Before the Dawn

It's been over a year hiatus around here and it took Kate Bush to bring me back.

If you're somewhat familiar with her, you may have heard by now that Kate Bush is playing nearly a month's worth of shows, entitled Before the Dawn, in London this coming fall. If you've read this blog with any sort of regularity, you probably know that I've been a fan of Kate Bush for quite a long time. Outside of the odd appearance here or there, she hasn't done a proper concert or tour since 1979, now 35 years ago. I first discovered her music around 1985, when Hounds of Love was released, which makes about 29 years of pining for a live show. Seriously, it's been a long time.

Long after the Red Shoes (1993), but before Aerial (2005), I had pretty much given up any hope of new Kate Bush material. Thankfully, I was proven wrong. From 2005 to 2011, She's put out two albums of excellent new material. Three albums, really, if you count 2011's Director's Cut which is not really new material but, you know, something. That averages out to an album every two years in that time span.

Fast forward to 2014. There had been rumblings of Kate Bush news, but nobody knew what it was. Myself, I figured it might be a new album or song. That was probably the best I could and would hope for. Imagine my surprise. 1.30am, the morning of 21 March. I was about to go to bed when I see a cryptic tweet aimed at me that said "Wake up dude! You're not dreaming!" I didn't get it. Then, after a few moments of confusion on my part, I see some other tweets saying that Kate Bush has just announced London dates.

No. Fucking. Way.

I had been texting with my girlf right at that moment, who quite possibly is a bigger Kate fan than I. I texted something like "OMG KATE BUSH AT HAMMERSMITH", to which she replies "They're finally releasing the DVD?"

After my fingers fumbled a couple times, I finally got my point across.

Tickets went on sale last week. We were lucky enough to have presale codes and, after a few harrowing phone calls with our respective banks, we secured tickets for a few of the shows.

It's still a while away, the Kate Bush residency doesn't begin until the end of August and the shows we've booked are in the middle of September, but it's sort of like a dream that hasn't really sunk in yet. We checked our bank statements and the money has been debited (this will be the single most expensive ticket I've ever bought for a concert, not even counting the travel dollars that will be spent), but we don't have the tickets in our grubby paws yet and it's too early to work out a travel itinerary.

I suspect it'll become slightly more real once the tickets arrive. Baby steps, man. I've loved Kate Bush for nearly 30 years, so the wait from now to mid-September shouldn't be that bad. I mean, you know; theoretically. Right?

In any case, you can read more of my Kate Bush ramblings from over the years here, if you're so inclined.