Cheap Kate Bush: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (Video) (Kate Bush) Price

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Customer Reviews of Kate Bush: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon

Imaginative, theatrical, visual tour-de-force from Kate
Anyone who hasn't seen Kate Bush's interesting (to say the least) videos will see her creativity at full force in her concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, where this video was filmed on 13 May 1979. She directed, produced, and designed this concert, featuring a wide range of costumes, dances, theatrics, mime performances, colourful lights, and quite an imagination, all the product of Kate, who seems to be in her own little universe.

The bulk of the material is taken from her debut The Kick Inside, with three songs from Lionheart, and one that would later appear on her third album, Never For Ever.

Moving- interspersed with footage of the ocean, this song has her in a blue outfit and black tights. She wears a headset mike in this number.

Them Heavy People- she wears a fedora and a beige overcoat like some detective.

Violin-after a footage of a burning violin, this bizarre upbeat song has her jumping up with the yelps in this tune. Whereas the Never For Ever album featured a violin, the concert here uses an electric guitar. And the appearance of a mad fiddler, plus two people in violin costumes who knock her on the head at the end.

Strange Phenomena- After a close-up shot of Saturn, there are two spacemen who pull out coloured hankies from Kate's sleeves

Hammer Horror-After footage of bats, she doesn't sing at all in this ode to Hammer films, the song being piped through speakers, but her mime-like expressions are superb here, as she dances with and mimes with a menacing black hooded figure. Her clenched teeth and expressions of horror demonstrate how much mime has played in her performances.

Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake-she and her dancers make railroad train motions and steering wheel motions in this rocker from the Lionheart album.

Wow- Also from Lionheart, she wears a mauve-ish sleeveless gown in this one, and the way the red light adds quite a tinge to her dark brown hair.

Feel It- Kate relaxes and is the girl with her piano in this ballad.

Kite- Two dancers hold her up and run carrying her while she yelps with pleasure. it ends with an instrumental jam and a wind sound effect, to which Kate and her dancers mime being blown off the stage.

James And The Cold Gun- one of the highlights here. Wearing a tight black and gold Western outfit, wielding a pistol, later a rifle, she confronts three other gunmen whom she shoots with a rifle, jumping up and down as the drums match the machine-gun like rat-a-tat. Her opponents jerk and collapse admirably.

Oh England My Lionheart- she is wearing a bomber jacket and goggled helmet in this melting ballad to her home country.

Wuthering Heights- best for last, her signature tune. The crowd really cheers with this number. And as she is making her exit, she jumps up and down wildly, waving all the while. She's clearly had fun doing this concert. I wonder if Sarah Brightman found inspiration doing stuff like this in her La Luna concert. Kate's concert video is an innovative creative show from her early period that's not just another live concert. It's a visual look into her mind. Oh, and this video also included a CD of this concert.

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Excellent angles,beautiful choreography,smooth transitions.
Keef directs the filming of Kate Bush's only live tour. The camera angles are smart and interesting, and the sound quality is top-knotch, maximizing Kate's motion and song. He adds shots of paintings which fade into the next song for smooth transitions, as her live performances are an extravaganza, requiring frequent costume changes, but he does nothing weird with camera angles or filters. This shows the power of her music and dance. No MTV business is used -or necessary- to keep the viewer rivited to Kate's music and trance-inducing performances. The songs are all originals, all penned by Kate herself, as is the choreography. The two distractions that keep this from earning a "10" are: "James and the Cold Gun", in which she mimicks a gun firing to the drummer's beautifully appropriate hammering. The music is great, but the dance is uncomfortably hokey. The second "problem" is the only song she does not sing. A recording is played of "Hammer Horror" while she and one of her dancers execute a flawless not-quite-interpretive dance to it. It is wonderful, perhaps the best choreography of the show, but some viewers may disklike the recording rather than live singing. This is an old performance, and older Bush fans will appreciate live versions of her earlier works like "Moving", "Oh, England, My Lionheart", "Violin", "Kite", "L'Amoure Looks Something like You", and, of course, her final number, "Wuthering Heights". Fans of Tori Amos, Alannis Morrissette, Paula Jones, and the like will be able to go back 15 years to see where some of the current wave of sensual feminine "mea culpa" music got its start. - Thor Cameron END