It’s a huge park but it feels cosy, nestled between terraced houses and blanketed by trees, the sort of place where someone could walk their elderly dog peacefully before work. Not today. Almost thirty thousand of us have packed in here, some stampeding to the front as soon as the gates open to camp by the barriers, because this is no ordinary summer Friday. Nick Cave has exactly one UK date on his summer tour, and he’s chosen his adopted hometown of Brighton to grace with his presence. His show is as close to a miracle as one can dare to hope for in the modern age, and a love letter to his favourite place in the world.
But first, a carefully curated lineup of acts who each seem to represent part of the Anti-Pope of Pop’s sound. Warmduscher bring the tightly plotted late night energy and underground garage cool, while Cate Le Bon channels floating dreamy energy with her intentionally soothing vibe and delicate touches. The award-winning English Teacher play to a crowd eager to embrace the new, and I’m Not Crying You’re Crying radiates keenness with drop down grunge bridges and enough substance to satisfy while Broken Biscuits draws on slice of life memories of the small things to a backing of gutsy keys.
Warmduscher @ Preston Park, Brighton - 2026.07.31
Crowds swell for the heavenly strains of It Overtakes Me like rays of sunlight as the unabashedly original The Flaming Lips offer us a set that distills every emotion into the essence of pure optimism. “Words cannot describe how amazing it is for us to be here,” exclaims frontman Wayne Coyne, but the honour is all ours as we’re gently led into the private world of The Flaming Lips. It’s a dimension of surreal loveliness that bursts in chunks of groove and we stand back and let the joy wash over us. Whether they’re covering Black Sabbath’s War Pigs while wearing a huge ‘Fuck Yeah Brighton’ inflatable as an unexpected and a crackling palate cleanser or sharing peace, love and unity across the field for a rainbow-hued Do You Realize?, The Flaming Lips prove a constant delight.
The Flaming Lips @ Preston Park, Brighton - 2026.07.31
As the sun begins to fall and darkness descends, our anticipation reaches fever pitch. An instant snap and Nick Cave bounds onstage with a kick for Get Ready For Love. He’s a ringmaster and a preacher, our hands raised in devotion at his feet. “This is kind of overwhelming, deeply overwhelming,” he admits as the heartbeat intro to From Her To Eternity pulses like an oncoming storm, skeleton xylophone chiming like an omen. Multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis windmills, his beard flying, as he beats his violin into submission. The anti-gospel chain-gang rarity Train Long Suffering is unearthed for this tour, and with the addition of the London Community Gospel Choir it feels like a slap to the internal organs.
This is no nostalgia show, no reminiscence for the past when the singer was all fire and brimstone and drugs. Wild God, title track from his most recent album, is infinitely tougher live, and as Cave intones his tale above our heads we feel like we’re becoming better versions of ourselves, second by second. Those still seeking the apocalyptic side of the Bad Seeds rejoice in Hollywood, five minutes of destruction and symphonic devastation the silhouette the frontman in the smoke and the trees of Preston Park like a prophet. Carnage has been brought home: written by Ellis and Cave when they lived in Brighton, it’s a celebration of the little things in this world that bring us joy. It couldn’t be a hometown show without Jubilee Street. Ghostlike, the echoing melody reverberates like a problematic memory as the raw edge to his vocal crest into the metamorphosing crescendo.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds @ Preston Park, Brighton - 2026.07.31
Like a vision in white, Kylie Minogue appears to lend her vocals to the luxurious melodrama of Where The Wild Roses Grow. It’s the first time in eight years that the two Australian icons have performed together, and for some acts playing a fan favourite song would be the highlight of the show. Not so for Nick Cave. It’s impossible to pick a single greatest moment, or even a few, and every song will be someone’s favourite. His “extremely famous mid period Nick Cave song,” as he puts it, O Children, is enough to raise goosebumps across the field. It’s a modern hymn, all heartbreak and hope and memory and gathering darkness wrapped in razor wire violin, a barely tethered wildness The aching, agonising buildup on The Mercy Seat is ripe with regret, each lyric feeling like it’s inscribed on a tablet, and the climax is enough to make Ellis fling his bow into the crowd as it closes. As the strummed monologue that opens Papa Won’t Leave You Henry builds to firelight frenzy, Cave climbs into the crowd supported by adoring hands. The way his scarecrow frame is reverently held aloft just adds to the fever dream of the lyrics.
Every song feels like a personal gift from him to us, from the much rearrangement of Rings Of Saturn to the pattering rain-claps that punctuate The Weeping Song. It’s the encore that feels the most intimate though. City Of Refuge is a huge revival announced by Blues harp, riotous and righteous, and Wide Lovely Eyes,“about Brighton Beach,” is a love song to this place as much as it is to his wife. As the chiming keys like tiny candles of Into My Arms fill the air, we realise that the entire crowd is hypnotised and together we’re all feeling that same wrench to the chest, the same longing for true love that he can conjure in just a few notes. A Nick Cave show isn’t just a show. It’s an emotional catharsis, all of the spectrum of humanity’s hopes condensed into a couple of hours, and an unmissable experience that will echo through us and the hills of Brighton long after he’s left the stage.
A review of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds at Preston Park, Brighton on 31st July 2026. Words by Kate Allvey, photography by Pauline Di Silvestro.
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