Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - God Is In the House (DVD)

I have to admit, coming into this review I was a little ignorant. Firstly, Nick Cave was a name I had heard and a person I knew of for years, but I was not educated on his band or his music. Secondly, I was ignorant on the subject of concert DVDs, even though the last year has seen them skyrocket in quantity and popularity. I had seen only a handful of concert DVDs in my day, so I was looking to be educated, and I must say “Well done Mr. Cave. Well done.” God Is In The House consists of a full length concert recorded at a gig in France, a 45 minute behind the scenes documentary of the recording of the latest album, and three promotional videos. It didn’t take more than three or four songs for me to have a smile on my face, because the concert is what a recorded show should be. Cave and the Seeds sound amazing and the atmosphere is so well done you can feel it fill up your lungs as you breathe it in. The set is a mix of the old and the new, but the flow is constant and the energy kept in stride. The key is that the concert footage focuses on the music and the musicians, and not a bunch of visual crap. A few simple camera angles, a minimum of extreme close-ups, and a lack of needless lighting effects makes the viewer focus on what is really important, the performance. If you have never seen Nick Cave live then this disc will have you checking his tour dates daily. The documentary portion of the disc is where it falls a little flat. There is no voice over, no narration, and no story. Make no mistake, this is a simple “fly on the wall” type video. Most of the time you don’t really know what is going on. You know they are recording a record, but the film offers no insight into the band or the creative process, nor does it really show much of anything of interest. Three videos close out the effort, and while they are interesting enough, they are not awe-inspiring works of avant garde music video making. All in all this is a worthy effort by the boys. The concert footage is top notch and worth the price of the disc, but just don’t expect too much from the rest of the additional features. Now I am an educated man, with a massive new respect for Nick Cave and his music, and a new interest in concert DVDs. I just hope my explorations don’t disappoint. [www.nick-cave.com]