John Cale setlists
Touring in the 21st Century
After the never ending solo shows Cale goes on tour in 2003 with a full backing band to promote 5 Tracks and HoboSapiens. He is obviously enjoying himself and he repeats the proces for BlackAcetate and Circus Live.
The Meatgrinders at Patti Smith's Meltdown
He accepts an invitation from Patti Smith to play at the Meltdown Festival in London (June 25, 2005). She acted as curator for the festival and performed her Cale produced album Horses in full. Cale was supposed to come out to play bass on the My Generation encore, like he used to do in 1976 and 1977 . It does not happen.
As a preparation for his appearance he performs a couple of warm-up shows in The Netherlands on March 31 at the Cross-Linx Festival @ Tivoli in Utrecht, and two nights at Atak in Enschede (April 1 and 2). The shows are billed as The Meatgrinders, with former Can member Holger Czukay, and Terrie Hessels & Andy Moor from Dutch avant-punk band The Ex.
Life Along the Borderline: a tribute to Nico
Cale organises Life Along the Borderline: a tribute to Nico for a show in London, (October 11, 2008), with guests like the Fiery Furnaces, James Dean Bradfield and Pete Murphy.
The show is filmed by a professional crew, but the footage hasn't been released. Reprises take place in Ferrara (May 10, 2009), Wroclaw (March 27, 2010), Rome (April 11, 2010) and New York (January 16, 2013)..
"Dyddiau Du/Dark Days" for the Venice Biennale
He represents Wales at the 53rd Venice Biennale of Art 2009 in June in Italy with a new, specially commissioned installation.
It's called Dyddiau Du/Dark Days, a multimedia project about his Welsh heritage, including footage of Garnant - the sunrise is filmed at the house where he was born - and the nearby Black Mountains. He used five high resolution screens for the movies, with texts in both Welsh and English. The footage, shot by documentary maker Bevis Bevis Bowden, consists of four sections - Maes-Y-Wern, Send Me Away, Dreaming in Vertigo and The Making of Unpretty - shown in a loop, and was accompanied by a new song written for the occasion.
The exhibition was opened on June 9, with Cale meeting the Welsh Minister for Heritage Alun Ffred Jones. he project was also shown at the MOFO 2010 Festival in Hobart, Australia (January 4-31, 2010); Essen, Germany (July 9 and 10, 2010); Swansea, Wales (October 8-November 7, 2010). The installation goes home for showings at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis, (March 25 - April 3, 2011) and as part of the opening of the extended new art galleries at the National Museum in Cardiff in Wales in the Summer of 2011.
Performing "Paris 1919"
He performs the Paris 1919 album live in its entirety in Cardiff, Wales (November 21, 2009). The 19 piece orchestra conducted by John Rea.
The show is staged again in London (March 5, 2010), Norwich (May 14, 2010), Paris (September 5, 2010), Barcelona (May 28, 2011), Essen (October 6, 2011), Malmö (November 21, 2011), New York (January 18-19, 2013) and Mesen (December 20, 2014).