Concert Review: Camille O’Sullivan ‘Cave’ – Civic Theatre March 13, 2019

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The  grandeur of the Civic Theatre provided the perfect setting for Camille O’Sullivan’s stunning performance last night of the songs of Nick Cave.

A lush, opulent, memorable hour and a half with an intriguing, impassioned performer.  The Irish-French siren is a combo of cool rock chick, playful cabaret artiste and elegant old world chanteuse. Blessed with a voice of raw passion, dark beauty, and the power and control to take it from a whisper to a scream effortlessly.

Such a formidable songbook to choose from, she and her five-piece band delivered not a mere tribute, but a seductive and spellbinding reimagining of some of Nick Cave’s finest – in Camille’s own words, “a love letter” to him and his Bad Seeds.

Captivating from the moment she quietly stepped out onto the darkened stage and made her way to a chair set up front and centre, she was dramatically clad in black cape, framed by a backdrop of a nightsky of slowly swirling moonlit storm clouds. It was a sudden, stunning entry. No applause. You could have heard a pin drop ..the crowd mesmerized and silent in anticipation of  what and how this might kick off.  We didn’t wait long. The cape was tossed off as the songstress sat and launched straight into the biting, comic, magnificence that is God Is In The House.

The band, set up to one side of her, was a full one with guitar, bass, drums, a multi-instrumentalist who wove in and out with violin, saxophone and even a  flute. But it was the ‘Derry boy’ as she introduced him, on keys, with his grand piano set up front and left of stage, who accompanied Camille the most – her sweet smokey vocals making magic with the pianoman throughout the evening, with and without the wider band (which incidentally featured our own Brett Adams on guitar for this Auckland Arts Festival show)

Still In Love was followed by Jubilee Street which saw band and lights explode into full-on rock mode and brought out Camille’s perhaps not-so-inner rock chick as she threw aside her black tailored jacket and soon after kicked off her glittery silver Cuban heels to spring and prance about barefoot for the rest of the concert.  In white shirt with tails out, loose black tie, tight black jeans which she had to keep hiking up (“new ..never wearing these again”, she joked at one point early on), she could’ve been channelling 70s-era Patti Smith at times – sartorially and musically. PJ Harvey and the Cocteau Twins Liz Fraser crossed my mind too. Yeah, her voice that good as she whispered, shrieked and howled .. highlighting Nick Cave’s unflinching lyrics and literary finest.

The stage set-up is minimalist. Aside from a few light effects, with the stage bathed in washes of  colour at times but mostly stark black and white with the occasional strobing, it’s intelligent use of lighting as there is drama aplenty from O’Sullivan herself, as she stalks the stage .. stomping her foot marking time, striking the occasional pose, playful but not flirty, brimming over with power and passion, but there’s a levity too to temper the intensity. She’s Irish after all ..a bit of crack, minimal banter really, but a lot of affection and gratitude for us all being there.

She calls the shots throughout, conducting as it were the pace and volume of songs with sly hand signals, a flick of the wrist, a point, a gesture this way or that to stir or subdue the band. It’s clearly her show but she’s ably aided and abetted by her fine musicians. Memorably for ‘Mercy Seat’ which goes full-on rock gig while she stays seated under a blood red spotlight as the band fires all guns blazing ..and she, the still eye, at the centre of the storm.

The Ship Song is another treat, her favourite she tells us, which has her urging audience to sing along as impromptu accapella chorus. Some join in but the crowd is mostly hushed – even when she slips off stage and into the front rows to tender encouragement. Still mesmerised I’d say. She’s endearingly patient and slips back up on stage to continue, hugs all round for the band as they’ve left their instruments to join her front of stage.

Also known for her unique interpretations of other musicians work including David Bowie, Radiohead and Tom Waits, O’Sullivan brings a unique insight into other artists work and narrative voice.

Tonight, with Cave, she effortlessly inhabits the characters that lie within, most notably a rousing dirty and dangerous Stagger Lee.  As she stomped about the stage, sauntering, sneering, shimmying and shaking, spitting out the expletive-laden lyrics of  The Bad Seeds epic version of the tale of Stagger Lee,  I couldn’t help wonder what some of the more sedate members of the ArtsFest audience might be making of this gorgeous monstrosity.

Written and performed by a man, this and all the other works tonight, Camille O’Sullivan effortlessly made each her own .. an intriguing dynamic given the narrative of some of Cave’s more confronting songs. Any fan knows he lavishes his lyrics with elaborate scene-setting and visceral detail. Love, religion and murder his recurring themes.

Camille brought her own homage and intimacy to the songs tonight, a blend of the theatrical and pleasingly often the whisper-quiet delivery, crystal-clear, where you could hear every breath between those precious lyrics as she wrung every ounce of emotion and drama out of each word, and sometimes each consonant. Keenly aware, as was the audience, of the provenance and value of the musical and lyrical treasure she’s playing with. Precious indeed.

Most poignantly last night, her version of the intensely personal harrowing Skeleton Tree with its haunting lyrics and melody – off the first album Nick Cave recorded with The Bad Seeds following the tragic death of his teenage son Arthur who fell from a clifftop in 2015. Utterly devastating heartbreak which she returned to, in brief, following the goodbyes, quietly ending the show revisiting these few lines before walking off stage as quietly away as she had arrived …

I called out, I called out
Right across the sea

But the echo comes back in, dear
That nothing is for free

And it’s alright now
And it’s alright now
And it’s alright now

If Nick Cave is rock’s poet laureate of the dark, Camille O’Sullivan last night shed some new light on the canon of work that’s earned him critical acclaim and a cult following over the years. Welcome illumination.

Thanks for coming Camille.

Karen McCarthy

Click on any photo to view a gallery by Veronica McLaughlin Photography:

Incomplete set list:

God Is In The House’.
Still In Love
Jubilee Street
Into My Arms
There She Goes My  Beautiful World
Red Right Hand
Stagger Lee
Sad Waters
Mercy Seat
Ship Song
People Ain’t No Good
Skeleton Tree
Girl In Amber
Distant Sky

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