A new feature in The New Yorker contains a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the inner workings of Coachella, detailing the past, present, and future of the festival through Goldenvoice CEO Paul Tollett.
Tollett maintains a hands-on role in the Coachella lineup; The New Yorker reports that he personally curated and booked all 150 artists playing this year’s festival. (He also found out that former Coachella headliner Beyoncé was pregnant the same way we all did: her Instagram post.) But one artist that Tollett reportedly did not want to book? Kate Bush.
Once again, the organisers of Coachella could use a long, hard look in the mirror, completely missing the mark on their reasoning not to book the legendary Kate Bush.
The New Yorker quotes Marc Geiger, the head of music at the agency William Morris Endeavour, as saying:
“‘I’ll say, ‘Kate Bush!’ And [Tollet’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 seventies. You gotta do it! Have to!’ ‘No! No one is going to understand it.’”
Bush did indeed sell out 22 shows in London back in 2014. They were her first live performances since 1979. (The shows were chronicled on the live album Before the Dawn.) She has never performed in the United States, and has not performed anywhere since those 2014 shows.
This article originally appeared on Pitchfork.
