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Kate Bush- Breathing (live at the Comic Relief Benefit 1986)
You know why Kate Bush is awesome? Because she can make a song sung from the perspective of a fetus in the womb shortly after a nuclear holocaust genuinely moving and not ludicrous. I don’t know why she’s so reticent to perform live (she’s only done 4 live appearances since 1980, and two of those were just guest appearances at Peter Gabriel and David Gilmour concerts) since she does a stunning job here, especially at the “oh quick, breathe in deep!” part at 2:33 where all of the gravity and hopelessness of the song shows in her facial expressions. Kate is a performer who is both praised and derided for the theatricality inherent in most of her songs, but this performance proves that her work stands up to (and is possibly improved by) being stripped down and presented in its barest form.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Kate Bush- Come Together (Beatles cover)
So remember how earlier today I said a new Kate Bush track was a big deal because it’s so rare to hear anything new from her? When it rains it pours, because another new track was released this weekend, a soundboard recording of a live cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” done in the 70’s. It was quickly pulled down by her ex-boyfriend and band member Del Palmer, but it’s great and deserves to be heard. Her unique vocal style adds a lot to the song, and her band does a nice job as well.
Anything live from Kate is a big treat, since she has only done 1 tour in her entire career, and that was in 1979. Since then she’s only done 5 live performances, and 2 of those were just guest appearances where she sang with others. (She performed “Don’t Give Up” live with Peter Gabriel in 1986, and sang the part of The Doctor in “Comfortably Numb” at a 2002 David Gilmour concert, which was also her last live appearance.)
