Kate Bush - The Second Sighting

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Kate Bush's penultimate concert at Hammersmith on 30 September. I saw Kate at the start of September and had tickets in the fourth row from the stage so I was quite happy to have tickets in the fourth row from the back this time, still central and with a great view. I liked being able to see the whole stage without having to move my head to follow Kate across the stage. It's quite a spectacle and it's great to be able to relax into the show and drink it in since I know what to expect.

Kate played the same set as the earlier show but she seemed even more smiley and 'up' if that's possible - whether it's the 'up' of being familiar with the adulation or the 'up' of knowing she only had one more show, I don't know. But she seemed to be having a ball! And still barefoot! (I shall have to have a word about that).

The show was made up of the 'hits' to open the show followed by 'The Ninth Wave' and then, after a half-time break, the 'Aerial' sequence. Even though I knew what was happening next I couldn't help but be attracted to the details I hadn't noticed previously, to the subtle activities of the backing singers/actors doing stuff just out of sight of Kate, the musicians getting into it again and giving it some heavy welly.

What were my favourite moments? O, I don't know… Opening with 'Lily' is transcendent, a song about magic opening a magical concert, followed by 'Hounds of Love' with the backing singers imitating the yelps and barks of hounds and the sublime 'Running Up That Hill' that had my eyes moist. Then the 'King of the Mountain' that built and built until the bull-roarer took over to welcome the storm and the thunder of the cannon shooting Tennyson's words into the audience to herald 'The Ninth Wave' suite. O wow!

It started me thinking about how much rehearsal time went into this show, to perform songs Kate's never tried to re-create live before without the studio wizardry. Of course, 'Hounds of Love' was released 29 years ago and technology has come a long way since then. But what a brave artistic vision, wanting to re-create song cycles with visuals that she laid down a long time ago, and the second half of the show creating the second part of 'Aerial' with birdsong, magic and wonder centre stage. It's the vision that's astonishing, thinking 'I can do this' and pulling it off and making us all go 'wow'.

Listening to the songs Kate's chosen for her first shows in 35 years highlights some themes and for me it was how often she sings about being up high - up on the roof, on a hill, on the angel's shoulders. There's something here to think about, particularly with all the bird imagery in 'Aerial: A Sky of Honey'. What is it about being up high that Kate likes? Is it the freedom? The security of being able to see people approaching? I don't know.

The final song of the show proper is 'Aerial' in which Kate sings that she wants to be up on the roof and in the performance she transforms into a blackbird and duels with the lead guitarist in bird-form, challenging and teasing as the song mounts to a crescendo, trees crashing down onto the stage and through the piano and the stage blacks out. And then, for a split second, the lights focus on where Kate is about to be and we see her fly! But, of course, Kate Bush can fly! Why would anyone doubt that?

The encore is Kate on piano playing 'Among Angels' and the sing-a-long version of 'Cloudbusting'. She knows what we've been waiting for! I loved it, being an *official* backing singer for Ms Bush. I must also include a shout-out to Jacqui Dubois as one of Ms Bush's backing singers/ actresses who played the role of Miss Brown in 'The Harder They Come' a few years ago ('international styles, local prices').  I mean, 'wow' (again).
 
What happens next? After a month of live shows after 35 years this can't be the end. There'll be the DVD of course, and, I hope, a live album. But what else? We'll just have to wait patiently and see what Kate decides to do…

Kate Bush - Before The Dawn

Some things you just don't expect to happen. Like Kate Bush playing live again or managing to nab tickets in the fourth row from the stage. Things like that just don't happen. Except sometimes they do and you need to embrace them.

I remember hearing that odd song, 'Wuthering Heights', on the radio in 1978 and then seeing its singer on 'Top Of The Pops', that strange creature that danced around while singing. I didn't buy singles back then - except for punk singles and eps - so I didn't buy the single but I did buy the album, 'The Kick Inside' when it was released. The magic had worked on me. And I bought successive album releases on vinyl, then on cassette and then on CD. In a sense I've grown up listening to Kate Bush, just a couple of years younger than Kate, but she was always so much older than me and took me to places I didn't know existed.

So, when the announcement was made that she would be playing at Hammersmith Apollo I could hardly believe it. And image my surprise when I was sent a fan pre-sale code to buy tickets before they went on general release. So I did, with seats in row H for Friday 5 September. The eighth row? I was ecstatic. My ecstasy rose when I heard that the stage had been extended over the first few rows which meant I was now in the fourth row.

But September is so far away…

And then I read a review of the first show in August and knew what would happen and then avoided any other reviews.

Friday finally arrived and I wore the Most beautiful Shirt in the World (only worn to see Buffy Sainte-Marie and Amanda Palmer - and now Kate Bush).  The afternoon dragged and I whinged at work wanting the clock to hit 5 o'clock and then it did and I was off. Missed a District Line train and had to wait six minutes for the next  - will I be late? No, of course I won't, it's only six minutes! I got on the train and sat down and then two stops later Chris got on wearing his irritable commuter face - what are the chances of that? He'd got a bus to Sloane Square from Battersea and just happened to get on, not only the same train as me, but the same carriage and the same part of the carriage. Weird.

Having arrived hideously early we got chips at the chip shop round the corner from the Apollo and did the long circuit walk down to the river and back while we ate them and then joined the snaking queue. At 6:15pm the doors opened and we slowly entered the building to my amazed mutterings of 'it's gone green' and, indeed, the decor is now peppermint and pistachio following it's refurbishment. Straight up to the balcony merch stand to get show books and tee shirts with a mere 25 minutes queuing to get served and then to the bar. The old curtain has been removed form the back of the bar and you can see the lovely art deco windows and Hammersmith flyover (which was a very odd experience). Then downstairs and into the stalls to find our seats… in the fourth row.

And then more weirdness - Clive and Angus on the other side of the aisle. Last time I'd seen them was at the ICA a couple of years ago when we were all dripping from an unexpected downpour to see a documentary about Elaine Stritch. Stress-relieving gossip ensued. Then we took our seats and waited.

At 7:45pm the band walked on and took their places on the raised platforms and then on came Kate Bush followed by five backing singers/actors, doing a slow shuffle onto the stage wreathed in smiles. Sorry, did I just say that? Kate Bush came on stage? Really?  Yes, really.

And there she was, this strange creature of legend, right in front of me. Long hair, long tassels on the sleeves of her black coat and barefoot (I winced slightly at the feet - what if there was a stray pin on the stage?). And then I heard Lily's voice talking of salt and magic and Kate launched into (the 'Director's Cut' version of) 'Lily', only one of my favourite songs! That was Kate Bush up there y'know, singing to me, smiling at me and having the time of her life being worshipped by all these people from all over the globe coming to see her show in west London. And me, of course.

As all the reviews tell you, the first half hour is traditional gig territory with 'Hounds of Love', 'Running Up That Hill', 'Top Of The City', 'Joanni' and 'King of the Mountain'. 'King' ended with a massive cannon explosion shoving lots of pieces of paper into the air with the words from Tennyson that inspired the Ninth Wave on the second side of Kate's 'Hounds of Love' album. Now the theatre would commence!

And it did, with a video of a man ringing the coast guard about a sinking ship and then we had the video of Kate in a floatation tank singing 'And Dream of Sheep' and the Ninth Wave began. Fish People all over, shipwreck, a whale's ribcage, a life-buoy and a helicopter strafing the audience with search lights - it's all in there as we hear and see the tale of a woman drowning. It was very spectacular and brought the song cycle to life by seeing what Kate meant it to be. Rising from the ice dead to be replaced by a raven image, struggling to reach the life-buoy and then being carried off stage and into the audience by the Fish People. Big wow. And then a curtain dropping from the ceiling with a feather motif as we're allowed an interval and the stage is re-set.

Phew!

The second half opens with a big door opening and it's snowing inside as a mannequin walks out (with his handler dressed in black). This is the Aerial suite, 'A Sky of Honey', in which Kate's son plays the Painter character.  This is all about birdsong on a sunny afternoon leading into evening and the full moon. I liked the inquisitive mannequin who visited the musicians and Kate playing the piano (again barefoot) but didn't like it when Kate's son told him to 'piss off'. That's not nice.

Birdsong saturated the sound for the second half, lots of bird images sweeping and diving, lots of laughter and lots of soundscapes. And then trees came crashing out of the heavens onto the stage (and one went right through the grand piano) and the crescendo approached in 'Aerial', building and building, with Kate turning partially into a bird and, in the final scene, taking off to fly! Wow, that was spectacular! Just a flash of her taking off and then lights out! Astonishing!

The lights came back up for bows and then all left the stage. And Kate came back on stage to sing 'Among Angels' at the piano, alone, before the band joined her for 'Cloudbusting'. She encouraged us to sing along to the chorus so I am now *officially* a Kate Bush backing singer! That was amazing and she left the stage covered in smiles. And I clapped and clapped. And then that was it, it was all over. I'd seen this legendary being and sang with her and smiled at her and clapped at her.

I've seen Kate Bush!

Kate Bush Night on BBC4

That woman. Yes, I watched the programmes about Kate Bush on BBC4 on Friday as the prelude to her live shows in London and yes, I'm astonished all over again. I remember her first single, 'Wuthering Heights' in 1978 and bought her first album, 'The Kick Inside'. And every album since then. Well, it's the law isn't it?

I loved that the program started with Viv Albertine and John Lydon talking about Kate, two punk heroes talking about this strange creature who wasn't punk but wasn't, well, anything really. Kate was and is her own brand. Bat for Lashes and St Vincent, Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos all talking about Kate was great and not a single word from Kate herself. Her live shows started at Hammersmith last night and that makes all the difference. I've got tickets to see her on 5 September and I can't wait.

The reviews have been fabulous and the show sounds spectacular. She graced the front pages of all the nationals this morning and was in the TV and radio news on the hour. All of her albums are in the download charts. There's a lot of excitement around Kate and I can't wait to see her next week. The witch has woken!

Kate Bush - Before The Dawn

If you've been living in a box on the far side of the Moon then you might not have heard that Kate Bush is returning to the stage for live shows at Hammersmith Apollo (or the Eventim Apollo as it now seems to be called) between August and October this year. Hammersmith was the site of Kate's last live gig in 1979 so it's fitting that she returns there for this residency of 22 shows.

Kate is doing what she can to ensure that tickets aren't simply hovered up by ticket agencies and touts by limiting the number of tickets anyone can buy to four, all of which will have the buyers name printed on them and the buyer will have to provide photo-ID to get into the venue. It'll be interesting to see if this works or if it just leads to huge queues getting in but well done to Kate for trying.

This morning there was a pre-sale for fans on the mailing list and, luckily, that included me so I managed to bag two excellent tickets near the front and centre of the stalls. Excited? I should co-co! Then I thought 'what if the show is even more fabulous than I expect it to be and need to see it again' so went searching again and found great tickets in the balcony for a different night... and sat on them.... for five minutes... until it timed out. By buying more tickets means that someone else probably won't see Kate at all whereas I'd already bought excellent tickets. Is that foolish? Does anyone actually care?

I care. I usually feel guilty getting into gigs and show in advance of a general sale - well, I do after I've bought tickets, obviously - but that's the way these things are done these days. That's why I maintain my Southbank membership for things like Meltdown that go on sale to members a few days before general sale, just like this pre-sale. But it can mean that lifelong fans don't get into shows because they weren't on the right mailing list or something. I'm not sure what else can be done and that's partly why it'll be interesting to see whether the ticket restrictions for Kate's gigs will work and whether others will follow her approach.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday morning at 9:30am and you just know the Internet will be burning with people chasing tickets. At least, after selling out the pre-sale in half an hour this morning, another seven shows were added so there's more of a chance for people getting tickets. I might throw my hat in the ring again in the general free-for-all.

Good luck people and thank you Kate.