I’m cheating with the title of this post because I’m not going to write about food, I’m going to write about music—just try to stop me!

So, I’ve written about my obsession with Nick Cave several times in the past, once after seeing him on the street for the first time in Brighton and once after seeing a Bad Seeds concert in London. I have to admit that in the intervening five years (good Lord, has it really been that long?), my infatuation has waned somewhat. I haven’t been overly enamored of his latest albums, I’m not crazy about the Grinderman stuff, and I still have a chip on my shoulder about Warren Ellis replacing Blixa Bargeld as Mr. Cave’s sidekick in the Bad Seeds.

But when my friend and bandmate Jamie tipped me off a few weeks ago to a secret Grinderman gig in Hove, I didn’t hesitate all too long before shelling out the £40 for two tickets to the show. It’s a good thing I didn’t hesitate, too, seeing as there were only a few hundred tickets available and they sold out in a flash—in fact, someone apparently paid £304 for two of them on eBay. Now that’s dedication.

The gig was held in the shabby King Alfred Leisure Centre just a 15-minute walk down the seafront from my house (another reason it would have been crazy for me not to go). The venue has a capacity of just 300 and it was nowhere near full, which made for ideal concert-enjoying conditions. And while the dilapidated setting was rather bizarre, it actually fit quite well with the sleaziness of Grinderman’s music.

I really wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the concert; if anything, my attitude was one of “Prove to me that you’ve still got it, Nick.” Well…he did. And how. The gig was a great big blast of down and dirty rock, presided over by the eminently charismatic Mr. Cave (as arsey and uncommunicative as he’s been in recent interviews, he made for quite a chatty and charming frontman last night). The Grinderman songs which never really convinced me on record suddenly made sense live, and it was a treat to see them performed in such an intimate venue. It’s one thing to be sitting just a few feet away from Nick Cave in a café; it’s quite another to be standing just a few feet away from him as he belts out his songs.

The biggest bonus of the night was the encore, when Grinderman shifted into Bad Seeds Lite mode and played some classics from the back catalogue—starting with Tupelo, which, I mean, my God. Awesome much? And after The Mercy Seat and a few more recent tunes, Grinderman departed the stage for good, and Jeremy and I departed for home with ringing ears and satisfied hearts.

I still ♥ Nick Cave after all.

Obligatory food content: I made black bean and veggie burritos with homemade guacamole and pico de gallo for dinner before the gig. They were very yummy.