Narcissism drives Bush into expressionless concert
unknown Newspaper
November 1997
Rotterdam – He pulls the strings off of his guitar, spits in the air and lies moaning on the stage. Singer-guitarist of the British rockband Bush, Gavin Rossdale, thinks he’s great. He doesn’t take any notion of the audience or his fellow band members, he dances around with his guitar and he flirts with his female fans. Again it has been confirmed that Bush is all about handsome Rossdale.
The low point of the show was already there after a half an hour in Ahoy’. Bush, who formed in 1992, could not convince the 6,000 visitors with their guitar pop. Bush started this gig with heavy songs like ‘Personal Halloway’ and ‘Machinehead’, always good for a lot of crowdsurfing and moshing. After that the band got into trouble with the solo by Gavin Rossdale. Pathetic, slow and uninspired he played ‘Glycerine’ and the sweet ‘Bonedriven’ – from their last album Razorblade Suitcase, the successor of Sixteen Stone, while the other members when to their dressing rooms.
It seemed to be the birthday party of the blonde singer. Spontaneous the crowd began to sing some birthday songs and fusty Rossdale immediately started his latest single ‘Swallowed’ after that. His narcissistic presentation was really irritating and it took the attention off of the music, where it is all about.
Last year’s successes seemed to have gone to their heads. Especially in the USA they’re really hot, while the English press still doesn’t like the anti-Britpoppers. No, Bush keeps on listening to grunge bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana and that helps them to be an eccentric. In the Ahoy’ stadium they gave a slow concert and their encore of four numbers wasn’t played very enthusiastic.