Despite her discography reissue and recent Record Store Day UK ambassadorship, it’s likely the ever-elusive Kate Bush will remain just that and not perform publicly — but it doesn’t mean that friends and admirers like David Gilmour haven’t taken a shot at convincing her.
Fielding questions in a new edition of the Reader Interview from The Guardian, the Pink Floyd guitarist was asked, “Can you get Kate Bush back on stage soon?”
“Kate Bush is the only person who can get Kate Bush back on stage,” Gilmour answered. “I think the shows she did in 2014 at the Hammersmith Apollo were some of the best I’ve ever seen. We went several nights. I’ve tried persuading her recently, actually. Gently.”
Gilmour proved instrumental in Bush’s early career, paying for her studio time upon hearing an early demo and later inviting her to sit in on Pink Floyd sessions at Abbey Road Studios. In 1987, the two friends memorably performed Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” at an Amnesty International benefit show at the London Palladium, which you can watch below.
Someone Gilmour says he’ll never again share a stage with is his former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters. The guitarist shared, “I tend to steer clear of people who actively support genocidal and autocratic dictators like Putin and Maduro [president of Venezuela]. Nothing would make me share a stage with someone who thinks such treatment of women and the LGBT community is OK. On the other hand, I’d love to be back on stage with [late Pink Floyd keyboardist] Rick Wright, who was one of the gentlest and most musically gifted people I’ve ever known.”
Gilmour shared fifth solo album Luck and Strange last month via Sony Music. This week saw Pink Floyd sell their recording catalogue to the aforementioned label for $400 million USD.
