Moments Of Pleasure - Reviews

If I hadn't got chatting to the guitarist from Moments of Pleasure earlier this year, there's no way I'd have gone to see a Kate Bush tribute. Not because I dislike her - quite the contrary - but because I'd decided that it would be impossible for any tribute to do justice to the work of such a unique artist. And honestly, it was hard for me to imagine anyone being able to sing Wuthering Heights without sounding much like a cat being strangled. But after assurances that they had a really good front-woman, confirmed by a quick visit to YouTube, I figured it was probably worth a trip to Dover to see for myself.

And thank goodness I took a chance. Kate Bush herself summed it up best when she sang the words, "wow, wow, unbelievable!" Moments of Pleasure certainly put on a show and, given that Kate hasn't graced a stage since her Hammersmith residency nine years ago (and has still toured only once in her career), should be the tribute of choice for any discerning fan. The band pride themselves on their lack of gimmicks, and it is truly their strength. There's no dodgy costumes, no elaborate stage sets, just five people playing these songs to absolute perfection. It can't be an easy task, but the eccentricities of the source material are all in place.

Vocalist Lisa-Marie Walters is something of a revelation, a mesmerising presence who renders the audience almost unable to look anywhere else. It's as if she has absorbed something of Kate's energy, and the startling similarity in her vocals is apparent from the moment Moving breaks the still of the Booking Hall. Symphony in Blue and Kashka from Baghdad are new ones on me (clearly I need to revisit Lionheart) but I found myself utterly captivated. It's refreshing to see a tribute take on so many deep cuts, the achingly sad Never Be Mine (one of my personal favourites) and three numbers from The 9th Wave in the first half alone.

This Woman's Work is performed so beautifully that it should render the crowd silent, but there's always a few people who seem incapable of shutting up for longer than about ten seconds. Accompanied only by Mark Feven's keyboard, Walters does a wonderful job, marred only by some irritating murmurers and doors banging at the back of the hall. It's a minor annoyance that persists through many of the gentler songs, including the band's namesake and The Man with the Child in His Eyes. Hooray then, for the likes of James and the Cold Gun that allow these talented musicians to really cut loose and successfully drown out the background noise.

The hits are, of course, all present and correct, each as spectacularly idiosyncratic as the last. Whether it's the story of an unborn baby during a nuclear holocaust (Breathing), the "utterly bonkers in the best way" Sat in your Lap or the instantly recognisable Wuthering Heights (complete with a spot-on guitar solo courtesy of Rob Miles), all sound fantastic and leave me reflecting on Kate Bush's genius. Nobody has ever sounded the same, before or since. All the more impressive then, that with your eyes closed, you could be in the presence of the originator.

Predictably, Running Up That Hill is saved for an encore, a song that has become so ubiquitous since being used in Netflix drama Stranger Things that it's hard to imagine there's anyone alive who hasn't heard it. And, just as I'm thinking they've forgotten to play Cloudbusting, I'm proved gleefully wrong. It's the perfect closing number, getting everyone clapping and dancing. If you need to hear these songs live, this is the way to do it. You'll find more than a few Moments of Pleasure in these two hours of blissful, startling music

Choice Radio Worcester review of our Huntingdon Hall gig

8th April 2022

It is no easy feat to pay tribute to one of the UK's most ground-breaking and iconic singer songwriters but that is what Lisa-Marie Walters aimed to do with her show Moments of Pleasure in homage to, of course, the wonderfully distinctive repertoire of Kate Bush. With her 4-piece band (keyboards, bass and lead guitars and drums (and mandolin)) accompanying her, she really has a plethora of songs to choose from, some hits, some less well-known but all with that distinct feel of the expert songstress who wrote one of her biggest hits, The Man with the Child in his Eyes, when she had just entered her teenage years.

Coming on stage dressed entirely in black - with the addition of a hat for one song - and in bright red for the second half, Lisa-Marie had all the right moves to portray Kate's trademark way of performing: balletic, arms flailing, eyes looking around as if searching for something, voice high or deep as required by the song. The range of Kate's songs, especially when sung live and in succession, is a test for any vocalist. Some were beautifully simple ones accompanied by just the piano - the second half started in such a way with This Woman's Work and Moments of Pleasure - then there are those need a much heavier backing such as James and the Cold Gun, Running up the Hill, Sat in your Lap and Hounds of Love (which has one of the best album covers of all time!) and sprinkled amongst them, the definitely more off-beat, left-field and sometimes frankly weird compositions like Breathing (a song about an unborn baby and a nuclear attack), tracks from the Ninth Wave (side 2 of the 1985 Hounds Of Love album) and , of course, the seminal Wuthering Heights - the latter being kept till the very end for the encore. Whatever the song, Lisa-Marie's vocals were spot on and even when the band were pounding away, never for a moment was her voice lost, always rising above the instruments however loud they played.

It is somewhat disconcerting to think that it is nearly 45 years since Kate first arrived so spectacularly on the music scene but equally good to know that we can still hear accurate live renditions of her music today courtesy of the likes of Lisa-Marie.

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