The Tour of Life

The Tour Of Life

The Tour of Life (originally known as the "Lionheart Tour", and also officially referred to as the Kate Bush Tour and by outside sources as the "Kate Bush Show" and "Kate Bush: On Tour") is the only concert tour performed by British singer Kate Bush to date. Starting in April 1979, the tour lasted just over one month. Consisting of 24 performances from Bush's first two studio albums The Kick Inside and Lionheart (both 1978), it was acclaimed for its incorporation of mime, magic, and readings during costume changes. The tour is also renowned for its use of new technology; because of Bush's determination to dance as she sang, her engineers rigged a wireless headset microphone using a wire clothes hanger, making her the first singer to use such a device on stage. The simple staging also involved rear-screen projection and the accompaniment of two male dancers. The tour was notable for the death of Bush's lighting director, Bill Duffield, to whom one of the London shows was dedicated.

The tour was a critical and commercial success, with most dates selling out and additional shows being added due to high demand. Members of the Kate Bush Club were provided with a guaranteed ticket. The BBC filmed a special of the Kate Bush Show entitled Kate Bush: On Tour. The documentary featured the production and staging of the set, and revealed the extent to which Bush was involved. Broadcast in 1979, it did not show any of the full performances. The concert also spawned two physical releases, the extended play On Stage (1979) as well as the home video Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1981). Live at the Hammersmith Odeon was later re-issued in 1994 as a boxed set including an audio CD of the broadcast as well as the video. The name, "Tour of Life," was not coined until after its completion, with all promotional material referring to it simply as the Kate Bush Tour. Neither the EP nor the home video make any reference to the name.