Straight to you: A tribute to Nick Cave

The musical tribute used to be farcical – think ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again.  But over the last couple of years musical tributes have experienced a renaissance, or, if you like, have been born again (geddit?!  Gee, I’m clever).

The reborn tribute takes its lead from the well loved Hollywood-how-to-make-a-blockbuster play book.   Take a talented musician who has had an illustrious career (they can be dead or alive) as your subject, litter your production with their most famous songs and then form an ensemble cast comprised of popular performers.

This formula is sure to deliver either an Oscar worthy biopic or, in this instance, a successful live tribute concert.  Just depends on how long you cook it for.  The live tribute concert has become a feature on the concert circuit in the past few years: there have been tribute concerts to the Beatles (for the White Album anniversary) and to the Finn Brothers of Crowded House fame with Triple J having also delivered tributes to the Go Betweens, AC/DC and Paul Kelly.

Triple J’s latest offering for their annual AusMusic Month is the Straight to You: A Tribute to Nick Cave concert.  It’s the first Triple J tribute concert to tour the country, visiting Geelong, Ballarat, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane as well as Canberra.  It arrived in Canberra on Wednesday, 16 November, and was held at the National Theatre.