Kate Bush stresses importance of keeping creative control

Kate Bush

Kate Bush has stressed the importance of retaining creative control over her live shows.

She’s just released a 3CD and 4LP titled Before The Dawn which was recorded during her 22-date run in London in 2014 – Bush’s first full live performances since 1979.

And she reports she wanted to completely oversee the production as she wanted to keep the shows “personal.”

Bush tells the Independent: “The big thing for me, and it has been from quite early on, is to retain creative control over what I’m doing.

“If you have creative control, it’s personal. What I didn’t want to do was step into someone else’s show. Also, that was what was exciting for me – the idea of putting this big visual piece together.

“Though there was the most extraordinary team of people working on the show, there wasn’t a single person on that team that didn’t have very important input on what the show became.”

The decision to release Before The Dawn on audio formats only has raised a few eyebrows – especially considering the theatrical nature of the live shows.

And Bush confirms the reason was a deliberate move.

She continues: “People are surprised that there’s no DVD of the show, but I’d like to mention this live album that Elton John put out, 17-11-70, which was something that I loved so much.

“To have an album where you could imagine what the show was, I found that incredibly exciting, and in a way, this live album is almost more representative of what it was like to be at the live show.”

Bush released a video for And Dream Of Sheep earlier this month, which she recorded in a water tank at Pinewood Studios.

She says of the shoot: “I’d never worked in water before, and we didn’t know, purely from a technical point of view, if we could find a microphone that could cope with being submerged. So a lot of research went into that.

“Also, lying on your back, it’s a different way to sing, and we weren’t sure we were going to achieve what we wanted, certainly from an audio point of view.”

She adds: “What was probably most difficult, particularly on the first day, was that I was in the tank of water for so long that I actually got really cold. Hour by hour, it was becoming more realistic!”

Before The Dawn is now available.

Kate Bush opens up on 'terrifying' 2014 live comeback

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.