Kate Bush

On Wednesday 3rd September a 5 month (and 35 Year) wait was over as I got to see one of my all time favourite musicians, Kate Bush. When 7.45pm came, so did Kate, leading a procession of her backing singers, including son Bertie, and launching straight into Lily, from The Red Shoes album. This, and nearly all subsequent songs got a standing ovation. Next up was a storming version of Hounds of Love with was received with rapturous applause. Kate's voice has matured over the years and now has a rich, mellow timbre, probably another reason why she wasn't going to perform any material from her first four 'high pitched vocal' albums. The other numbers in this first set were Joanni, Top of the City, Running up that Hill and King of the Mountain. It was now that problems set in, the next part of the gig was going to be 'The Ninth Wave' which makes up the second side of the Hounds of Love album and is a narrative piece written to be played as a whole but it just started with a film of an Astronomer calling the coast guard to report a missing ship when it stopped and we were told there were technical difficulties and we would have first a 10 minute, then a thirty minute break. This soon passed and we were back to the show starting with a canon fire of confetti out into the audience of tissue paper with an excerpt of Tennyson's poem, 'The coming of Arthur' on it.
Kate's image is on a screen at the back of the stage floating in the pitch black sea wearing a life jacket and off stage she starts singing 'And Dream of Sheep' , lip-synching perfectly and then it was through the rest of the songs that make up 'The Ninth Wave' with the stage full of waves made of silk, Ships Buoys, Fish People and even a representation of a rescue helicopter flying over the audience, its search beam flicking over the sea of people.
Then it was our second and scheduled interval, a chance to catch your breathe and retrieve pieces of confetti from the stage and aisles. The second half was the performance of A Sky of Honey, from the Aerial Album, with son Bertie taking the part of the Painter and directing what happened on stage. And again it was a visual feast with an artistes wooden model controlled by a puppeteer, church bells, Blackbird's song and when we got to Aerial, a crashing crescendo with two huge trees that fell from the roof, one which impaled Kate' grand piano and then Kate herself turning into a Blackbird and briefly taking off from the stage before the lights went dark. This resulted in a huge ovation from the audience, the noise was deafening ! The expected encore was listened to in total silence as Kate played Among Angels (From 50 Words for Snow) solo at the piano before leading audience in an ecstatic rendition of Cloudbusting ! And then it was over, a magical,emotional,crazy,dreamlike, vision of this women's work. Worth waiting 35 years for, you bet !

The last time Kate Bush went on tour was the year I was born so it seemed surreal that in 2014 she decied to hold a residency at the Hammersmith Apollo. First things first - her voice has held up amazingly well, I was stunned by how strong her vocals were on songs like 'Hounds of Love'. Unlike other artists this was not a Greatest Hits but a strong focus on her 1985 album 'Hounds of Love' and the 20 years later 2005 'Aerial' album.
Kate took an entire section from each album and followed through with a visual and musical experience.
The 'Ninth Wave' portion of the show had far less singing but more dramatics. I commend her use of staging, actors and video but there were a couple of parts that were cringe-inducing like the dramatic scene between her son and his father and it lasted probably about 10 minutes too long. Hearing the second part of the Aerial LP live was absoultey amazing in particular 'Sunset' and teh Spanish guitars through to the gorgeous 'Nocturn'. I loved the use of the live puppeteer operating the wooden puppet which helped to create quiet an unsettling and eerie image that ended with the entire on stage band, singers and actors wearing very creepy bird masks. The show lasted just under 3 hours with a 20 minute interval and she ended with a magnificient 'Cloudbusting' which felt like the perfect end to a show many never thought would ever happen.

After almost 37 years of being a huge fan I finally got to see Kate Bush sing her songs live and what an evening. No songs from the first four albums but some truly amazing performances and the most emotional concert I've ever been to. The first few songs were Kate singing with the band as a straight rock show, looking relaxed and as if she was enjoying it as much as the audience. They then moved on to an extended visual show around the Ninth Wave - the second half of the Hounds of Love album. By the time that had finished we had had an hour and a half that in itself would have constituted a great show but that was only the first half. The second half was based around A Sky of Honey with bits from 50 Words for Snow and a solo piece from her son Bertie - great voice if a bit more on the theatrical side. The whole thing was again based around a visual performance that enhanced the experience. For the encore Kate sang alone at the piano and then the finale was back to the Hounds of Love album with Cloudbustin. All in all a wonderful evening and we are back again tomorrow. Hopefully this will stir her interest in live performances and we'll see further shows - and new albums!

If anyone tells you they know what a Kate Bush live show is like, frankly, they’re either one of the luckiest people in the world, or they’re an outright liar. The singer, inarguably one of the most influential in the last thirty, forty years of modern music, has been strictly a studio based artist for so long that live shows have not been performed with any regularity since her one and only ever tour, way back in 1979. It’s no wonder then that news of her return to the stage was greeted among her fanbase as if it was the second coming of some soprano voiced Messiah. Reportedly, she retired from the stage in the late Seventies due to wanting more control over the final product - something only a retreat to the studio offered - and as such, one can expect attention to detail to be of utmost importance when she makes her live comeback. From the footage available of those long mythologized shows of yester year, with Bush crawling around the stage as if climbing a horizontal mountain, her otherworldly voice as spellbinding as her piercing stare, anyone lucky enough to grab a ticket for the forthcoming nights is in for an unparalleled treat.

So. I thought the staging and her voice were amazing. I thought all the song choices were perfect and didn't 'miss' the real oldies.. (in fact there were quite a lot of nods to the classics that haven't been picked up on) Real thought in that set and lighting design visually and aurally perfect..
I know she's not a lithe 19 year old (who is?) but I wished she had stood still a bit more. Especially in the first half when she just waddled about like a drunk at a bus stop. And I wish that both the concept pieces had been played as continuous works rather than breaking it up to give room for applause.. It lacked urgency - especially the 9th Wave. But some real WOW moments, some seriously swoonsome moments, and the ending of Ariel crystallised in about one minute why we love her . Really felt in the presence of something special.