Sydney – Tuesday 26 July, 2022. 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 national run of Australian Carnage dates, bringing their iconic discography to the newly refurbished Concert Hall across two nights this December. The epic tour finale is part of the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary program, a year-long season of special events and performances running from October 2022 – October 2023, supported by the NSW Government.
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. 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.
Sydney Opera House’s Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall, said, “When Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ Carnage performances in the Concert Hall confirmed in January, I just about cried. This magical piece of news landed during peak Omicron when everything looked ready to go to hell in a handcart all over again, and it kindled such a sense of hope and joy, of genuinely looking forward to us all experiencing two of the most beautiful and brilliant artists of their time in full flight. Lucky, lucky us that Nick and Warren used the pandemic to redouble their prodigious artistic output, and that they’ve chosen to bring the incandescent live incarnation of their intimate, fiery and majestic collaboration Carnage to the Concert Hall. There’s going to be a lot of feeling in that room, see you there.”
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.
One of the most critically-acclaimed artists in Australian contemporary music, ARIA Hall-of-Famer Nick Cave made his Sydney Opera House debut in 2013 with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ three sold-out performances in the Concert Hall following their first number one album, Push the Sky Away. In 2018, Cave returned to the Concert Hall for two sold-out, in-the round performances of solo piano renditions and a poignant audience Q&A.
Warren Ellis’ Australian instrumentalist outfit Dirty Three made their Opera House debut in 2012 before returning to the Concert Hall in 2019 at Vivid LIVE with a world-first performance of their classic 1994 self-titled debut album in celebration of its 25th anniversary.
Most recently, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis played the Concert Hall in 2019 with Film Music, performing a selection of their stunning film soundtracks with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and a striking visual backdrop.
This project is proudly supported by the NSW Government through the Blockbusters Funding initiative.
EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS AUSTRALIAN CARNAGE TOUR AT SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
WHEN: 8PM Friday 16 and Saturday 17 December, 2022
WHERE: Concert Hall
TICKETS: From $109 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
ON-SALES: Insiders pre-sale: 9am AEST, Tuesday 26 July
What’s On pre-sale: 12pm AEST, Wednesday 27 July
General public on-sale: 9am AEST, Friday 29 July 2022
CARNAGE is out now – listen here
