Having spent his earlier years taking hard drugs and singing black songs overflowing with bloodshed and Old Testament brimstone, at 50 you might think that Nick Cave is a prime candidate for grumpy old man status.

On the contrary, the man behind Murder Ballads and Release The Bats is becoming ever more fun as he ages. With his handlebar moustache, sharp suit and medallion he looks increasingly like a pimp, and having recently let off steam with his punk-blues side-project Grinderman, on his latest album with the Bad Seeds all the Biblical references are backed by an irresistibly unholy groove.

Tracks from Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! dominated the first of three London shows last night, those excessive exclamation points the first indication of the excitability Cave would bring to his performance. He growled theatrically through Red Right Hand, lit from behind so that his huge spindly shadow loomed on both the Apollo’s red walls. During We Call Upon The Author he railed furiously at the random acts of God, though other choruses appeared to put simpler party-time lyrics at the forefront, such as “Everybody’ s coming round to my place” (Midnight Man) and “We’re gonna have a real cool time” (Today’s Lesson).

Warren Ellis was often as watchable as the frontman, switching between violin and a succession of comically tiny electric guitars and at one point creating squalls of noise by windmilling his arms at something obscured on the floor.

Though the roadies seemed to be busier than usual with technical problems, the rest of the Bad Seeds coolly generated an impressively brutal rock sound over which their leader could rant.

Ballads such as Into Your Arms and lovely new one Jesus Of The Moon paced the set, but with Cave in fiery, confrontational mood, this powerful evening was all about the storm, not the calm.