Nick Cave attended Met Gala after Q&A tour ++ win tix to his Barclays show!

Nick Cave was one of the many, many people that attended the Met Gala on Monday night in NYC and that’s him and his wife, Susie, above looking stunning in Gucci. Nick had just wrapped up his “Conversations With” Q&A tour with two NYC events, the final being May 5 at Brooklyn’s Murmrr Theatre. There was no moderator, no agenda, just Nick on-stage with a microphone, answering the audiences’ questions. He also had a piano at his disposal at these events, and would play songs that stemmed from the conversation. Billboard was at the May 3 Symphony Space event:

Between stark, gorgeous performances of key songs like “Skeleton Tree,” “The Mercy Seat” and “God Is In The House,” Cave was wry, genial and funny as hell as he tried his best to humor each audience member’s oddball prompt. (A late-in-the-game “Boxers or briefs?” sent Cave in a beeline for the piano.) From the audience’s standpoint, the mood wildly swerved between illuminating, awkward and sometimes flat-out cringeworthy. The latter vibe especially occurred when Cave reached his saturation point for fans quoting Joan Didion at him, and when one asked if he’s a “sandwich guy.”

One woman, who self-identified as a Quaker, inquired about Cave’s “relationship with Jesus, and your relationship with cleanliness, and your relationship with your housekeeper.” “I have so many problems with that question,” replied Cave under his breath.

Other things discussed at Symphony Space (via Rolling Stone): he’s alright with cell phone pics (“They’re really creating a new type of rock & roll photography”); his decision to play Israel (“I just couldn’t bring myself to use my music to punish my own fans for the nefarious behavior of their government”); and how connecting with fans has helped him cope with the death of his son (“There was a kind of contract between the band and the audience that was extremely powerful. It wasn’t about sympathy, it wasn’t even about support, it was about communal, collective transcendence from our own sense of suffering about things”).

Nick will be back this fall with The Bad Seeds, including their biggest NYC show to date: Barclays Center on October 26 with Cigarettes After Sex opening. Tickets are still available but if you’d like to go for free we’re giving away a pair of tickets. For your chance to win, fill out our contest widget below. A winner will be chosen at random and contacted with more details. Good luck!

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