Reviewed on Friday December 12 (photo by Ashley Mar)

Earlier this year, during the Sydney Film Festival, the State Theatre hosted the premiere screening of 20,000 Days On Earth, a vivid and stylised biopic about a day in the life of Nick Cave. Fittingly enough, the artist himself is at the famous venue for a three-night run of solo shows to end the year, and though the theatre is some 85 years old, it could have been designed just for him. It’s got the same combination of awesome power and terrifying presence as our venerable prince of darkness, whose shadow is cast enormous along the theatre walls like a silhouetted Lucifer as he delivers tonight’s sermon.

Joining Cave this eve are some familiar faces in his backing band, led by the inimitable Warren Ellis. It’s ostensibly a seated gig, but even before Ellis pulls back his mallet to strike the opening bell of ‘Red Right Hand’ – third on tonight’s setlist – the crowd standing at the front of the stalls has swelled.

The fact it’s billed as a Nick Cave solo show means that, while the band is by no means shafted out of the spotlight, Cave can alternate the delicate piano balladry of songs like ‘Nobody’s Baby Now’ and ‘The Ship Song’ with the staccato menace of ‘From Her To Eternity’. Cave and his various collaborators’ stunning dynamic control has always been a defining factor in their live performances; while any self-respecting arena rock star would save an anthem like ‘Into My Arms’ for a crowd-pleasing sing-along during encores, here it’s dropped unassumingly into the middle of the set for purposes of contrast.

The centrepieces of Cave’s recent setlists have been the selections from the 2013 Bad Seeds album Push The Sky Away, and indeed tonight it’s ‘Higgs Boson Blues’ that’s most jaw-droppingly brilliant, as Cave riles and writhes over a rolling adagio groove. Likewise, the band utterly nails the hastening swell behind ‘Jubilee Street’ (certified masters of volume and structure, now Cave and co. conquer tempo). ‘Push The Sky Away’ is the obvious choice to close, and the theatre exhales as Cave disappears once again into the night.

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