Watch – A Video Guide To Every Kate Bush Live Performance Ever

Kate Bush is back, with a surprise 15-date stint at London’s Hammersmith Apollo announced this morning. The internet went haywire at the news – and understandably so. Having only ever toured once, 35 years ago, and with few public appearances since then, the ‘Wuthering Heights’ singer is one of pop’s most mysterious and reclusive characters. Here’s our comprehensive video guide to her every recorded live performance to date (minus TV lip-syncs). Excited for those August and September dates? You will be after this…

February 9 1978
Kate makes her first ever television appearance in a disused tram depot in West Germany for the famous Bio’s Bahnhof show on WDR-TV. She sings ‘Kite’ live and ‘Wuthering Heights’ to a backing tape. The backdrop, which is supposed to represent the Yorkshire moors, includes a volcano. Brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acUCrfe6oMk

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February 16 1978
Bush appears on Top of the Pops but describes it as “a bloody awful performance.”

February 25 1978
Kate performs live on BBC’s Saturday Nights at the Mill, singing ‘Moving’ and ‘Them Heavy People’ before a brief interview.

April 4 1978
On a whirlwind trip around Europe, Bush performs on Holland’s Voor De Vuist Weg and Germany’s Scene ’78 and Top Pop, performing ‘Wuthering Heights’ on both shows.

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June 21 1978
35 million people tune in to watch Kate perform on Japanese TV.

June 23 1978
Kate performs abridged versions of two Beatles favourites, ‘The Long and Winding Road’ and ‘She’s Leaving Home’, on Japanese show Sound in S, taped at Tokyo.

September 5 1978
Bush, now a global megastar, debuts tracks from eagerly anticipated second album ‘Lionheart’ on children’s programme Ask Aspel. She had wanted to sing ‘In the Warm Room’ but felt it was too risque for a kids’ show so instead performed ‘Kashka From Baghdad’ – a song about two gay lovers.

October 17 1978
Kate performs ‘Hammer Horror’ for Australian TV.

November 17 1978
Bush performs ‘Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake’ on BBC’s The Leo Sayer Show, on BBC TV before a meet-and-greet tour of British record shops.

December 9 1978
Watched in the studio by Eric Idle, Mick Jagger and Paul Simon, Bush takes to America’s Saturday Night Live. Nice raincoat and Fedora combo, Kate.

April 3-20 1979
Kate’s first and only tour commences in Liverpool, ending 17 days later after five nights at the London Palladium.

April 21 1979
Kate performs ‘Wow’ at Abba’s request on a special programme made by the Swedish pop band and aired on BBC.

April 24-May 10 1979
The European leg of Kate’s tour commences at Stockholm Concert House, later finishing in Frankfurt.

May 12-14 1979
Three nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon date follow Kate’s European tour. Proceeds from the first go to the family of lighting director Bill Duffield, killed during preperations for the tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrACfLX1feg

December 21 1979
Kate’s legendary BBC Christmas special is aired.

December 28 1979
Kate duets with Peter Gabriel for the BBC, performing Roy Harper’s ‘Another Day’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKAOu37oMkM

September 21 1982
Kate makes an appearance on UK show Razzmatazz, performing new single ‘There Goes a Tenner’.

September 23 1982
Bush travels to Munich to sing ‘The Dreaming’ on German TV, in a performance that went down in infamy as “the giant iguana version”.

August 22 1985
Kate appears on the BBC’s Wogan and Top of the Pops performing ‘Running Up That Hill’.

March 6 1986
Bush appears on Top of the Pops to perform ‘Hounds of Love’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ejlokseQ4

March 19 1986
Kate records a live performance of Under the Ivy at Abbey Road Studios for the 100th edition of the Tyne Tees TV programme The Tube.

April 4-6 1986
Kate collaborates with Mr Bean himself, Rowan Atkinson, in three Comic Relief shows at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QeyRIyBJy4

July 28 1991

Bush covers Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ on BBC’s Wogan in her last truly live performance. Till August 2014, that is…

Blog: What’s your dream Kate Bush setlist?

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