Nick Cave’s headlining set at the Music Center at Strathmore last night might’ve been the loudest gig the striking venue, best suited to delicate music like that proffered by opener Sharon Van Etten, has ever hosted.

This poignant adaptation of Kafka’s darkly comic fable about a man’s overnight transformation into a monstrous insect closes tonight at the Kennedy Center after an all-too-brief three-day run.