This will be the first time the iconic pair have toured Australia as a duo.
With two very special performances at the iconic Hanging Rock in the Macedon Ranges now sold out, Australian music legends Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have announced a full national run of Australian Carnage dates, bringing their iconic discography to Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra, Tamworth and a Melbourne city show in St Kilda.
The 15-show Australian Carnage tour kicks off in Adelaide on November 22 and finishes up at the Sydney Opera House on December 17, with Melbourne’s show taking place at the Palais Theatre on Friday, December 2.
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Nick Cave said, “I can’t begin to tell you how happy Warren and I are to be finally returning to Australia to perform. The wait has been way too long. See you all soon for the Carnage experience!”
The Australian Carnage tour follows the release of Cave and Ellis’ widely acclaimed Carnage album, recorded over a period of weeks during lockdown. Although the pair have composed and recorded many soundtracks together, and Warren is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, this is the first time they have released an entire album of new songs as a duo, and the first time they have toured Australia as a duo.
Cave describes the album as, “a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe.”
“Making Carnage was an accelerated process of intense creativity,” says Warren Ellis, “the eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two and a half days.”
These two titans of Australian music will perform songs from Carnage and the last Bad Seeds album, Ghosteen, alongside tracks from other past Bad Seeds and Grinderman albums.
Cave and Ellis’ creative chemistry is rooted in their long history of music making, both as collaborators and as individual artists. They first crossed paths in 1993, when Ellis played violin on several songs for the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album, Let Love In, before going on to join the band as a full-time member. The two have also recorded as Grinderman, formed in 2006, and have composed and recorded numerous, film, TV, and theatre soundtracks together.
With The Bad Seeds’ playing their first ever live show in St Kilda in 1983, the December 2 Palais show is a fitting recognition of the bands’ history.
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Australian Carnage Tour
Tuesday November 22
Festival Theatre, Adelaide SA
Wednesday November 23
Festival Theatre, Adelaide SA
Friday November 25
Hanging Rock, Macedon Ranges VIC SOLD OUT
Presented by Always Live and Frontier Touring
Supported by Courtney Barnett
Saturday November 26
Hanging Rock, Macedon Ranges VIC SOLD OUT
Presented by Always Live and Frontier Touring
Supported by Courtney Barnett
Monday November 28
Canberra Theatre, Canberra ACT
Tuesday November 29
Canberra Theatre, Canberra ACT
Friday December 2
Palais Theatre, Melbourne VIC
Presented by Frontier Touring
Monday December 5
Riverside Theatre, Perth WA
Tuesday December 6
Riverside Theatre, Perth WA
Friday December 9
BCEC Great Hall, Brisbane QLD
Saturday December 10
GCEC, Gold Coast QLD
Monday December 12
TRECC, Tamworth NSW
Wednesday December 14
Civic Theatre, Newcastle NSW
Friday December 16
Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW
Presented by Sydney Opera House
Saturday December 17
Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW
Presented by Sydney Opera House
Tickets on sale Friday 29 July at 10am (local time) from Nick Cave’s website.
