Kate Bush Live!

[cranford10]

FurtiveFreddy said:

I woke up this morning after spending a wonderful night with a woman I've admired from afar for over 35 years. I may never be in the same room with her ever again. I've probably had more opportunities to be in her company than most, having lived near her family home for many years and frequented the same pubs where she first performed live. After all that time and missed opportunities, it's all boiled down to this one night. So was it worth the wait?

Like many highly anticipated events (particularly, for me, ones involving women), this one almost didn't happen. We took our seats at 7.40pm. The house and stage lights were off and the theatre was roughly the same temperature as a fully laden 747 before the engines are started, but I didn't think much of it until the announcement that there had been "a power failure, which our engineers are working on...".

Time went by. I decided to ration my beer allowance just in case things got really bad. 9pm approached and I started feeling bad for the guys behind us who had flown in from America to see the gig. I suspect many travelled a lot further than we did and a rain check or refund wasn't going to be a satisfactory conclusion.
Suddenly, things got a lot better. The house lights came up, a single light bar above the stage flickered purple and crew invaded the stage. An announcement confirmed that the show would start soon but the finish time would now be after midnight, so refunds would be issued for those who couldn't stay. A real shame for those who had to leave, but I couldn't see how they could have cut the show short. Kate wouldn't want that and neither would we.

So, around 9.15pm, the intro to 'Lily' plays out, the lights go up and there she is. I'm welling up now just thinking about it, but at the time I was strangely unemotional. I saw Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) when she played at the Festival Hall in 2012 and I was sobbing quietly at various times during the night, but oddly I was completely dry-eyed during this show, even though Kate means just as much to me as Elizabeth does.
Anyway, enough of my pathetic bawling. The show was everything it should have been, even with the delayed start. There was something in there for everyone (apart from those hoping for a 'Wuthering Heights' encore). You had the band, the OTT theatrics and even the 'lone-singer-at-piano-in-spotlight' performance. For me, the first half worked better than the second, but it was all marvellous. At a bigger venue it would have been possible to ramp up the lighting and effects even further, but I appreciate she wanted this show to be 'intimate' so I think a good balance was struck.

After hearing 'Director's Cut' in 2011, I was prepared for the vocals to sound a bit different to the originals. After all, it's been almost 30 years since 'Hounds of Love' was recorded. But, from what I heard last night her range and clarity is as good, if not better, than ever. The truly beautiful rendition of 'Among Angels' stood out as an example of just how great an artist she is.

So, was it worth the wait? Yes, of course. I was happy just to be there. But after a while, I started to wonder why she kept us all waiting so long (no, I'm not referring to the power cut at the beginning)? She was obviously very comfortable with herself and her performance. Not a hint of nerves that I could see or hear. She was having a great time and so were we! All I can say is thanks, Bertie, for being so persuasive.

But we shouldn't look back at what could have been. We can only hope there'll be more chances for us mere mortals to be in the same room as her again. There is a rumoured DVD of the shows, but then there was a rumoured Liz Fraser album which never materialised.
And don't get me started on how long Harry Hill's Sausage Time DVD has taken...

I feel exactly the same today after the w**k I had to a Michelle Thorne video last night

Thanks for putting my feelings into words