Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Unveil Massive 2017 National Tour

Iconic Australian outfit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have announced that they will tour Australia and New Zealand in January next year, on the back of their sublime new album Skeleton Tree.

The tour will see Cave and his cohorts take their "biggest and boldest" show to date all over the country, from its first gig in Hobart and its special outdoor showing on the banks of Lake Wendouree, in Ballarat, to signature stages across Australia and NZ's major cities, including Wellington, Auckland, Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and, naturally, Sydney and Melbourne, both of which will see Cave and the crew step out for two shows with special guests The Necks (also appearing in Ballarat and Brisbane).

The 2017 line-up of musicians backing Cave as The Bad Seeds include long-time collaborators Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, Thomas Wydler, Jim Sclavunos and veteran touring member Conway Savage, as well as more recent recruits George Vjestica and Larry Mullins.

The band released the affecting Skeleton Tree, their 16th studio full-length, in September to broad critical and audience acclaim. Arriving in the wake of the accidental death of Cave's teenage son, the album carries an added poignancy that makes it all feel as fragile as it is devastating, and a sense of challenge only heightened by the release's proclivity for non-traditional musical components and structures. Despite being anathema to much of the pop crowd, the album nonetheless went to #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, the second Bad Seeds record to do so after 2013's also-celebrated LP, Push The Sky Away.

It all only serves to reinforce the band's position as one of the most visceral and vital alt-rock acts to have ever come out of this country, and you'd be doing yourself a massive disservice to not expose yourself in some way — and what better manner than in the flesh?

Tickets for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' 2017 tour of Australia and New Zealand go on sale from 9am AEDT this Thursday, 27 October.

For more information, including a full list of venues, dates and other booking details, see theGuide.