Nick Cave donates a pair of Gucci socks to save independent music venue

Nick Cave’s late-career shift into an approachable, benevolent figure continues. Cave has donated a pair of socks worth a “fucking fortune” to help save a UK music venue.

The London independent venue Trinity is part of a national initiative launched by Music Venue Trust, which seeks to prevent the closure of hundreds of music venues across the UK. The Trinity – which is located in Harrow, North West London – has been experiencing life-threatening financial strain as a result of the coronavirus lockdowns.

To help the venue reach its fundraising target, friends of venue manager Chris Perdue arranged an online auction. Perdue is an enormous fan of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, so his friends put the call out for all kinds of weird and wonderful Cave merchandise. And people have delivered in the form of Bad Seeds tour posters, magazine covers, tea towels, foreign language biographies, fan art, customised jewellery, rare vinyl and loads more.

But things got considerably more exciting earlier this week when Cave himself made a donation to the cause. “This is what Nick has created and generously donated – we call it the Thingy as it defies description,” writes auction co-organiser Britta Burmester.

It’s a pair of sparkly, never-worn Gucci socks. Perhaps of equal excitement for Cave fans is the attached, sharpie scrawled message. “This pair of sparkly socks officially belong to Nick Cave and are worth a fucking fortune,” wrote Cave, before signing his name.

The socks will go up for auction on Thursday, June 4th at 8pm BST (5am Friday, June 5th AEST) and the Trinity Auction House will be accepting bids for a week. In the meantime, let’s hope Cave has more expensive clothing lying around to help save independent music venues in his home country.