Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Have Announced Two Hanging Rock Gigs Ahead of Full Aussie Tour Dates

Fresh from hosting the Foo Fighters at Geelong's GMHBA Stadium, Victoria's new statewide contemporary music celebration Always Live has just added two new gigs to its lineup: the first stops in the Australian leg of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' Carnage tour. Mark Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26 in your diaries and prepare to head to the Macedon Ranges, because the two Aussie music legends and their must-attend 2022 shows are heading to Hanging Rock.

The pair are hitting the stage to support the 2021 album that shares the tour's name, which actually marks Cave and Ellis' first studio album as a duo. Bandmates across several projects since the 90s — including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman — Cave and Ellis are Aussie icons, with careers spanning back decades. Together, they also boast more than a few phenomenal film scores to their names as well, including for The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Road, West of Memphis, Far From Men, Hell or High Water and Wind River.

Cave and Ellis will head home after an American Carnage tour, and following Cave's subsequent tour with the Bad Seeds in Europe.

Yes, this is some news to come sail your ships around — although, given that Cave announced that the tour was in the works back in early February via his The Red Hand Files email list, you might've already started getting excited last month.

Laurine Payet

The Hanging Rock shows will have a limited capacity, with getting in quickly when tickets go on sale — at 12pm AEDT on Tuesday, March 15, with general sales available from 12pm local time on Thursday, March 17 — highly recommended.

Courtney Barnett will join the duo for the two gigs — and details of shows in other cities around the country is expected soon, so keep watching this space.

Fans of the pair have something else to look forward to, too: film This Much I Know to Be True, directed by Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Killing Them Softly filmmaker Andrew Dominik, about Cave and Ellis' creative relationship. Dominik also made 2016 Cave doco One More Time with Feeling, and his latest flick will hit Aussie cinemas on Wednesday, May 11.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis' Australian Carnage tour will kick off at Hanging Rock in the Macedon Ranges on Friday, November 25 and Saturday, November 26, then continue throughout November and December 2022 — with other cities, dates and venues still to be announced. Pre-sale tickets for the Hanging Rock shows go on sale at 12pm AEDT on Tuesday, March 15, with general sales available from 12pm local time on Thursday, March 17. For more information or to register for pre-sales, head to the tour website.

Top images: Laurine Payet, Palma Sabina.