Expansive live compilation revisits her 22- night 2014 live marathon with a multimedia extravaganza.
TRIPLE CD AND FOUR-LP CELEBRATION OF 2014’S MOST UNEXPECTED COMEBACK.
IT’S A THROWBACK TO LIVE ALBUMS FROM THE LAST CENTURY.
KATE BUSH BEFORE THE DAWN FISH PEOPLE, OUT 25 NOVEMBER
The cover of Kate Bush’s live album bears the title “The K Fellowship Presents Before The Dawn”. It’s a crucial detail, as her 22- night run at London’s Hammersmith Apollo was a collaborative affair. This multimedia experience included actors, elaborate set-pieces, bird masks and, on one occasion, Ms Bush wearing wings, disappearing down a hole in the middle of the stage. Gobsmacked audiences followed her polite request not to film the show on their smartphones, and very little footage has since found its way onto the net. Before The Dawn is that rare beast: a concert preserved only in the memories of those who saw it and not all over YouTube. Sadly, this live release doesn’t include the DVD everyone was hoping for. This means the mystique endures, but also that listening to it without the visuals can sometimes be frustrating. When you hear the audience’s spontaneous applause during A Sky Of Honey you have to imagine the wooden artist’s dummy suddenly tottering across the stage. There’s a bonus track, too: a brilliant reading of 1989’ s Never Be Mine. Presumably recorded at a rehearsal, it’s difficult to understand why it never made the final show. Then again, nothing about the show was predictable: from a setlist ignoring everything before 1985’ s Hounds Of Love to Bush’s teenage son Bertie singing the unreleased song Tawny Moon. In keeping with this, Before The Dawn snubs modernday convention and is a throwback to live albums from the last century. The message is clear, then: close your eyes, listen to the music and imagine what it looked like. MARK BLAKE
Listen To: Hounds Of Love | Never Be Mine | Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush: “Before The Dawn is that rare beast: a concert preserved only in the memories of those who saw it.”