The Nineties are back, baby.
The power of sweet nostalgia was on full display in front of 4,000 fans at 713 Music Hall on Thursday night, there to see the avatar of post-grunge cool in the form of chisel-jawed Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. Headlining a bill of who’s-who acts from that decade, the band is on the road promoting its latest release, Loaded: The Greatest Hits.
Gaining popularity at the peak of the Seattle sound, Bush went on to be a favorite alt-rock group of their era. With over 24 million records sold, 1 billion streams, and a string of No. 1 singles, it’s hard to turn on the car radio or go to a sporting event without hearing one of their tracks. For better or worse, the band’s success was also a sign of the shift towards heavier, yet catchy, names on alt-rock radio.
It would be a disservice not to mention the solid opening lineup that included Bones UK, the Seattle-based rock act Candlebox, and Alice in Chains guitarist/songwriter Jerry Cantrell. Known for hit singles such as "You" and "Far Behind," Candlebox put in a respectable set. The uber-talented and influential axe-slinger Cantrell’s slot was gratefully heavy on Alice in Chains songs, including a ferocious “Man in the Box,” “Would,” and “Rooster,” with vocalist Greg Puciato coming across as a sonic spitting image of the late-Layne Staley.
After a quick break, the now 58-year-old Rossdale emerged on stage and immediately put every middle-aged man in the building to shame, a specimen dressed in a white jacket, black trousers, and trainers. Rossdale’s stage presence this evening amounted to a 90-minute pogo aerobics video punctuated by a hammering rhythm-guitar attack. The women in the crowd — and there were many — were appreciative to see the jacket come off to reveal a loose tank top for the rest of the gig, the Brit as lithe and ripped as ever.
The extremely receptive audience was testament to the group’s pervasiveness and Rossdale’s resiliency as the only remaining member of the band’s original lineup. However, don’t be mistaken — Bush 2.0 featured an extremely talented guitarist in Chris Traynor, a flat-brimmed, cowboy hat-wearing assassin along with a powerful rhythm section in bassist Corey Britz and drummer Nik Hughes.
We are nearly upon the 30th anniversary of Bush’s breakout album, Sixteen Stone, a multiplatinum monster that enthralled millions of young Americans in a way that a band from Britain rarely could at the time. Hit singles from that record bookended the night, starting with the one-two punch of debut single “Everything Zen” and stadium-anthem “Machinehead,” both sounding as exciting as they did years ago.
Rossdale and co. showed they weren’t there to rest on their ‘90s laurels though, digging into their later career singles and deep cuts that showed their evolution as artists. The newer songs, such as “Bullet Holes” from 2020's The Kingdom and “Identity” from 2022’s The Art of Survival were heavier and sharper than their early input, veering into metal territory.
Those heavier moments were interspersed with the superior singles Bush fans have come to know and love, such as “The Chemicals Between Us” from 1999’s The Science of Things and the setlist surprise of “Greedy Fly” from sophomore album Razorblade Suitcase, brighter and more dynamic than the original version.
Highlights included an all-synth solo version of “Swallowed” from that same album, a remix that recalled Madonna’s “Like A Prayer,” Rossdale striking Christ-like poses in the white spotlights. Sixteen Stone banger “Little Things” closed out the main set in rousing fashion.
Meanwhile, the encore brought it all together with the radio-hit opener “More Than Machines” with three out of the four band members adorned with Houston Astros Space City jerseys, a nice touch. A searing version of The Beatles’ “Come Together” threw back to Rossdale’s British upbringing.
Suitably, the night ended with two other Sixteen Stone hits, the classic alt-ballad “Glycerine” and the still great “Comedown,” a guitar freakout ending the night on a high note.
Rossdale seemed joyful during the evening, acting as the ringleader bringing the masses together. The crowd, decades on after Bush hit it big, was interspersed with teenage and pre-teen children enjoying the atmosphere with their Gen X and millennial parents.
“Music brings people together, it’s a great form of communication,” he said before launching into “Flowers on a Grave,” another cut from The Kingdom that saw him walk through the amped-up crowd. “In this really lonely, crazy world, it’s really great to be together tonight.”
Admirably, Bush staked a claim as an alt-rock institution that not only made an impact years ago, but one still breaking new ground, something few acts from the era can demonstrate. It was a high-wire act of mixing the old and new that often falls flat on its face, but in the case of the night's performance, worked perfectly. And as long a Rossdale looks and sounds the way he does, he’ll pull a healthy mix of fans to his shows for the foreseeable future.
The Nineties are back, and based on tonight’s show, they’ve aged mighty well.
Setlist
Everything Zen
Machinehead
Bullet Holes
The Chemicals Between Us
Greedy Fly
The Sound of Winter
Identity
All Things Must Change
Swallowed
Heavy Is the Ocean
Flowers on a Grave
Little Things
Photo by Johnston Farrow
Bush performed to an excited crowd at 713 Music Hall on Thursday, September 9.
Encore
More Than Machines
Come Together (Beatles cover)
Glycerine
Comedown (with Jerry Cantrell)
