Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Australian music legends return for a transcendent performance

Few Australian musicians can lay claim to a legacy as towering as that of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, whose collaboration dates back to their work on the Bad Seeds’ classic 1997 album The Boatman’s Call. From their platinum albums and classic soundtracks to last year’s devastating, wildly-acclaimed Carnage, the duo have remained a powerful musical force and unmatched live presence, more than 25 years into their partnership.

After a series of blistering shows in Europe to tour Carnage and the Bad Seeds’ moving 2019 album Ghosteen, Cave and Ellis will return to the Sydney Opera House for two epic performances in the Concert Hall this December, marking the pair’s first shows at the iconic venue since 2019.

Cave and Ellis’ creative chemistry is rooted in their long history of music making, both as collaborators and as individual artists. An ARIA-award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, actor, poet and writer, Nick Cave first came to prominence in the late 1970s as the leader of Australian post-punk legends The Birthday Party, before forming the Bad Seeds in Berlin in 1983. Cave and Warren Ellis first crossed paths in 1993, when Ellis played violin on several songs for the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album, Let Love In, before going on to join the band as a full-time member. In addition to performing with the Bad Seeds, acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Ellis is a member of beloved Australian post-rock trio Dirty Three. The two have also recorded as Grinderman, formed in 2006, and have composed and recorded numerous, film, TV, and theatre soundtracks together.