by Anneke Ruys
Sp!ts
January 2000
Tilburg – Heartrending rock with emotional lyrics is doing well, also in ‘013’ in Tilburg where British group Bush played for a sold-out club last Wednesday. Singer Rossdale with flaming red hair as crowd puller took up the challenge more than once with the audience at this unique performance. The whole band was in great form and played a rigid set : rolling, squeaking and tearing guitars in songs as “Everything Zen”, “Little Things” and “Machinehead” and that within a scala of lyrics from which speak loneliness, disillusion and fear. The enthusiasm knew no ending when Rossdale took the chance to go into the – mainly feminine – crowd twice and jumped into the mass. Later on he even played from the speaker boxes.
Bush is a band that’s always underestimated. Since the very first beginning the critics – mainly from their homeland England – weren’t positive at all. While the four piece was put on a pedestal by their fans and their albums sold over millions of copies, the critics still spoke about ‘Nirvana clones’ and ‘Take That of grunge’. The band couldn’t do anything right in their opinion and was often accused of stealing.
It seemed that it didn’t harm the four piece that much, they were already fed up with the British music scene. To conquer America and the rest of Europe was a big and important step. Within two years Bush succeeded in doing it. Right now Bush is the most successful British band in the United States since ever. Though it appears that the interest in England for Bush increases, because of the collapse of the Britpop genre with bands such as Oasis. It all started back in England when Gavin Rossdale and his men released their third astonishing album “The Science Of Things” at the end of last year.
In tearing rock songs like “Warm Machine” and “Space Travel” they showed that grunge cliches were definitely over. Rossdale kept a more tight rein for this album then he’d ever did. The singer/guitarist withdrew from everything and stayed at a house in Ireland for three months where he composed all of the songs. He had loads of heartbreaking inspiration after his relationship with Gwen Stefani ( No Doubt ) went dead and gone.
With “The Science Of Things” Bush seems to have developed its own identity,in which are even dance elements. One thing is very obvious : Bush counts in 2000 ! As well as during gigs as on their CD !