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Kate Bush Before the Dawn Begins; Live Concerts - Aug/Sept/Oct 2014
Topic Started: Aug 25 2014, 03:07 PM (1,586 Views)
Mobson
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Last Friday, before she begins her Before the Dawn live concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo tomorrow evening after an absence of 35 years, the BBC put out a double dose of Kate Bush; first broadcasting a very interesting music documentary called rather unimaginatively The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill, exploring her career and music right back from January 1978's Wuthering Heights to her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow, through the testimony of some of her key collaborators and those she has inspired. Contributors include the guitarist who discovered her (Pink Floyd's David Gilmour), the choreographer who taught her to dance (Lindsay Kemp) and the musician who she said 'opened her doors' (Peter Gabriel), as well as her engineer and ex-partner (Del Palmer) and several other collaborators (Elton John, Stephen Fry and Nigel Kennedy). Also exploring their abiding fascination with Kate are some of the musicians who have been influenced by her (John Lydon, St Vincent's Annie Clark, Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes, Tori Amos, Outkast's Big Boi, Guy Garvey and Tricky) and some writers and comedians who admire her (Jo Brand, Steve Coogan and Neil Gaiman)....

BBC i-player: six days left ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04dzswb/the-kate-bush-story-running-up-that-hill

This was followed by Kate at the BBC ... a look back at her appearances on the Beeb between 1978 and 1994, appearing on a variety of BBC programmes including Saturday Night at the Mill, Ask Aspel, the Leo Sayer show and Wogan, as well as Top of the Pops. This compilation showcases her performances of hit songs such as Wuthering Heights, Babooshka, Running up That Hill and Hounds of Love alongside other intriguing and lesser known material in the BBC studios.

BBC i-player: (six days left) ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04f86xk/kate-bush-at-the-bbc

Walking through the Piccadilly Arcade yesterday, I saw an exhibition of very stark b & w and colour photographs by Gered Mankowitz and Guido Harari being hung at Snap Galleries...called simply Kate Bush, it opens tomorrow @ 11am sharp! (Tues 26th Aug)

http://www.snapgalleries.com/exhibitions/kate-bush-photographs-by-gered-mankowitz-and-guido-harari/
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Edited by Mobson, Aug 25 2014, 03:15 PM.
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rumbaba
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Kate is a genius IMO
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rumbaba
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Rave reviews for this, wish I could have got a ticket and kicking myself (inside) for not going to see her in 1979 when I had the chance :(
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Mobson
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Went to Snap Gallieries yesterday - ITV were there....and have put up photographs on show...

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2014-08-26/kate-bush-photographic-exhibition-to-coincide-with-sold-out-tour/

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AmosBurke
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Conflicting reviews in this mornings Metro :
I would like to see her live, but sadly I can't afford to go. Hopefully she will go on the road and perform in Brum.
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Mobson
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If I may say the Metro is hardly the be all and end all of reportage Amos...lots of other glam reviews from various forms of media caught my ear and eye...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/live-music-reviews/11056359/Kate-Bush-Hammersmith-Apollo-review-still-wondrous-rich-and-powerful.html
"Singer defies weight of expectation on her comeback live performance to thrill audience with her theatrical imagination and undiminished voice"


BBC Newsnight: 35.39 mins in ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04g4zvw/newsnight-26082014 ...the piece by Steve Smith, pre the actual first night reviews from actress Gemma Atherton and musician Anna Calvi, is fun; he's talks to Kate's choreographer way back when, and her mime coach from 1976 Adam Darius actually demonstrating mime on Skype...

Radio 4 Front Row: 9.43mins in ...http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04fc70k Lucy Jones of NME reviewed Kate's first night saying the show she presented was a completely extraordinary spectacle, pulling elements from film, theatre and music in a completely new way, raising the bar for live performances in an age where gigs can be quite stagnant now, even the big live shows do not have the vision or the narrative that Kate brings to her show. People she spoke to at the Hammersmith had paid thousands of pounds to fly in from Brazil from San Franciso from the Netherlands and they all were extremely pleased and well worth the money.

New York Times: Vision Undimmed by Decades (like that!) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/arts/music/kate-bush-returns-to-the-stage-and-her-fans-are-there-to-welcome-her.html?_r=0

Hollywood Reporter: Bjork, Lily Allen and Gemma Arterton were spotted at the singer's first performance in 35 years amid Madonna, David Bowie rumors. Among them were also such 1980s pop stars as Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Marc Almond, as well as Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd‎. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kate-bush-comeback-concert-draws-728397

Her son Bertie has quite a key role in the show after years of keeping him and her private life just that...his vocals are featured on her work Aerial before and she has written a song called Bertie...here she is presenting him as a new artist, an actor and singer rather than her son...apparently in the programme notes she says she was very frightened to committing to the project but her sixteen year son actually encouraged her to continue with it. Good call! ...another good call was her request for no-one to film her performance on mobiles and i-pads which was largely respected - very rare for people to agree to that nowadays, thus allowing complete absorption in the performance itself and not the 'I've was there - seen it - got the t-shirt brigade of fans <star>
Edited by Mobson, Aug 28 2014, 12:41 PM.
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AmosBurke
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Mobson
Aug 28 2014, 12:28 PM
If I may say the Metro is hardly the be all and end all of reportage Amos...
I quite agree, but it's hard to beat the price :) It's the only daily that I read, so view of news is very limited. I'm sure Kate's performance was brill.
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Mobson
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<laugh> me making a meal of it and probably over-egging the pudding... and why not Kate Bush must be a genius like Rum says... and the Huffington Post has done a good job on a précis of her reviews thus....

The Telegraph (4/5)
"There was something touchingly gauche and bashful about her as she awkwardly twirled around the stage.Yet while her stage craft might have been creaky, her voice was an undiminished roar, surprisingly rich and powerful after such a long break."

The Guardian (5/5)
"For someone who's spent the vast majority of her career shunning the stage, she's a hugely engaging live performer, confident enough to shun the hits that made her famous in the first place: she plays nothing from her first four albums."

The Independent (5/5)
"Accompanied by music ranging from polyphonic choral harmonies to folksy minstrels, it’s quite stunning, undoubtedly the most ambitious, and genuinely moving, piece of theatrical pop ever seen on a British stage. Which is just what everyone here tonight was hoping for."

BBC
"Bush may not be the energetic 20-year-old who last performed on the same stage in 1979, but the 56-year-old singer has retained the power to entrance her audience. Among the cheers, some were moved to tears at this most unpredictable of comebacks."

The Mirror
"Though for this show there were relatively few costume changes her command of form was intense and delivery of content profound, transformations came time again, wondrous, uplifting and liberating. This was an astounding triumph in ways that must have surprised even her most devoted followers."

The Sun
"Theatrical, sensual, emphatic, she made Running Up That Hill feel like running, Cloudbusting sound like the rain that lashed London yesterday, while Hounds of Love summoned the racket of dogs howling."

Daily Mail
"Her music is still audacious and weird, but sometimes spellbindingly beautiful, too. Hers is a large-scale spectacle, vividly realised and unlike anything else in town."

<star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star> <star>
Edited by Mobson, Aug 28 2014, 04:58 PM.
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dai Cottomy
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Sorry to be a wet blanket, but while I agree that thirty five years ago she had a certain off-the wall appeal, I do not share the present euphoria. Still, that's nostalgia for you.
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Mobson
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Well I can't stop singing WOW WOW Wow - Unbelievable at the top of my voice...St. james will be pleased that I've departed for the day...although so tempted to break into the chorus whilst on train to Kent...may go into the garden/greenhouse and scare the baby tomatoes after tea!
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rumbaba
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dai Cottomy
Aug 29 2014, 01:28 PM
Sorry to be a wet blanket, but while I agree that thirty five years ago she had a certain off-the wall appeal, I do not share the present euphoria. Still, that's nostalgia for you.
Although she only toured once, in 1979, she has continued to release high quality albums over the years so, from a musical point of view, it's not really a nostalgia thing. The original tour was ground-breaking, she was the first to use a head-mic, a bit crude by today's standards but it let her move around. She had dancers, props, scenery, all commonplace now but not back then. She was a role model for female artists that came after (Tori Amos, Bjork, PJ Harvey), what was before - Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black? She also did everything on her own terms, the music the production and sometimes waiting more than a decade to release an album, not dictated to by record companies. also, she was very feminine without the overt sexuality of some of today's female artists like Beyonce or whatever.

This is from Kate's last album from 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TNFysecmq0


She did this song at the recent concert, just solo on piano, which I would have loved to have seen.
Edited by rumbaba, Aug 29 2014, 03:02 PM.
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Mobson
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WOWwowWow, Unbelievable...Yes I'm back and it's as quiet as a ghost...but wait! I hear Kate...

<pres> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFQVMJf5eI <pres>
Edited by Mobson, Aug 30 2014, 08:09 AM.
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