Items19The creator’s order
  1. 1Kate BushKate BushBorn 30 Jul 1958Before the Dawn (2014) gave The Ninth Wave and A Sky of Honey extended theatrical lives, using film, puppetry and staged action alongside the songs. Bush's performance becomes part of imagined situations rather than a succession of isolated numbers. Start with her account of how the production was…0i
  2. 2David BowieDavid BowieBorn 8 Jan 1947The early Diamond Dogs tour in 1974 placed Bowie within an elaborate dystopian set and choreographed scenes, extending the album's imagined world into a concert. His movement and changing presentation mattered as much as the scenery around him. The David Live recording is a useful musical companion…0i
  3. 3Alice CooperAlice CooperBorn 4 Feb 1948Welcome to My Nightmare took the 1975 album's journey through the nightmares of Steven into a touring production and, later, a concert film. Cooper's stage character gives the songs a theatrical centre, with props, costumes and enacted scenes connecting the music to the nightmare premise. Watch the…0i
  4. 4Peter GabrielPeter GabrielBorn 13 Feb 1950Secret World (1993), conceived and staged with Robert Lepage, used a square stage, a circular stage and a connecting walkway to explore relationships and communication. The telephone in Come Talk to Me was a dramatic image, with its extended cable making distance visible. Watch Secret World Live…0i
  5. 5David ByrneDavid ByrneAmerican Utopia develops from an isolated figure towards a mobile community of musicians, with Annie-B Parson's choreography and musical staging central to that progression. Byrne has described the show as a journey outwards, towards other people and the wider world. The relatively clear stage…0i
  6. 6Laurie AndersonLaurie AndersonBorn 5 Jun 1947United States, presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1983, assembled songs, spoken stories, altered voices and projected images into a portrait of a country. Its four parts addressed transportation, politics, money and love through shifting vignettes rather than a single linear plot.…0i
  7. 7Lady GagaLady GagaBorn 28 Mar 1986The revised Monster Ball production in 2010 gave Gaga and her companions a story: they were travelling through New York towards the Monster Ball and became lost along the way. That premise connected changes of scene, costumes and encounters across the concert. Watch the Madison Square Garden film…0i
  8. 8MadonnaMadonnaBorn 16 Aug 1958Madame X (2019–20) used theatre venues to frame Madonna as a shifting character moving through political imagery, personal speech and music connected to her life in Lisbon. The spy persona supplied a recurring thread rather than a straightforward plot with a single destination. Watch the concert…0i
  9. 9Kylie MinogueKylie MinogueBorn 28 May 1968Aphrodite: Les Folies (2011) built a sustained mythological fantasy around Minogue, with Greek references, choreographed tableaux and a carefully staged sense of transformation. William Baker and the wider design team connected the album's imagery to the full production. Watch the concert film for…0i
  10. 10Rahim RedcarRahim RedcarBorn 1 Jun 1988The Redcar shows at Paris's Cirque d'Hiver in 2022 placed the artist also known as Christine and the Queens inside a symbolic drama of identity and transformation. Statues, a figure of Death, sailor clothing and angel wings became elements in an unfolding performance rather than decorative…0i