★★★★

Sydney Opera House, January 8

Nick Cave, life coach? Aussie rock’s prince of darkness held “something of an experiment” at the Opera House that was one part writers’ festival Q&A;, one part piano concert.

Flying solo and fielding audience requests meant there was no telling where the night would go next: he was asked everything from how he finds beauty in tragedy, his creative process to “can you sign my foot?”

“You used to be a heroin addict, yeah?” one young man asked.

“Allegedly,” he answered wryly, before dispensing serious advice about seeking help.

Fans were drawn by the chance to pick his brain about their favourites, and he obliged with amusing insights and selections spanning from the mid-’80s (Sad Waters, Stranger Than Kindness) to new work (Mermaids, Higgs Boson Blues, Skeleton Tree).

When quizzed about why he had taken to playing Leonard Cohen’s Avalanche live, he explained: “I like it because it’s dark and incomprehensible.”

Asked obliquely about finding great beauty in tragic circumstances, he answered directly about the death of his son, Arthur, 15, in July 2015.

“There is something that exists beyond the trauma,” Cave said of the work Arthur’s death had inspired. “It’s difficult to say and it’s a difficult realisation to come to.”

With such a simple set-up certain requests were impossible: the epic Jubilee Street “would only disappoint” on the piano. Most of the songs selected made the most of the minimalism. Into My Arms was achingly beautiful, while what The Mercy Seat may have lost in urgency it more than made up for in poignancy.

The Weeping Song felt rushed and a little perfunctory, despite the bombast of Cave’s baritone, but this is a minor quibble. Watching a legend in command of an audience, never quite knowing what would happen next, was a genuine thrill. And the man in the middle seemed to feel the same.

“The terror of standing in front of people is incredibly addictive,” Cave said. “Doing this ... has brought back the terror of performance.”