The first night of the Kate Bush residency met with rapturous reception, comment, reviews and a standing ovation for every song as far as I heard And, yes, I would have thought so, too. And I'm glad. She is surely something quite special, not only because making yourself rare to a legion of devoted fans is not a bad idea even if it is only because you don't feel like it.
And, true to being a proper artist, she didn't do a Greatest Hits set. Whether your guitarists need to be dressed as ostriches is another matter and can be debated elsewhere.
It would be invidious for me to make any comparison between Kate's first gigs in 35 years and my forthcoming 5 minutes in the Portsmouth Poetry Society event on National Poetry Day, my first since Poetry Day either 3 or 4 years ago. But, there are similar questions for the artist to consider.
One could do a Greatest Hits set. 5 minutes would be plenty for me to do that. Or you promote the latest album and put in an old favourite or two. Or you could do something else entirely. New work, for instance. I was once told that it is only their latest work that poets are interested in reading but if you are one then you might think it safer to resd something you think is any good.
I thought I had it all sorted. A couple from the latest booklet, one from the new stuff we are promoting, the old classic (I like to think of The Cathedrals of Liverpool as my Maggie May) and then a cover version. But then I timed it in late night rehearsal and it went so far over time that I realized that wasn't going to be possible. I had to jettison the idea of reading Sometimes by Britney Spears as the finale and re-consider the options. So all I know now is the first two, and then what. Always do less than expected is about the only rule.
Get on, get off and don't mess it up is about the height of my ambition. And if I didn't have to do it for another 35 years then that would be fine by me. One of the main differences between me and Kate is that nobody would worry if I didn't.