Nick Cave’s Idiot Prayer Coming To Theaters, Becoming Live Album
Although he’s become far more accessible in recent years through his newsletter and in-person Q&A events, Nick Cave is not the type to go live on Instagram for a homespun pandemic livestream. Instead, Cave performed a professionally filmed a career-spanning solo piano concert in the West Hall at London’s Alexandra Palace and aired it online this past July as a ticketed event called Idiot Prayer – Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace. Today Cave has revealed a couple more ways to experience that performance: The Idiot Prayer film is coming to theaters in November, and then the audio will be released as a live album a couple weeks later.
An extended cut of Idiot Prayer with four previously unseen songs will see theatrical release on Nov. 5. Tickets go on sale around the world starting Sept. 10, except in the US, where an on-sale date is TBA. The Idiot Prayer album, featuring all 22 songs from the original film, follows two weeks later on vinyl, CD and streaming.
A statement from Cave:
“The film ‘Idiot Prayer’ evolved from my ‘Conversations With…’ events. I loved playing deconstructed versions of my songs at these shows, distilling them to their essential forms. I felt I was rediscovering the songs all over again, and started to think about going into a studio and recording these reimagined versions at some stage — whenever I could find the time.
Then the pandemic came — the world went into lockdown, and fell into an eerie, self reflective silence. It was within this silence that began to think about the idea of not only recording the songs, but also filming them.
We worked with the team at Alexandra Palace — a venue I have played and love — on securing a date to film just as soon as they were allowed to re-open the building to us.
On 19th June 2020, surrounded by Covid officers with tape measures and thermometers, masked-up gaffers and camera operators, nervous looking technicians and buckets of hand gel, we created something very strange and very beautiful that spoke into this uncertain time, but was in no way bowed by it.
This is the album taken from that film. It is a prayer into the void — alone at Alexandra Palace — a souvenir from a strange and precarious moment in history. I hope you enjoy it.”
Nick Cave
The Idiot Prayer album is out 11/20. Pre-order it here, where you can also get updates on tickets for the movie.