Cloudbusting review: Who needs Kate Bush when we've got Mandy from Cornwall?
There are tribute bands and then there's Cloudbusting - The Music of Kate Bush. The longest running and most universally celebrated homage to the music of pop's most mysterious performer, the group's success all rests on how good their 'Kate' is.
Anyone who has seen Cloudbusting on their increasingly popular UK tours will know that their 'Kate' is uncannily good. With band members from across the country, Cloudbusting's focal point is actually from Cornwall - and Mandy Watson does us proud.
A lifelong fan, who discovered Kate when she was ten and first heard the still astonishing Wuthering Heights, Mandy has the vocals down pat without the shrieking, OTT arms-waving of other copyKates. Her Kate is more subtle, bringing out the lyrical power of the songs - I defy anyone to remain dry-eyed after hearing her version of This Woman's Work.
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Fittingly, the band started their current tour in Falmouth at a seated Princess Pavilion - they will also visit everywhere from Belfast to London. We received two stunning sets of hits and deep dives, aided and abetted by some clever film (such as Kate's ballet teacher Lindsay Kemp dancing dreamily to a rendition of Moving, which she wrote in his honour) and tip-top sound (take a bow Carey Davies, who for years has ensured many a gig in Cornwall has been audibly perfect).
Yes, we got Running Up That Hill, including some Stranger Things-indebted visuals nodding to the song's rebirth, Babooshka, Hounds of Love and a sublime Army Dreamers, but there was also epic fan favourite Sunset from the Aerial album and other less likely but wonderful songs such as And So Is Love and Top of the City.
Bassist Dave Roberts did Peter Gabriel proud in a gripping version of Don't Give Up (and his upright bass playing was mesmerising too), while Chris Voysey on guitar (what a solo to end Wuthering Heights), drummer Adam Aggiss and keyboard player Matthew Bowers are all phenomenally talented musicians.
The fact that Kate Bush's original bass player, long-standing sound engineer and former romantic partner, the late Del Palmer, as well as her drummer and percussionist Preston Heyman have previously played with the band should tell you how good they are - as would the standing ovation following a particularly rousing sing-along version of Cloudbusting, which ended the show on a life-affirming high.
Over the 30 years I've written about music in Cornwall, I've often been sniffy about tribute bands but if they are as scarily good as Mandy and her Cloudbusting fellas, then long live the moments of pleasure (to namecheck another of this concert's high points) they give fans.