REVIEW: The Red Shoes: Our Kate Bush Story. The Market Theatre, Ledbury. July 15.

LORRIE Brown recently won a national award for her tribute to Kate Bush, and there is no doubt that she often sounds remarkably like the Seventies and Eighties icon.

I'm a huge fan of Kate Bush, and I went to the Market Theatre in Ledbury half wondering if Lorrie could indeed convince me, and half expecting to be disappointed.

After all, Kate Bush has a somewhat distinctive but wide-ranging voice, almost from one end of the scale to the other, and in her prime she was also an outstanding, highly physical dancer.

Regarding the voice, I decided on a "close your eyes and listen carefully" test on occasions, and with a number of songs Lorrie was as spot-on as any live performer could be, including perhaps Kate Bush herself.

Lorrie was totally convincing with "Symphony in Blue"; - perfection in fact. With "This Woman's Work" she was also excellent, but she was sitting down for both of those songs.

As a dancer, Lorrie fails to conjure up the spirit of the young Kate Bush, although she tries.

When she uses props, which reflect those used in actual Kate Bush videos, the overall effect is far more convincing; I am thinking in particular of the military kit and gun for "Army Dreamers" and mock double bass for "Babushka".

Other props, used by her band, were frankly silly: in particular the werewolf and Halloween masks in "Hammer Horror". They raised the question as to whether this was a serious tribute to a great artist, or something of a jolly romp instead.

The band was accomplished, but they were better with the more "rocky" numbers: I particularly enjoyed "King of the Mountain", in this respect.

With the more "classical" songs, they would have served Lorrie better by not playing at all. A huge disappointment on the night was "The Man with the Child in his Eyes". I cannot recall heavy drums, bass and very elaborate, totally unnecessary keyboard riffs on the original, which is haunting and understated. This version seemed unrehearsed and it simply lost its way.

The audience enjoyed themselves throughout the show and they clapped along, and I clapped along too; but I was left wanting more; - but more of what?

Perhaps it was the more poetic and classical side of Kate Bush which was not brought to the fore on that particular night; and sometimes I could not help but reflect that there is a very fine line between a tribute and a cover version, and my tendency, of course, is to always prefer the original.

Gary Bills-Geddes.