Nick Cave and the Birthday Party Played a New York Concert So Violent It Was Shut Down: See Footage Here

There’s little question that the Birthday Party — Nick Cave’s first major band — was one of the most aggressive and confrontational groups of the ‘80s if not all of rock history. Their bruising, brutal sound and genuinely dangerous concerts are the stuff of legend, but as Cave’s intensity has been channeled into more-refined and less-blunt art, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how genuinely crazy the Birthday Party’s concerts were.

This clip, from the forthcoming documentary of the group, “Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party,” should bring it all back and then some. In it, we hear guitarist Rowland S. Howard’s highly entertaining memories of the group’s U.S. tour, especially a gig at New York’s Ritz that became so aggressive and unhinged onstage that the club’s management shut it down, to the extreme displeasure of the audience.

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“It was just great to have that feeling that you were capable of upsetting people so much,” Howard says in the clip.

Directed by Ian White and produced by The Birthday Party band member Mick Harvey, the film tells the story of The Birthday Party’s ascent, peak and inevitable collapse — as the press materials put it, “a thrilling tale of epic struggle, artistic genius and total dysfunctionality.” Told in the group’s own words, “Mutiny in Heaven” brings the Birthday Party’s story to the screen for the first time.

The documentary has begun its U.S. screening run to coincide with Nick Cave’s North American tour and will run in over 60 screenings across 50 cities from September to October, and will be available on VOD across the US later this year: https://www.birthdaypartymovie.com/screenings

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