Bush
Rebel
Toronto, Ontario
May 18, 2017
Review by Trent Richer.
Thursday night at Rebel in Toronto, British rock band Bush toured their newest release (March 2017), Black and White Rainbows.
Bush fans packed the parking lot at Rebel in Toronto (formerly Sound Academy). This venue is looking better than ever. There is a huge main floor, including side VIP areas and a wrap-around second floor. The balcony is ideal for that bird’s eye view of the band. The décor and LED lighting is state of the art! If you haven’t been there, pick one of your favourite bands and go check it out.
Ok onto the band!
Bush formed in England in 1992 and was part of the popular grunge or post-grunge scene depending on your opinion. They were never as popular at home (London, UK) but over in North America it was a different story. Their success was instant after their debut album Sixteen Stone in 1994 that went six times multi-platinum.
Their current lineup includes original members Gavin Rossdale (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Robin Goodridge (drums). Also in the band are Chris Traynor (lead guitar) and Cory Britz (bass).
The evening started off with track one off Sixteen Stone with Everything Zen. This song had the crowd instantly screaming, singing and jumping around. Later on in the 75 min set they would perform three more songs from Sixteen Stone: Swallowed, Alien and Little Things, and then two more in the encore (Machinehead and Glycerine).
After a 10 year hiatus this band still can pack this 45,000 square foot venue. The evening was made up primarily with songs off their first and last album. Rossdale was real spitfire and if you remove his guitar he takes his energy up a few more notches. Jumping around and interacting with the crowd was entertaining to watch.
After the first song Rossdale mentioned how we have so much to be thankful for in life. Then he went on to talk about the unexpected death of singer Chris Cornell (happened the night before) and said that tonight’s show will be to his honour.
I noticed there were numerous Soundgarden, Audioslave and Chris Cornell shirts at the Bush show. Normally this would be totally out of place; however, tonight, it made perfect sense. The crowd was mourning the loss of a beloved performer, as was the band on stage. We were united in our feelings of loss.
The next song was a new song, Nurse off of Black and White Rainbows. They performed five songs off their seventh album, to a generally good reception by the crowd. The new songs have a different sound to them I might say less edgy.
Rossdale is an entertaining front man. This 51 year old looks and performs like someone in their 20’s. His voice sounded great and conversed with the audience quite a bit during the show. It was easy to hear his words when I was up close to the front. However being that close means being packed in like sardines. When I moved closer to the back where there was more space I couldn’t understand anything that he said. At one point he was talking about the importance of communication and I couldn’t make out what he was saying. So much for communication!
The encore was the highlight of the evening. Starting off with Machinehead had the fans screaming just like the first song of the evening. After that, the band did a cover of REM’s, The One I Love and morphed into Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun to, again, pay homage to the late Chris Cornell. Glycerine and Comedown finished off the evening.
Setlist:
Everything Zen
Nurse (Dedicated to Chris Cornell)
The Chemicals Between Us
The Sound of Winter
Mad Love
Greedy Fly
The Only Way Out
All the Worlds Within You
Reasons
The People That We Love
Swallowed
The Beat of Your Heart
Letting the Cables Sleep
Peace-S
Little Things (Gavin walked through crowd singing)
Encore:
The One I Love (R.E.M. cover)
Glycerine (Gavin solo electric)
Comedown
All photos by Lee-Ann Richer
©2017. Please DO NOT copy or use without permission.
