Bush has spent a good portion of 2025 on the road supporting their 10th release I Beat Loneliness. As the year winds down, the band made a triumphant return to Connecticut with fellow 90’s rockers Soul Asylum joining them. The night promised to provide a loud dose of rock n’ roll, and it didn’t disappoint!
Please scroll below for the MisplacedStraws Bush live photos and review –
It had been a few decades since I last caught Soul Asylum live. The Minneapolis quartet has overhauled members over the years but is still led by frontman Dave Pirner. Pirner is joined by bassist Jeremy Tappero, guitarist Ryan Smith, and former Prince drummer Michael Bland. Soul Asylum released its 13th record Slowly But Shirley in 2024 and is always on the road.
Soul Asylum hit the stage in a wash of guitars with the new track “The Only Thing I’m Missing”. Now that the band had the audience’s attention, they tore through a streak of 90’s rock classics like “Somebody to Shove”, “Misery”, “Black Gold” and others. The band also dipped all the way back to the title track of their 1986 second record Made To Be Broken.
Pirner and company attacked the stage like a hungry, new band playing a small cub. The set was energetic and kept the crowd at attention. Pirner addressed the crowd a few times but preferred to let his music talk for him. The set ending assault of “April Fool” clearly left the audience wanting more. As I mentioned, it has been quite a while since I saw Soul Asylum. The last time I did was with the original lineup. Dave Pirner has surrounded himself with the perfect musicians to carry on the legacy of the band and put on a fantastic rock show.
Bush, led by Gavin Rossdale, roared to the stage with one of their biggest hits, 1994’s “Everything Zen”. From the first note, Rossdale, flanked by guitarist Chris Traynor, bassist Corey Britz, and drummer Nik Hughes, were full of energy. Rossdale, Traynor, and Britz seldom stood still, usually stalking the stage to the pulsating 90’s rhythms.
Bush’s debut record, Sixteen Stone, was well represented, as was the current release. Half of the 16-song set came from those two records. Most of the remaining songs came from records released in this decade, 2020’s The Kingdom and 2022’s The Art of Survival, along with two from thier 1996 sophomore release Razorblade Suitcase.
I give the band a lot of credit for leaning so heavily on new material. So many “legacy” bands release new music, and it is quickly forgotten as they revert to playing the same setlist year after year. That being said, as a fan, I did miss hits like “The Chemicals Between Us” and “The People That We Love”. The crowd definitely seemed into the newer music as those songs went over very well.
The evolution of the band is very evident in how the earlier songs were played verses the newer material. The classic tracks certainly had a more organic, live feel to them, particularly the two monster hits Rossdale played solo, “Glycerine” and “Swallowed”. Whereas the newer material was augmented by prerecorded keyboard tracks and vocal effects. Again, it didn’t take away from the performance, but it shows the change in the band’s sound.
Rossdale may be the only member of the band’s classic lineup still on the stage, but this has not been a revolving cast of musicians. The current members of Bush are all second generation, artists that directly replaced the original members. This keeps a continuity in sound and style that a lot of their peers don’t have. Gavin Rossdale is a bundle of energy and owns the stage the same way he did 30 years ago. Bush set the tone for the post-grunge movement in the mid 90s and are still standing strong today, that is a testament to a legacy of great songs.
