Everyone Except You Went To Kate Bush’s Comeback Gig

By Nastassia Baroni

After a thirty-five year absence following her last live performance, British singer, songwriter and performance artist Kate Bush has made her triumphant return to the stage, and according to the onslaught of tweets, reviews and photos, pretty much everyone was there.

The three-hour performance took place at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, the same venue that held her last live show in 1979, and is the first of a 22-date run of sold out comeback shows. According to NME, in attendance at the show were singers Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright, Holly Johnson, Anna Calvi, Pink Floyd‘s Dave Gilmour, Warpaint and Boy George. There was even a rumour that David Bowie was floating around the joint.

According to the glowing reviews, the 56-year-old singer’s first gig in 35 years was a theatrical spectacular, which saw Bush recreate the second sides of both her classic 1985 album Hounds Of Love and her 2005 album Aerial as fully realised stage productions.

The Guardian‘s Alexis Petridis said the performance featured dry ice, giant paper aeroplanes, Bush’s 16-year-old son Bertie playing a 19th century artist, “dancers in lifejackets attacking the stage with axes and chainsaws” and “the singer herself being borne through the audience by dancers clad in costumes based on fish skeletons”.

In an interview with the BBC‘s Newsnight program after the gig, singer Anna Calvi described the atmosphere Bush created as, “the most crazy, imaginative, creative world” adding “it felt like [being] inside her brain”.

Other concertgoers were equally rapt with the spectacular comeback. “Thank you for last night Kate Bush. You are the OG. Complete Magic exuding Love,” tweeted LA-based art-rockers Warpaint who had flown to London just for the show.

“We bought tickets and a plane ticket to get here and go back to where we are – Croatia – on tour,” guitarist Theresa Wayman told NME. “We’ve come over for this on a much-needed day off. Some of us [in the band] are fans – and some of us are about to be.”

Kate Bush has been an icon of the music industry for nearly 40 years now and has spent the majority of that time off stage. Prior to her London comeback show, a 1979 six-week tour of Europe was her last time in front an audience.

Notably absent from the performance’s setlist were arguably Kate Bush’s most well-known tracks, Wuthering Heights and Babooshka. However she did perform many of her other hits including, Hounds Of Love, Running Up That Hill and King Of The Mountain.

Prior to the show, Bush appealed to fans to put away their phones, cameras and tablets to ensure she could have “contact” with her audience, though as expected some images and videos have trickled through. We’ve collated some below for you to peruse and attempt to stave off jealousy.

Watch: Kate Bush live in 2014

http://youtu.be/B5MORze6czo

Nastassia Baroni
Nastassia Baroni

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