WE’RE not going to beat about the Bush – an act coming to Norden Farm next month is aiming to be as close to the real thing as possible.
Kate Bush-Ka is bringing her tribute to the popular pop reclusive when she appears in Maidenhead.
It recreates much of song list from her first album The Kick Inside onwards, including costumes, choreography and the music. Nothing is recorded, the entire experience is live.
And the show itself is new: Kate and her band have spent the past couple of years honing it and only now are they unleashing it on the public.
But the 23-year-old has had a lifetime’s apprenticeship. Like most youngsters, she was singing into a hairbrush and dancing to her reflection, but it was Christmas as a seven-year-old that really started her love affair with Kate.
“My Mum and Dad were big fans,” she recalls. “I didn’t have any money for Christmas presents and I’d just learnt how to make CDs, so I ended up burning a CD of Kate Bush’s greatest hits. She really loved that CD.”
The learning curve of technology gave Kate – yes, she really is called Kate – the inspiration she needed, her craft was honed at acting school, she took classical music and drama at A level and just about to start her third year at university where she is studying music.
Just a few years ago, she started gigging at open mic nights in her native Portsmouth, where she’d sing 60s music such as Cilla Black numbers. But her audiences couldn’t help but notices she resembled Kate Bush.
“I thought I’d sing some of her songs to see how it would go down,” she recalls. “I did eight or nine hits and it went really well. I said to my Dad I could do something like that.”
The rest was history – and she started devising the act two years ago, studying old footage, Top of the Pops performances, reading interviews and doing everything she can to recreate Kate Bush as a pop powerhouse of the late 70s and early 80s.
So it’s no wonder that she has been taking her tribute act seriously.
“It’s an honour to play Kate’s music,” she says. “She doesn’t tour [now], it’s important to showcase her music.
“It’s amazing being Kate. When it’s just me – I’ve been gigging in pubs for a few years now – I’m actually quite shy and it’s really quite daunting. But when I’m Kate Bush, I’m a really different person.
“I can really express myself, it’s great, it’s definitely empowering.”
The band backing her includes her Dad on drums – “he’s been really supportive, we’ve always got on really well.
“He’s in a top party band on the South Coast, and we share a love of music.”
The rest of the band also understand Kate’s devotion to getting the details right.
“It was really important for us to get members of the band to be fans [of Kate] as much as we are. Everything is live.”
Her appearance at Norden Farm will be her debut there and she’s looking forward to it.
“It’s completely new to me, and it’s exciting.
“Come and see the show because you can’t see the real Kate, but hopefully this will be the closest you can get. It’s authentic, there are lots of costume changes, including some you wouldn’t expect.
“Even if you don’t know here music, you’ll leave a fan at the end.
“Kate’s music speaks for itself.”
Kate Bush-Ka: The Whole Truth will be at Norden Farm in Maidenhead on Saturday, August 10. Tickets cost £15.
For more details or to book, call the Box Office on 01628 788997 or log on to https://norden.farm/events/kate-bush-ka
