For a certain sort of person, the most compelling reason to watch 2012’s London Olympics was the rumor that Kate Bush would perform at the closing ceremony. Given that Bush hadn’t toured for over three decades and hadn’t performed live at all since 2002 (and even that was a bit part on a Pink Floyd tour), the prospect seemed grand: the biggest stage you could get, a performer whose theatrical vision was even bigger, and some English national pride to boot. The rumor was based in nothing more substantive than a remix of Bush’s hit “Running Up That Hill” that showed up on Olympics compilation on Amazon and a few cryptic statements to the press. The remix turned out to be real—but the performance was not. Bush's song soundtracked a montage, everyone left confused, and thus concluded the thirty-third consecutive year Kate Bush did not tour. (Bush was asked to perform at the Olympics, it turns out, but declined, along with David Bowie, the Sex Pistols and the Rolling Stones.)
Like practically everything in Bush’s career, her reluctance to tour has taken on a sort of mystique. Some claim that performing would have distracted her from her love of studio experimentation, others say the stress of doing shows is simply too much on her artistic temperament, others still suggest she just doesn't like planes. Given Bush’s propensity to deflate every myth built around her (her exact words on the subject: “I’m not some weirdo recluse”), it’s probably a mix of them all—which is why it came as such a shock last week when Bush announced she’d play a series of shows starting this August. There’s no info yet about what Bush will include from the nine albums she’s released since the last time she went on tour, but some have speculated based on the tour's artwork that she’ll be performing her concept suite The Ninth Wave.
In honor of this great news, here's a look at some of Bush's best live performances.
“Moving,” Tokyo Music Festival, 1978
Which Kate Bush single made her a hit in Japan? Not the one you would expect. (“Wuthering Heights” was only the B-side!) This early performance from the Tokyo Music Festival (where she shared silver prize with the Emotions) finds Bush in robust voice and truly excellent costume.
“James and the Cold Gun,” Tour of Life, 1979
Bush’s first and (until now) only tour was a sold-out, glowingly reviewed affair that redefined big-budget: magic tricks, poetry readings, dozens of costume changes, lavish choreography (Bush was the first major artist to perform with a wireless mic so she could dance as well as sing), and groundbreaking stagecraft. Basically every pop artist worth his or her weight in pyrotechnics owes Bush (well, and David Bowie) a debt. “James and the Cold Gun,” from The Kick Inside, closed the tour’s set... likely because at the end Bush shot everyone on the stage.
“The Wedding List,” 1979 Christmas Special
Bush’s BBC Christmas special, taped in advance of 1980’s Never For Ever, is cherished for a couple of reasons: Her sprightly “December Will Be Magic Again,” her appearances with then-collaborator Peter Gabriel, and... this. Based on Francois Truffaut's 1968 film The Bride Wore Black, it’s decidedly less seasonal, unless your idea of the holiday season involves murder, suicide, feticide, shotgun weddings, weddings with shotguns, affairs, the tabloids, mime, jumping around with loaded weapons and gloriously rampant emoting. (Can you even imagine if this came out during the GIF era?)
“Breathing,” Comic Relief, 1986
One of Bush’s most haunting tracks, performed with piano and voice and no stagecraft whatsoever. This wouldn’t be so odd – Bush had a few such numbers in Tour of Life– if it weren’t for the venue: a decidedly serious track at a charity telethon populated by comedians, which would later stage two separate parodies of her. But Bush doesn’t mind getting in on the joke, if you count her counterprogramming: a duet with Rowan Atkinson called “Do Bears…”.
“Running Up That Hill” (with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour), The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball, 1987
Probably Bush’s most-covered hit, performed in almost every possible style (a fraction: symphonic metal, acoustic, Brian Molko, Italo, drag, ASMR, more metal, seriously there is a lot of metal). By the time Hounds of Love rolled around, though, Bush generally only performed live for charity or as a favor to friends. This is both: Bush playing an Amnesty International concert with the guy who discovered her in her teens. She’d return the favor in 2002 on “Comfortably Numb”—her last live performance. Until now...