In 1994, Bush was part of the peak alternative rock explosion.
Cuts from the band’s seminal “Sixteen Stone” album shared the radio with future classic songs by the likes of Pearl Jam, Offspring, Green Day, Hole, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails. In Atlanta, 99X kept muscular Bush songs like “Comedown,” “Machinehead” and “Glycerine” on rotation for years.
Three decades later, Bush has released a greatest hits album, a move that lead singer Gavin Rossdale initially was skeptical about but ultimately came around to.
“I had to think about it as a celebration,” Rossdale said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before his Sept. 1 stop at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain. (Tickets are available at livenation.com starting at $54.35.) “I’ve learned to appreciate and be grateful for having these songs in my life, what they’ve done for me and a lot of other people.”
He said he wants his concerts to be a way for people to “come out and just be free and have an amazing night of music free of the stresses of their day. Music has an incredible ability to heal and change you. My goal always is to elevate the audience and try to involve them as much as you can to a shared journey.”
Rossdale considers “the greatest compliment anyone can pay your songs is to sing them back at you. It doesn’t get any better than that. If they are singing, ‘I don’t want to come back down from this cloud,’ they are singing it for them.”
He also is stunned how young the concert crowd is nowadays, filled with fans who were not alive in 1994.
“It’s been such a big trip on this tour,” Rossdale said. “Many of them got into the band from their siblings, parents, whatever. Also a bunch of kids heard the new stuff. It’s been a cool process of generations finding us. It’s a major sign of getting something right.”
Credit: (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Amy Harris/Invision/AP
Credit: (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Amy Harris/Invision/AP
He said even at age 58, he never holds back when performing in concert.
“I firmly believe everybody coming to the show deserves the best no matter where you’re playing,” he said. “It’s not about saving it for the Hollywood Bowl. The danger happens when you only give three courses. If you don’t fully commit in soccer, you might get injured. Watch skateboarders slide down rails. Go 90% and they wipe out. If I don’t make those leaps and sing right and go for those notes, I’m going to royally mess it up. I’m compelled to do it like that. It’s exhausting.”
Like many of his peers, Rossdale at one point felt the siren song of going solo and released a successful 2008 release. But it was brief.
“I was seduced by the idea of it,” he said. “I was wrong. I don’t think I should have done it. When I see Bush on a poster, I have pride, I have a sense of belonging. When I saw my name, it felt odd. It didn’t sit right.”
For him, being in a band feels better: “I like the feedback, being a soldier in a pack.”
Over the years, Rossdale has addressed a raft of social issues in his songs, such as climate change, war and gun control. He also is part of Artist for Action to Prevent Gun Violence alongside such stars as Billie Eilish, Peter Gabriel and Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town.
And he was inspired to write “More Than Machines” after Roe v. Wade was repealed with lyrics like “Girls, you’re in control/ Not the government/ Not the government.”
“I’ve always written about things from the perspective of the personal side, never preaching or telling people what to think,” Rossdale said.
Another sign time is passing: Rossdale is a grandfather after his daughter, Daisy, had a daughter in the spring.
“It’s just beautiful,” he said. “Having this big wide family and all these kids, just being a patriarch. I feel like a patriarch. It’s cool. It’s an incredible thing to just live and celebrate life and creativity. All four of my kids are super likable. I feel very successful.”
His most unusual connection to Atlanta coincides with his 1990s peak: He became friends with Atlanta Braves legend and Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine. “Fame,” he noted, “bypasses a lot of social constructs.”
“I didn’t know much about baseball at the time,” he said. “But we hung out and I got the whole Braves experience. He was the king. I was impressed by Tom. Any sport that’s done well is exhilarating to watch.”
IF YOU GO
Bush with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Candlebox
6 p.m. Sept. 1, $54.35 and up. Cadence Bank Amphitheatre of Chastain, 4469 Stella Drive NW, Atlanta. livenation.com
