There are a ton of fascinating tidbits in a recent New Yorker profile of Coachella CEO Paul Tollett, and probably the most fascinating of all of them revolves around Kate Bush. Three years ago, Bush played a short residency in London, and those were her first live shows in 35 years. It didn't seem like she had any interest in doing any more shows, but one anecdote from the story makes it look like she'd wanted to play Coachella and like the festival had passed on her.
Here's how Marc Geiger, head of music for William Morris Endeavor, described the sort of conversation he might have with Tollett:
I’ll say, "Kate Bush!" And he’ll go, "No!," and we’ll talk through it. I’ll say, "She’s never played here, and she just did 30 shows in the UK for the first time since the late '70s. You gotta do it! Have to!" "No! No one is going to understand it."
Maybe that was just a hypothetical example, or maybe Bush has representatives out there testing the waters without Bush herself having anything to do with it. But a statement from Bush's spokesman makes it clear that she was never interested in performing at Coachella:
It was never Kate’s intention to play any more shows than she did in London. The show was conceived for a very specific type of venue. No discussions were ever had with Kate about playing any festival, including Coachella.
Suddenly, I'm realizing that I would love to hear Kate Bush's diss song about Coachella.
