An Evening Without Kate Bush: Edinburgh Fringe 2024 ★★★★★

A song-writing genius, an enigmatic recluse, an ethereal deity floating above the music scene… And that’s before you even get to the Stranger Things-inspired revival. There are so many ways to homage “the Ivy goddess” as shows such as Kate Butch Wuthering Shites and The Kate Bush Story have proved at this year’s Fringe. Each show takes one aspect of the musical icon and runs with it.

An Evening Without Kate Bush is pitched somewhere in between an entertaining musical-comedy cabaret show and a tribute act with the underlying theme of exploring the relationship between an artist and their fans, and the many diverse ways that can manifest.

Opening the show in near dark apart from an intermittent red distress light a la “Before Than Dawn“, Sarah-Louise Young performs ‘And Dream Of Sheep‘ with such haunting beauty, you immediately know you are in safe hands. Although that safety is fairly short lived, as she immediately wanders down from the stage and into the audience. Breaking the boundary between performer and audience, the show becomes interactive. Young is disarmingly charming and speaks with audience members with such warmth and care, her audience participation only serves to include everyone and their take on Kate’s world – it’s not long before you find yourself exchanging the experience as you howl together to beckon on the Hounds Of Love.

An Evening Without Kate Bush offers a gleeful romp through the eclectic highlights of Bush’s back catalogue. Through a clever use of wigs, props and winged capes, Young instantly conjures up different looks for each song. Wearing a leopard-skin tabard, she becomes the cleaner at Bush’s 2014 Hammersmith Apollo residence who takes her moment to sing This Woman’s Work. Two handheld lamps in the shape of a pair of eyes blink in perfect time to a surreal Army Dreamers.

A definite highlight is her Russian-language rendition of Babooshka – “sing along!” she orders a helpless audience. Who knew the emphasis should be on the first syllable – BAH-boosh-ka and not ba-BOOSH-ka!

An Evening Without Kate Bush, which premiered at the Free Fringe in 2019, has performed to 55,000 people over 200 performances including 3 UK tours, a tour to Australia and New Zealand, performances at Hay, Glastonbury and Latitude festivals and sold-out seasons at Soho Theatre, was the first show that The Recs reviewed after the pandemic. Revisiting it, as many have, you understand why it has been an enduring smash hit the world over. It offers such a dopamine hit for audiences to be able to sit together laughing and waving their arms in the air, bound together in homaging the eccentric, ethereal artistry of Kate Bush.

Looking back at our original review two years ago, our words still ring just as true: “The hugely-talented Sarah-Louise Young has a captivating stage presence, a natural warmth and terrific, versatile voice. The kind of performer who exudes a genuine delight in connecting with her audience. We promise An Audience Without Kate Bush is awash with many moments of pleasure that will last long after the show. Kate might not be there, but you could be. And The Recs guarantees you an extraordinary, joyous celebration not only of an incredible musical legacy but also of the power of human connection.”