British band Bush played the Congress Theater in Chicago on August 18 as part of a series of warm-up dates for the world tour they will start in October. It was a free show that had two lines (priority ticket holders and “regular” ticket holders) spanning nearly a mile on Chicago city blocks. This was a free concert sponsored by Samsung and AT&T as part of their Summer Krush series. The priority ticket holders were told to arrive at the venue a half hour before the doors opened to guarantee entry. Not only did they get guaranteed admission, but they were also treated to an hour of a hype man selling the crowd on AT&T and Samsung products. Someone won a phone and someone else won a guitar. Not sure what the guitar winner was supposed to do with a guitar at the beginning of a concert, but that was his problem.
Chevelle did a 45 minute set to open for Bush. The fans that were just there to see Chevelle were younger than those there to see Bush. Bush and Chevelle’s music fits well together on a tour, but the fans for both bands almost could not have been more different. The fans that were there for Chevelle were more high energy and ready to rock in a mosh pit where as the Bush fans were ready to rock in a more mellow way. It probably helps that the Chevelle fans were late teens/early twenties and the Bush fans were about ten years older, with their moshing days behind them. There were quite a few crowd surfers, but security was ready to yank them down once they got close to the stage. After Chevelle went off stage, there was about a 20 minute break as the crew set up for Bush. During this time a lot of the Chevelle fans cleared out and the mood of the crowd changed. Everything seemed a lot calmer with the younger fans gone.
Bush played a 50 minute set that went something like this:
- Machinehead
- All My Life
- Little Things
- The Chemicals Between Us
- Afterlife
- Everything Zen
- Sound of Winter
- Glycerine
- Come Together (Beatles cover)
- Comedown
Despite the time between shows in Chicago, the crowd knew all the words to all of Bush’s older songs. A few knew the newer songs, but the crowd loved every minute of it. During the bridge of “Glycerine,” Rossdale sang part of the Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime” before coming back to the song. There were fewer crowd surfers for the Bush set, maybe for fear of breaking something, but security was still at the front of the crowd ready to bring them back to the ground. At 45 years old, with two kids under six at home Rossdale demonstrated that he still has the ability to control a crowd and rock. The band definitely left the crowd wanting more as they left the stage without an encore performance. They all wanted more, but it was a free show and this was a case reminding everyone that you get what you pay for.
Having spent nearly eight years off the music scene, Bush has come back together to make music and tour. Although, this is a different Bush than we last saw. Two of the original members, Nigel Pulsford and Dave Parsons, did not return to this Gavin Rossdale led band. Pulsford quit the band after the release of the band’s 2001 album, Golden State. He was replaced by Chris Traynor. Traynor joined Rossdale for his post-Bush band, Institute (which only lasted one album) and his subsequent solo effort (which also lasted only one album) and stayed on for this Bush reunion. Dave Parsons also declined to rejoin the group for its latest effort. Robin Goodridge is the other original member of the band. Bush’s new album, Sea of Memories is due out on September 13.
