Nick Cave's reaction to Bob Dylan's review of his live performance

In recent days, through a post on X/Twitter, Bob Dylan had shared his thoughts after seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in concert in Paris. “I recently saw Nick Cave at the Accor Arena in Paris”, the Duluth singer-songwriter wrote the day after the Australian musician’s show last November 17: “I was really struck by the song ‘Joy’ in which he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy’. I thought to myself: yes, that’s right.” Now, responding as usual to fan emails on the site “The Red Hand Files”, Cave has shared his reaction to Dylan’s review.

“Did you ever imagine Bob Dylan attending your concert and tweeting about it enthusiastically?” asked John from New York to the tune of “Skeleton Tree.” Nick Cave, in addition to sharing an old photo of himself with Dylan in 1998, replied: “Dear John, sitting in bed with Susie in a post-tour stupor, watching ‘Carry On Up the Khyber’ and eating chocolates Belgians (gift from a fan), my phone suddenly lit up when friends excitedly started sending me Bob Dylan’s tweet.” He continued:

“I didn’t know Bob was at the concert, and his tweet was like a pleasant surge of joy that penetrated my extremely tired, almost zombie-like state. ‘You’re recovered!’ Susie told me.

I was happy to know that Bob was on X, while many had chosen to do a ‘Twitterectomy’ by choosing another social network like Bluesky. It seemed admirably against the grain, in a Bob Dylan-esque sense. In fact I felt it was a moment of joy rather than pain.

There was an excess of desperation and angst surrounding the election, and one couldn’t help but wonder when politics became everything.

The world has become completely disillusioned, and its feverish obsession with politics and its leaders has raised so many barriers that prevented us from perceiving anything remotely similar to the spirit, the sacred, the transcendent – that sacred place where joy resides. I felt proud to be on tour with the Bad Seeds and to offer, through a rock ‘n’ roll show, an antidote to this desperation, something that transported people to a place beyond the terrible drama of the political moment.

I’m thrilled that Bob Dylan was in the audience, and since I doubt I’ll get the chance to thank him in person, I’ll do it here: ‘Thank you, Bob!’

‘You’re definitely recovered!’ Susie then told me.”