If you walked into a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds show ten years ago, you knew the drill. There’d be blood on the setlist. You’d get the terrifying, biblical wrath of "Stagger Lee" or the frantic, jagged noise of "Jack the Ripper." But the Nick Cave setlist 2025 is a different beast entirely. It’s softer. It’s bigger. Honestly, it’s a bit of a religious experience, even for the atheists in the front row.
The Wild God Tour hit North America in April 2025, starting in Boston at the Agganis Arena, and it immediately signaled a shift. Gone are the days of pure, unadulterated menace. Instead, Cave is leaning into what some fans are calling his "Gospel Era." With a four-piece choir dressed in robes and Warren Ellis looking like a wizard who lost his way in a storm, the energy is less about "burn the house down" and more about "let’s find some light in the wreckage."
The Standard Rotation: What to Expect
You’ve probably seen the leaks on Reddit or Setlist.fm. The core of the show is incredibly consistent. Cave isn't really one for "surprises" in the set structure these days—he builds a narrative arc and sticks to it.
Most nights follow a very specific path. They open with a trio from the new record: "Frogs," "Wild God," and "Song of the Lake." It’s a bold move. Usually, legacy acts bury the new stuff in the middle when everyone goes to the bar. Not Nick. He puts the new material front and center because, quite frankly, it’s where his heart is right now.
The middle of the set is where the old-school fans get their fix. You’ll almost certainly hear:
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- "Jubilee Street" (which still transforms into a ten-minute chaotic masterpiece)
- "From Her to Eternity" (the 1984 classic that still sounds like a factory collapsing)
- "Tupelo"
- "Red Right Hand" (the Peaky Blinders song that he basically has to play or there’d be a riot)
- "The Mercy Seat"
The Emotional Core of the 2025 Shows
What really hits home in the Nick Cave setlist 2025 isn't the hits. It's the quiet stuff. After the chaos of "Conversion"—where he literally marches the stage yelling "Stop! You're beautiful!" at individual fans—the mood shifts.
Songs like "Bright Horses" and "I Need You" are devastating. You can hear a pin drop in arenas that hold 15,000 people. He usually performs "I Need You" solo at the piano while the band watches from the shadows. It’s raw. It’s uncomfortable in the best way possible. For a guy who used to scream about murder, seeing him vulnerable and singing about loss is a total 180.
The Wild God Tour: North American Setlist Breakdown
If you're heading to a show in San Francisco or maybe caught the Detroit gig at the Masonic Temple, the tracklist looks almost identical every night. Here is the typical flow of the 2025 tour:
- Frogs
- Wild God
- Song of the Lake
- O Children (A surprise inclusion that has become a fan favorite)
- Jubilee Street
- From Her to Eternity
- Long Dark Night
- Cinnamon Horses
- Tupelo
- Conversion
- Bright Horses
- Joy
- I Need You
- Carnage (The title track from his 2021 collab with Warren Ellis)
- Final Rescue Attempt
- Red Right Hand
- The Mercy Seat
- White Elephant
The encore is where he usually stretches his legs. "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" often kicks things back into high gear before "The Weeping Song" turns the crowd into a clapping machine. He almost always finishes the night solo with "Into My Arms." It's the perfect comedown.
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Why "O Children" is the Surprise MVP
"O Children" was originally on the 2004 double album Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus. For years, it was just "the song from the Harry Potter movie." But on the 2025 tour, it has taken on a new weight.
Cave mentioned at several shows, including the Milwaukee stop at the Miller High Life Theatre, that he brought it back because of the state of the world. He spoke about our collective failure to protect the next generation. It’s a somber moment, but with the gospel choir backing him, it feels like a communal prayer rather than a lecture.
The Bad Seeds Lineup in 2025
You can’t talk about the setlist without talking about who is playing it. The 2025 touring band is a powerhouse.
- Warren Ellis: The chaotic engine. He’s playing violin, synths, and sometimes just waving his arms like he’s conducting a ghost orchestra.
- Colin Greenwood: Yes, the Radiohead bassist. He’s been a permanent fixture for this cycle, providing a deep, melodic anchor that the old Bad Seeds records didn't always have.
- Larry Mullins & Jim Sclavunos: The percussion duo that keeps the whole thing from flying off the rails.
- Carly Paradis: Bringing those airy, ethereal keyboard textures that define the Ghosteen and Wild God eras.
What Most People Get Wrong
Some critics have complained that the show is too "polite" now. They miss the feedback and the spitting. But if you actually sit through "White Elephant" in 2025, you’ll realize the menace hasn't gone away—it’s just evolved.
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The climax of "White Elephant" is arguably the loudest, most intense moment of the night. When the choir starts shouting "A kingdom in the sky!" and the strobe lights kick in, it’s more powerful than any punk song he wrote in the 70s. It’s a different kind of heavy.
Variations and Deep Cuts
Does he ever swap songs out? Rarely.
In Portland, there were whispers he might play "Shivers," the old Rowland S. Howard song from the Birthday Party days, but he ended up sticking to the script. Occasionally, he might swap "Skeleton Tree" for "Waiting for You" in the encore, but for the most part, the Nick Cave setlist 2025 is a carefully curated experience designed to take you from the "mud" of his early career to the "stars" of his current mindset.
If you’re planning to go, don’t expect a greatest hits karaoke night. Expect a long, 150-minute journey that spans forty years of grief, recovery, and eventually, a weird kind of happiness.
What You Should Do Before the Show
- Listen to the "Wild God" album back-to-front. Seriously. He plays about 80% of it. If you don't know the lyrics to "Conversion," you'll feel left out when the whole room starts chanting.
- Check the start times. For most 2025 dates, like the Chicago Salt Shed shows, there was no opener. The band starts around 8:15 PM and plays for nearly three hours. If you show up late looking for a support act, you'll miss the best part.
- Bring tissues. I’m not even joking. By the time he hits the bridge of "Bright Horses," half the audience is usually a mess.
- Watch the big screens. If you aren't in the front row, pay attention to the camera work. Cave does a lot of intimate work with the fans at the barrier—holding hands, leaning into them—and the 2025 tour uses high-contrast black-and-white feeds that make the whole thing look like a film noir.
The Wild God Tour is likely the last time we'll see this specific "gospel" configuration for a while. It feels like the end of a trilogy that started with Skeleton Tree. Whether you're a fan of the old "Prince of Darkness" or the new "Guru of Grief," the 2025 setlist is a masterclass in how an artist grows up without losing their edge.