Fronted by Nick Cave, the Australian rock band has retained a reputation for transformative live shows, where they blend material from different genres of alternative rock, gothic rock, and post-punk. They have a theatrical and engaging stage presence that has claimed their spot on the rock scene since their formation in 1983.

Their last performance was in 2024, on the ‘Wild God Tour’, where they closed at the Accor Arena in Paris in November, 2024. This was followed by the band’s live album, ‘Wild God‘, that was released last December. The album explores their ongoing legacy that is their captivating live energy. The live performances that feature on the album blur sounds from brooding rock to reflective piano pieces and experiments with gospel influence, with the essence of the tour captured in songs such as ‘Wild God (Live God)’.

With the energy circulating around the band’s live performances of the ‘Wild God’ tour, the special guests only contribute to the excitement. The full line-up includes guests The Flaming Lips, English Teacher, Cate Le Bon and, Warmduscher.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are swaying away from a conventional line-up with the guests, the selection is set to bring together multiple strands of the music scene into one iconic show. English Teacher are a clear representation of the rising wave of UK punk and indie sound, whilst Warmduscher adds a sense of chaos to the group through their mix of sounds that surround electronic experimentation and harsher punk tones.

The band have also taken an artistic route in their decision making, through Cate Le Bon’s addition bringing a sense of introspection. She has often been characterised for having unconventional song lyrics and a defiance in typicality when it comes to discography, which leans into the experimental route that Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have gone down with the release of ‘Wild God’ and it’s multilayered tone and live effect.

Perhaps the most internationally recognisable out of the line-up, American rock band, The Flaming Lips increase the scale of spectacle. Also forming in 1983, their visually immersive performances and style from their psychedelic rock persuasion pairs with Nick Cave and his band’s definition of rock and roll. These influences on rock, since the 1980’s, make this particular band collaboration an unforgettable one.

Whilst tickets for the July 31st Preston Park, Brighton show undoubtly sold out quickly, the future of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ live performance era seems far from over.

Honorary doctorates are regularly awarded to major figures in culture. Stars such as Usher, Stormzy and Lulu have all been recognised in recent years, placing Cave among a diverse list of musicians and artists acknowledged for their influence and body of work.

This will not be 67 year old singer’s first award for artistic service. In July 2025 Cave was honoured in Arles, France, where he was invested as a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and received the City of Arles Medal. The awards recognised his decades of artistic work and his lasting influence across music, literature and film. Cave has often spoken of the inspiration he has drawn from French poets such as Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, making the recognition a fitting tribute to his creative relationship with French culture.

The upcoming British doctorate will be presented by RCA Chancellor Sir Jony Ive. The college describes the degree as the highest recognition it can bestow, celebrating exceptional accomplishments. Cave will be honoured alongside graduating students in a ceremony at Royal Festival Hall in London.

It has been a busy couple of years for Cave. The singer’s 18th studio album with The Bad Seeds, ‘Wild God’, was preceded by singles including:  ‘Wild God’, ‘Frogs’, and ‘Long Dark Night’. Around the same time, Cave also teased a large-scale hometown performance in Brighton for 2026, while a newly released video for the classic track ‘Tupelo’—directed by Andrew Dominik and featuring an AI-generated Elvis Presley which sparked debate over the role of generative technology in music. Cave himself condemned the use of artificial intelligence in songwriting in an interview, calling it “unbelievably disturbing” and warning of its “humiliating effect” on human creativity.

Looking ahead, Cave has announced a solo tour across his homeland of Australia in 2026. In addition, an eight-part television series based on his novel The Death of Bunny Munro is in development, starring Matt Smith in the lead role with Cave and Warren Ellis scoring the project.  A preview screening and discussion will take place later this year at the London Literature Festival.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

Between French honours, a new album, a major doctorate and upcoming projects for screen and stage, the singer’s recognition from the Royal College of Art reinforces his standing as one of the most significant cultural figures of his generation. His influence extending far beyond his music, inspiring generations of artists, writers and filmmakers who cite his lyrical intensity and dark romanticism as key influences. His ongoing collaborations and cultural presence continue to cement his status as one of contemporary music’s most enduring figures.

Back in 2022, Cave also another son, his eldest, Jethro Lazenby, who passed away after being diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 31.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

The singer famously owns a website called Red Hand Files, on which he sincerely and unapologetically answers questions from his fans. One of the most recent questions asked to Cave was about how he copes with his grief and he and his wife have learned from their loss.

The Australian singer responded to the fans in a heart-warming posts, sharing: “Dear Carlos and Emma,

The pain remains, but I have found that it evolves over time. Grief blossoms with age, becoming less a personal affront, less a cosmic betrayal, and more a poetic quality of being as we learn to surrender to it. As we are confronted with the intolerable injustice of death, what seems unbearable ultimately turns out not to be unbearable at all. Sorrow grows richer, deeper, and more textured. It feels more interesting, creative, and lovely.”

“To my great surprise, I discovered that I was part of a common human story. I began to recognise the immense value and potential of our humanness while simultaneously acknowledging, at my core, our terrifyingly perilous situation. I learned we all actually die. I realised that although each of us is special and unique, our pain and brokenness is not. Over time, Susie and I came to understand that the world is not indifferent or cruel, but precious and loving – indeed, lovely – tilting ever toward good.”

“I discovered that the initial trauma of Arthur’s death was the coded cypher through which God spoke, and that God had less to do with faith or belief, and more to do with a way of seeing. I came to understand that God was a form of perception, a means of being alert to the poetic resonance of being. I found God to be woven into all things, even the greatest evils and our deepest despair. Sometimes I feel the world pulsating with a rich, lyrical energy, at other times it feels flat, void, and malevolent. I came to realise that God was present and active in both experiences.”

“These days, I am neither distrustful nor suspicious of the world, even though my heart breaks for it, and I am not despairing, depressed or embittered. Indeed, I see heartbreak as the most proportional response to the state of the world – to say I love you is to say my heart breaks for you, and this sentiment resonates within all things, bringing a clarity to both the world before us and the world beyond the veil. Sorrow becomes a way of life, part laughter, part tears, with very little space between. It is a way of conducting oneself in the world, of loving it, of worshipping it.”

“I read this letter to Susie, and she agreed that things get better in time. She reminded me that her dreams of Arthur from ten years ago were terrible, scorched-earth affairs, full of shame and weeping. She said Arthur still visits her every week. He is always the same age, around ten years old. Nothing much happens, he simply sits with her. Sometimes she laces his shoes. Sometimes she combs his hair. Sometimes he crawls into her lap and wraps his arms around her neck. She told me that she recently had a dream in which Arthur had a button for a nose, and when she pressed it a little blue light blinked on. There is no despair or remorse in these dreams. They are, instead, an uncomplicated joy.”

“I’m not sure what else I’ve learned, Carlos, except that here we still are, a decade later, living within the radiant heart of the trauma, the place where all thoughts and dreams converge and where all hope and sorrow reside, the bright and teary eye of the storm – this whirling boy who is God, like every other thing.

We remember him today.

Love, Nick”

Cave spoke to NME in 2023 about his regrets, where he talked about releasing music in what felt like it was too soon after his son’s death and how he somehow had become repelled by work. “That idea that art trounces everything, it just doesn’t apply to me anymore. Rather than making me bitter, it did the opposite in some way. It made me much more connected to people in general. I don’t know about the music, but these days I feel a more urgent need to connect with people. That there’s a kind of duty in that, that maybe I didn’t feel before. That I have at my disposal something that’s very valuable: to make music, and I don’t want to squander that opportunity in phoning in gigs or doing half-hearted attempts. Every one is as important as each other.”

Check out that full interview here.

Known for his haunting lyricism and compelling stage presence, the revered Australian artist will perform 27 shows across the continent, spanning Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Latvia, and Bulgaria.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nick Cave (@nickcaveofficial)

This tour sees Cave delivering a more intimate solo experience. Accompanying him on stage is Colin Greenwood, bassist for the legendary band Radiohead, whose presence is expected to add a textured emotional weight to the live arrangements.

The tour sees Cave stepping away from his long-time collaborators The Bad Seeds, whose Wild God Tour concluded in San Francisco on May 14th. The 2024 album ‘Wild God’ was the band’s eighteenth studio album, and was widely praised by critics and fans alike. Reflecting on the record, Cave described it as uncompromising and transcendent: “There’s no fucking around with this record. When it hits, it hits. It lifts you. It moves you. I love that about it.” The Guardian hailed the album as “a masterpiece that will make you fall back in love with life,” underlining its cultural and emotional resonance.

Nick Cave’s musical journey began in the early 1980s with the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Following their dissolution in 1983, he founded Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a band that would go on to become one of the most influential and critically lauded groups of their generation. Their sound – a brooding blend of post-punk, blues, gothic rock, and experimental elements – served as the perfect vehicle for Cave’s poetic storytelling and existential themes.

Often referred to as the dark poet of rock, Cave is renowned for his lyrical exploration of love, faith, violence, loss, and redemption and is often steeped in biblical allusion. With lyrics closer to literary prose than standard song writing, his music is both timeless and ethereal. His solo work, while maintaining the emotional gravitas of his work with The Bad Seeds, leans more heavily into gospel, country, and minimalistic arrangements. Albums such as ‘Murder Ballads’ and ‘The Boatman’s Call’ remain enduring examples of his ability to transcribe human vulnerability into musical brilliance.

The 2025 solo tour marks the third of its kind for Cave. His first, Conversations with Nick Cave, debuted in 2018 and featured raw, unfiltered performances interwoven with candid storytelling. That tour, prompted by the tragic loss of his son Arthur, provided a space for catharsis and connection, as Cave spoke openly about grief, healing, and art. He returned in 2022 with a second stripped-down tour, performing sparse renditions of beloved tracks from Ghosteen, Carnage, and earlier Bad Seeds classics. Greenwood joined him then as well, their chemistry forming a cornerstone of the show’s emotional intensity.

This new series of performances promises to build on that legacy, offering fans a rare opportunity to experience Cave’s work in its purest, most vulnerable form. Joined once more by Greenwood, the tour is expected to blend minimalism and depth in Cave’s typical and magical way.

While the majority of shows are already sold out, some remaining tickets are still available. The full list of tour dates and ticket information can be accessed here.

For those who missed it, our original coverage of the tour’s announcement earlier this year can be found here.

The festival’s lineup and event schedule span an impressive ten days, ticketholders are able to obtain access to a varied offering of events and activities. Representing the music aspect of the festival is an impressive lineup of acts spanning from various genres and eras.

CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL LINE-UP REVEALED

From 7 to 16 October, we’ll be taking over the town for #CheltLitFest

Check out our brochure: https://t.co/Sl7Ve5VqjS

And keep your eyes peeled at 10am when you can head to our website and start creating your wishlist pic.twitter.com/AKZNHSEBWl

— Cheltenham Festivals (@cheltfestivals) August 11, 2022

Billed to appear on the festival’s first day 7th October 2022 is Mel C, the former Spice Girl will be in discussion with Cathy Newman during the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The pair’s back and forth will be live broadcasted via The Ladder, Newman’s Times Radio show. A description of Mel C’s appearance states, “Mel C reveals all about the good and bad times of her fame and life with The Spice Girls in her long-awaited memoir Who I Am: My Story,”

Set to take the stage on 14th October 2022 is Nick Cave, the iconic musician will be speaking with Sean O’Hagan, a journalist for the Observer and a friend of Cave. The creative pair will be discussing their recent collaboration, Faith, Hope and Carnage. The book charts six years of Cave’s life and draws from over 40 hours of interviews between himself and O’Hagen.

Scheduled to be released on 20th September 2022, a synopsis provides further details concerning the book, “Faith, Hope & Carnage promises to be a thoughtful book about Cave’s inner life over the last six years, a meditation on big ideas including, faith, art, music, grief and much more, It is a project prompted by lockdown, and one that sits comfortably alongside Cave’s weekly mailing list The Red Hand Files. It is at once borne of and in some sense a tribute to the stillness – and imperative period of reflection – wrought by a global pandemic.”

The next day on 15th October 2022, British icon Jarvis Cocker will be appearing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the former Pulp frontman will be discussing his book and “reveal secrets from his early life in Sheffield”. The singer’s memoir Good Pop, Bad Pop was originally released in 2020 and was named as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. A synopsis of the book states, “From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley’s Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis’s unique life, Pulp, 20th-century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he’d rather forget. And this accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process – writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft.”

On the festival’s last day 16th October 2022, U2 frontman Bono will make an appearance at the event’s The Times & The Sunday Times forum. During his slot, the “With Or Without You” singer will be discussing and reviewing his upcoming memoir. Entitled Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, the book has been given a publication date of 1st November 2022 via publishing house Alfred A. Knopf.

Tickets for Cheltenham Literature Festival are not yet available for purchase, Cheltenham Festivals Members will be able to access the sale on 31st August and general ticket release will open on 7th September 2022.

Click here to purchase tickets.

The frontman took to his Twitter account to give out the news for the band’s fans. “While hugely disappointing, this feels the best course of action to keep you all as safe as possible,” wrote Cave. He also confirmed that all tickets purchased for the original dates would be valid for the new ones.

“We are working hard to finalise when the rescheduled shows will take place, and will share detailed information with you all as soon as we have it. All existing tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled shows. Sending love to you all.”

On April 8, the Melbourne group finally shared new dates for the entire UK and European leg. They will come back to this side of the pond in April next year and perform in several cities here until June. See the tweet below for the rescheduled dates.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have rescheduled their European and UK Tour to start in Spring 2021. All original tickets remain valid. Dates and info here: https://t.co/LroUoUE4eO pic.twitter.com/cR3aTMPmwG

— Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (@nickcave) April 8, 2020

The 62-year-old singer also shared a Q&A entry on his site The Red Hand Files in March about the tour and his experience practicing social-distancing in the midst of the outbreak.

“It has been a very strange few weeks, much has happened to us all, and many difficult decisions have had to be made,” wrote Cave. “With great disappointment and sadness we made the decision to postpone the UK, Europe and Israel tour, which seems, as far as I can see, the only responsible course of action. I am very sorry. More details will be posted on nickcave.com once the new plan settles.“

The now-rescheduled tour is in support of the band’s seventeenth studio album ‘Ghosteen‘, which was released back in October 2019. Songs on the record were dubbed as  “the most beautiful songs Cave has ever recorded” by The Guardian. ‘Ghosteen‘ hit number 4 on UK Officials Chart and received a nomination for Best Australian Album at NME Awards 2020.

See the new dates for the UK shows below, and visit See Tickets for ticket purchase.

13/04/2021 — Arena — Birmingham
15/04 — The O2 — London
16/04 — The O2 — London
18/04 — First Direct Arena — Leeds
20/04 — The SSE Hydro — Glasgow
21/04 — Manchester Arena —Manchester
26/04 — Motorpoint Arena — Cardiff