Kory Grow
Contact Kory Grow on X View all posts by Kory Grow June 11, 2026
Nick Cave performs as part of the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Wild God" Tour at The Domain on January 23, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. Don Arnold/WireImage Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan were close friends — close enough, at least, to try to cheer each other once with a duet of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” On Wednesday, Cave paid tribute to his late friend by performing “A Rainy Night in Soho,” a song by MacGowan’s band the Pogues, during a concert on MacGowan’s favorite island, Ireland. The concert took place at Malahide Castle & Gardens.
Cave, who is on tour with the Bad Seeds, played piano, singing MacGowan’s maudlin lyrics about taking stock of one’s life (“I’ve cried for all your troubles/Smiled at your funny little ways”) with a quiver in his voice. Violinist Warren Ellis played an equally soulful solo during a break from the lyrics. “Wow, all right,” Cave commented with a chuckle when he was done. It made for a loving elegy to MacGowan, who died in 2023.
