Fabien Raymond	...	(Director)
	...	(Writer)
Nick Cave	...	Himself
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	...	Themselves (as The Bad Seeds)
Blixa Bargeld	...	Himself
Martyn Casey	...	Himself
Warren Ellis	...	Himself
Mick Harvey	...	Himself
Conway Savage	...	Himself
Jim Sclavunos	...	Himself
Thomas Wydler	...	Himself

Summary: Perhaps the greatest example of a true showman. Nick Cave stomps around stage pointing and screaming at the audience one minute, then gently caressing the mic the next. He's a charismatic cross between an early 1950's crooner and a mid-1970's minister - somehow he makes it all accessible and brilliant. For those into masochistic entertainment, please apply here. It's lyrically brutal music, but transforms into an artform once Cave delivers in his Jim Morrison/Elvis/Johnny Cash baritone while proclaiming to the audience, "All of God's children will have to die."

This is, of course, a DVD of a show Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds performed in Lyons, France around 2001 (just after the recording of the album, `No More Shall We Part' - my favorite Cave release by the way). It showcases the mad, frantic, masterful way Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds can direct emotions and coax the audience into applauding even though he's bringing to light all their flaws (well not just them, but humans in general).

But I've gotten caught up in describing only one half of his musical persona. The other half consists of the brooding crooner (think David Bowie, Tom Waits, or Lou Reed) singing lines such as, "We've bred all our kittens white so that we can see them in the night ... God is in the house." - any songwriter who can compare forced Christian individualism and seclusion with cats, has my vote as one of the greatest lyricists of the 20th century.

It is rather terrifying, because if it wasn't for the documentary (more on that later), you'd think that Cave actually meant every lyric he pronounced - he's that good of a performer. Pure emotion and visceral honesty. After you hear him shouting, "Do you love me?" after describing his lover's bleeding thighs with complete conviction, you wonder, Is he talking from experience?

Now the crowning achievement (both of Cave and whoever produced this DVD), is the documentary which shows Cave and his cohorts recording the `No More Shall We Part' album. It shows Cave in a different light than what most people are used to. You think you'd see a brooding madman, berating and ranting (like his live shows), but here in his natural persona (I've used that word again), he is surprisingly normal. Quiet, encouraging, and sarcastically funny, he seems like someone worth knowing in real life. I was worried `cause, as entertaining as it is, his live personality is something I'd rather watch from a distance.

While Cave and his band (the Bad Seeds) aren't at their absolute best on this particular show (performing wise), they still have the energy they had back in the `80s (impressive, considering that there's not a person in the band younger than 40). Hopefully there will be another live performance released on DVD, but for those who need more, check out the album `Live Seeds' - a flawless performance - perhaps one of the greatest live albums of all time.