The English singer-songwriter is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight
Kate Bush is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a long overdue honor for the experimental and forward-thinking singer-songwriter.
Because she’s rarely performed live over the course of her career (she has only toured once, in 1979), most of Bush’s fans have only been able to watch her on television programs. In 1985, while rolling out her classic album Hounds of Love, she made her first of four career appearances on Wogan, a BBC One chat show hosted by presenter Terry Wogan.
Bush commands the stage from behind a pulpit, delivering the song as if she were a pastor giving a sermon during mass. Her band dresses as monks in long, brown robes and move in a triangular formation behind the singer. When the pulpit is removed, Bush sings the bridge with a visceral intensity, ending the song by grabbing a bow and arrow and placing herself in an archer stance.
Bush would continue to make exclusively UK-based appearances throughout the most active years of her career. She only arrived stateside once, to perform on Saturday Night Live in the late Seventies. In 2014, she returned to the stage to do a 22-night residency. Over the last couple decades, Bush has seen an increase in young fans of her music. It reached its peak last year when “Running Up That Hill” became a Number One hit thanks to a scene in the Netflix series Stranger Things that prominently featured it. In May, “This Woman’s Work” also got a boost from its placement in the film The Mother.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York tonight and will air live on Disney+.