23 Mar 2025

Why does Kate Bush mean so much to so many?

From Culture 101, 1:07 pm on 23 March 2025

The less we see of Kate Bush it seems the more she is beloved. 

Seldom in the public spotlight, the artist gained a whole new legion of fans when her song 'Running Up That Hill' became a hit again thanks to TV series Stranger Things, 37 years after it was first released. 

Kate Bush rarely makes public appearances or does interviews (naturally, we've asked). She didn't perform live for 35 years - and then only for a carefully choregraphed limited run in 2014. And it's this absence that has inspired stage show An Evening Without Kate Bush.

About to tour nationally in New Zealand, the show has been acclaimed as "weird, wild and wonderful" - a little like the artist herself. 

Co-creator and sole performer Sarah-Louise Young has 20 years of international touring behind her and is a songwriter, director and singer who can hit those notes. 

Culture 101's Mark Amery spoke to her between shows in Adelaide. 

An Evening Without Kate Bush opens at the Wanaka Festival of Colour April 1, before heading to the Dunedin Arts Festival, Oamaru, Nelson, Wellington, Napier, Kerikeri and Auckland.