Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds @ Corn Exchange, 26 Nov

“You’ve got the wrong band, mate.” We’re only two songs in when Nick Cave politely draws a line in the sand and waves away a plea for Get it On. That Fu Manchu moustache might be here in all its glory but there will be no Grinderman tonight. Not that much of this congregation cares; hanging as it does on Cave's every whim while he and the cantankerous Bad Seeds indulge in a set of gothic lullabies, debauched sea shanties and unashamed murder ballads.

With the smoke machines on overload and two shaking fists in the air, the dapper hell-raiser brings soul and heat to the perennially sterile Corn Exchange. But as surely as the righteous refrain of We Call Upon The Author unites the sweat-drenched crowd in an uproarious chant, a chill still shoots down the spine when the bell tolls for Red Right Hand. The curtain comes down in a blur of voodoo rock and sleazy, ritualistic hero worship in the name of the outlaw Stagger Lee, a testament in itself to our host's enduring versatility. [Dave Kerr]