Bush will celebrate their 2023 best-of compilation Loaded on a U.S. tour, which kicks off Friday in Bend, Oregon. While a band having a greatest hits album often signifies a successful career, frontman Gavin Rossdale wasn't so sure the time was right for Bush.
Speaking with ABC Audio, Rossdale shares that he always tries to look forward with Bush and his other creative endeavors, and that he had to be "talked into" releasing Loaded. However, when it did come out and Bush played a few shows around the release, its purpose clicked in for Rossdale.
"It was incredible to run those songs ... to lean on that back catalog more in the set," Rossdale says. "It provided kind of a clear biography ... it's a whole stretch of time. It was fun for that, and it is good for that."
"It became a celebration as opposed to a sort of farewell, which I was most worried about," he laughs.
That back catalog includes hits like "Glycerine," a song fans can instantly recognize and sing along to from the first note.
"It's a great feeling," Rossdale says of the crowd reaction to "Glycerine." "Any song that you play and if you play the intro and people are happy about it or you play a song and they sing it, it's incredible. I mean, I'm so lucky, grateful."
Rossdale expects that the set list for the greatest hits tour will stick closely to the Loaded track list, with a few detours here and there.
"It's nice to throw in a couple of heavy [songs] like 'Identity' or 'Blood River' or 'Quicksand,' just to kind of pump the set full of adrenaline at certain points," he says. "They're really good flavor bombs you can put places."