was to be held in a domed tent in the walled garden of the main house on the estate. Only 500 tickets were available, most of which had been corporate give aways. It's the kind of elitism that kind of makes one sick, but fortunately a good few of the artists' "real" fans Before Nick came on, Veith Turske - Liss Ard's owner arrived to say a few words. Nobody really paid much heed to him which annoyed him a good deal, I would say. He sniffed and moaned 'can I just speak a few words, pleeeeeese'. I felt sorry for him - and a little resentful too - moving into a small community such as Skibbereen - without regard for its past, present of future - and willfully catering to the rich and famous only. We were told by one of his staff that he wanted to retain the festival's exclusivity. Businessmen is what he wanted to attract - so that they would become patrons to his 'charity'. (Liss Ard is a registered charity - its primary objectives are to promote and foster public appreciation and education in relation to art, culture and heritage... DUH)
Nick started off on his own again, playing People Ain't No Good before the rest of his band joined him. Mick Harvey was there, and two of Patti Smith's band assisted on drums and bass. The audience, although primarily there to see Patti Smith, was remarkably appreciative of his performance. The synth got a bit in the way, I thought - Nick was eager to get up and pace up and down the stage as usual. He asked people to sing along to Into My Arms: 'I hear you Irish like to sing.' Mercy Seat is really stripped down these days, isn't it? - beautiful arrangement. For the last song of the regular set list, Nick told us how Shane McGowan had phoned him and said that he would definitely be coming down... but he hadn't showed up. They had rehearsed a song for him to sing. 'So he's a fucking cunt!... But I forgive him'. Nick then sang Rainy Night in Soho... but he'd forgotten how it started so Mick Harvey had to tell him what the words were. He only came back for one encore, Black Hair. It made lots of people giggle at first, when they copped on to the repetitions in the song, but that quieted down after a while. The sound was excellent, it's just so good to be able to hear all the vocals. I was very impressed with it all - one of my best Nick experiences.
Then came Patti Smith who played a full 110 minute set. She was absolutely fabulous - I'd never seen her play live before.. Gavin Friday once described her as 'a woman with more balls than most men' and I think he hit the nail on the head. I hope I grow old as gracefully as she is doing. :-)
Set List for Friday:
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