| Bush, Kate - Eventim Apollo, London, UK (ianmacd) |
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| Notes |
| Recorded at the Eventim Apollo, London, UK. Excellent audience recording. From the info file: Kate Bush Eventim Apollo Hammersmith London England 16th September 2014 (2014-09-16) RECORDING: Type: Audience master, recorded from seat slightly left of centre stage in row K, the 6th row of the stalls, approximately 10 metres from the stage. Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) -> Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod (-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV) Lineage: Audacity 2.0.5 * Amplified right channel by 1 dB. * Applied variable envelope amplification across recording for consistent listening experience. * Painstaking manual attenuation of audience noise, including more than a thousand individual hand claps. * Added fades. * Split tracks. * Converted to 16 bit. -> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.3.0 20130526] Taper: Ian Macdonald (ianmacd) SET LIST: Act I. 01. [00:56] [announcement] 02. [04:43] Lily 03. [03:42] Hounds Of Love 04. [06:06] Joanni 05. [00:17] [banter] 06. [05:35] Top Of The City 07. [05:52] Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) 08. [08:26] King Of The Mountain The Ninth Wave: 09. [03:12] [video: The Astronomer] 10. [04:10] [video: And Dream Of Sheep] 11. [03:21] Under Ice 12. [07:21] Waking The Witch 13. [03:30] [sketch: Father And Son] 14. [06:44] Watching You Without Me 15. [05:27] Jig Of Life 16. [08:15] Hello Earth 17. [05:03] The Morning Fog 18. [00:46] [banter] 19. [00:13] [announcement] [intermission] Act II. A Sky Of Honey: 20. [02:56] Prelude 21. [10:25] Prologue 22. [05:37] An Architect's Dream 23. [01:36] The Painter's Link 24. [08:09] Sunset 25. [01:47] Aerial Tal 26. [06:46] Somewhere In Between 27. [06:11] Tawny Moon¹ 28. [08:57] Nocturn 29. [11:06] Aerial 30. [00:41] [banter] 31. [00:52] [encore break] 32. [05:42] Among Angels 33. [00:32] [banter] 34. [06:42] Cloudbusting Total running time: 161:55 ¹ Sung by Albert McIntosh MD5 CHECKSUMS: 2c75792aca94ef736d5362fb6bd69e9b *artwork/kb.jpg 38dfc3ffad80eba08f4db02b7b68adec *artwork/poster.jpg 3d6b0d75c476f55059bde44bdb4e025a *artwork/soldout.jpg a27c5fc940192c246f37e3bcbebb41db *flac/01_announcement.flac 5bfbd5c1149c9e26bd28bc62b37a0f79 *flac/02_lily.flac 9c7059cb9b3ca52f5badd9cc83ce4df9 *flac/03_hounds_of_love.flac 5cc995e8a2ada52519c0ccf2041ea208 *flac/04_joanni.flac 8ad0f7fc01fd1b440dafec2a6f7b28c9 *flac/05_banter.flac 536613d98cb42c32d2ed79abd56f83d1 *flac/06_top_of_the_city.flac f3d1c5d32ed02889f32fc640a5f2c034 *flac/07_running_up_that_hill_a_deal_with_god.flac 5711d4f930dc18c30b8e7f0a21162247 *flac/08_king_of_the_mountain.flac 2e9d83042ff55b60e9542efcc4a0235e *flac/09_video_the_astronomer.flac fd83da83e86fc5918f1a8087feac156a *flac/10_video_and_dream_of_sheep.flac 1b89ec2f4ea4b9da159b823d9d41cdbe *flac/11_under_ice.flac fc7a9d371ea04022629ae6c4b24de26c *flac/12_waking_the_witch.flac d48cac49bd001d2c47c6b45e21c200c6 *flac/13_sketch_father_and_son.flac 97678b78a9f19b6c4f4152d022f6006e *flac/14_watching_you_without_me.flac 63ed15649f7a2a1a2f512b6034e1448c *flac/15_jig_of_life.flac fba318edfef7cab4d5201f0e9acd812f *flac/16_hello_earth.flac 22f0e9ba9dd248f33ed0d98b0f2e5eab *flac/17_the_morning_fog.flac 3f2e926c015a1111b0c4476e8d85859e *flac/18_banter.flac c940ec4dd002422e69139bbc62189bb9 *flac/19_announcement.flac 99eba781938b73a70a8fd301c0866849 *flac/20_prelude.flac 6151777dccebf95618db2111a3519f22 *flac/21_prologue.flac 970a789ec4b6968ae23fb9d8e6481711 *flac/22_an_architects_dream.flac 95edc4bfa88b6ebe29ae862c11984ad0 *flac/23_the_painters_link.flac 48f40a2e8f386bb1a8705646e1f0066e *flac/24_sunset.flac 7c6ac0e5704e982596ef28e237d7309e *flac/25_aerial_tal.flac c25ef533bc291152ced23915001a62e6 *flac/26_somewhere_in_between.flac 92124b4537ee2937d3951b496bebe6f2 *flac/27_tawny_moon.flac dacae0f79827be2cb68bbbf3ec3c7e87 *flac/28_nocturn.flac ed21320b118045868cd7f68f2e08736e *flac/29_aerial.flac 864579cd66f1aaf548b7c644e20b40d6 *flac/30_banter.flac 4f614eb4418d85d361e477e715bb7b32 *flac/31_encore_break.flac f7d4d820fe6a8627c78066323ec5340a *flac/32_among_angels.flac 56b9c37ada7743374d038c1beeddf036 *flac/33_banter.flac 07fe64bca5f7fea963c3db870589e8fe *flac/34_cloudbusting.flac fb2834a0651b2a9b32c5b46981802fee *flac/checksums.ffp cd48492d5f2641af69a34edc04920bdf *photos/20140916_145442.jpg 3586b1e75606893b2bdfc6995466de79 *photos/20140916_150544.jpg 03ca0eb87a7de574333ca4fa172dbe6e *photos/20140916_151850-EFFECTS.jpg 1259561e7aa6cf6cb7a220b58534a783 *photos/20140916_151850.jpg 0febbf3658d523b777f3920b63dd734c *photos/20140916_191636.jpg 26a7798de5c75ab841462a31ea054f1f *photos/20140916_193228.jpg b49fb5166d359f7b22b497dc56e46be8 *photos/20140916_230040.jpg 4f83d32095eba461dba72c30ef1547fd *photos/20140916_230053.jpg 59adb1ac626d971568e0819407beff14 *photos/20140916_230103.jpg 88ebc9310ed40fb1d545f4e51e787717 *photos/20140919_193305.jpg b193c51b98dd9d4bac48473dd8be4975 *tags.txt 5eddcedaf0f861b5898ba36a119182f8 *titles.txt NOTES: Kate Bush live on stage in 2014: Who would have dared predict such a thing at the start of the year? Not even the staunchest fan with the acutest case of wishful-thinking would have deigned to sign their name to such a prophecy. But then, out of the blue, came the announcement of an end to Bush's 35 year live performance hiatus: 15 shows would be performed in August and September at the Eventim Apollo (née Odeon) in Hammersmith. The already impressive 15 show run quickly turned into 22 in an attempt to meet the demand for tickets, but in truth, even 222 shows wouldn't have been enough to to cater for the legions of fans who have been waiting up to three and a half decades to see this woman perform on a stage. Most of us had long ago relinquished any hope of fulfilling this ambition. When the tickets went on sale, it was as if Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' had been adapted and reframed in the world of live performance. Those who managed to obtain a ticket in the global on-line free-for-all that took place at 09:30 GMT on 28th March felt like Charlie Bucket as he peeled back the wrapper of his chocolate bar to reveal a golden ticket to Willy Wonka's factory. Whilst thousands of lucky fans managed to secure a ticket in the stampede that morning, it was quickly evident that at least as many people had been unsuccessful and were now reeling from the disappointment. The bewilderment and bitterness was sprawled all over the Internet. I, myself, had approached the mission of acquiring tickets with something approaching military precision. Like securing a place on one of the Titanic's lifeboats, this was a mission that could not be allowed to fail. I pre-registered with all four of the official ticketing agencies that would be selling on the day. I didn't just create accounts; I also registered a credit card, so that I wouldn't have to enter its details in the heat of conducting the transactions. I knew this would save valuable seconds, seconds when hundreds of tickets would be flying out the virtual door. On the day of the sale, I had two browsers open, each with tabs to all four of the official ticket agencies. In the other room, my wife had a similar set-up. I had given her written instructions to follow. With the logistics optimised, there were still the social aspects to consider. I deliberately shied away from trying for opening night, because I knew that a disproportionate number of fans, celebs, poseurs and God knows who else would try to obtain tickets for the first show in 35 years. In fact, it seemed to me that all of the August dates would suffer from this phenomenon to a diminishing degree. Similarly, I knew that many people would have to travel a great distance for the shows, and that the demand for weekend tickets would therefore probably be that much greater. I thus decided to aim for midweek shows in the middle of September, making an educated guess that those shows would receive the lowest number of clicks; at least at the start of the sale, until people's preferred dates started to flash up as sold out. Using that approach, I was fortunate enough to secure tickets for a pair of consecutive dates almost straight away. I even threw one ticket back into the pool and drew again, because the seat being offered was at the back of the circle. With two tickets already in the bag, I decided to try my luck with the end of the 22 night run. To my amazement, I managed to obtain a further two tickets for the final two shows of Kate's residency. At that point, the well ran completely dry and all dates were now reported as sold out. Good preparation is half the job. Pre-registering with the agencies, aiming for tickets likely to be in less demand, then completing the transactions speedily and without error gave me a head start on many fans and allowed me to make multiple purchases while many people struggled to get a single ticket into their basket and complete the purchase before the transaction timed out. Forgive me if I sound smug. That's not my intention. I'm merely trying to illustrate that it wasn't all luck on 28th March, although I do consider myself incredibly fortunate at how things turned out. I was walking on air for the next week. Now, nearly six months later, the concerts have finally come around. I've waited most of my life for this day. Well, I say waited, but I was doing other stuff in the meantime. The way some Kate Bush fans talk about her, you'd think their whole life had been leading up to this moment. I only have to fly in from Amsterdam, but there are people in the queue from as far afield as Japan, Australia and California. In fact, it's probably easier and cheaper for me to get to Hammersmith than it is for someone who lives in the north of England. I'm outside the venue by 17:00 after an early dinner. Doors aren't until 18:15, but I've read the accounts of the merchandise stands being mobbed and I want to avoid the scrum. I've done my homework and know exactly which items I wish to purchase, so when the Apollo's doors open, I can head straight to the merchandise stand, purchase what I want, and make a quick exit before the elbows start flying. My ID has already been checked in the queue to ensure that the name on my ticket matches that of the person entering the venue. It's nice to see that the much vaunted name checks are actually being carried out. I pass the time talking to others in the queue. The atmosphere, even outside, is electric. It's not like any other gig I can recall. You can sense that something special will be taking place within these walls tonight. It's about 27 years since I last saw a gig at this venue. Wow. Hammersmith flyover hasn't got any prettier in that time. At 18:15 prompt, the doors open and the crowd start to file inside. The merchandise stand is predictably immediately swamped. It seems that EVERYONE wants to take home some memento of the occasion. I've no idea what percentage of gig-goers typically purchase merchandise at a concert, but I'd wager that tonight, more people purchase something than don't. That's largely attributable to the absolutely beautiful programme that Kate has put together for the event. It's brimming with background detail and I would say that it amounts to an essential purchase for anyone with more than a passing interest in these shows (and that's everyone here, right?) I'm served quickly and load my bag with the goodies I've just purchased. They are all nice keepsakes, but my focus now shifts to bringing home the ultimate memento of the concert: a high quality recording of it. I head into the auditorium to find my seat and learn its position relative to the PA. I'm in row K, but rows A to D have been removed to accommodate the projectors, and there turns out to be no row I, so I find myself in the enviable position of the 6th row. That will be great for watching the show -- which really ought to be any self-respecting Kate Bush fan's primary goal this evening; and so it is mine -- but aiming my microphones at the PA is impossible. It's mounted so high overhead that the angle to it is impossibly sharp. I'll therefore have to aim directly at the stage monitors and hope to get decent sound from them. I drink a pint of lemonade at the bar -- it's already roasting hot in here -- and then head to the lavatories to suit up. I configure the mics to point straight ahead of me and then make my way back into the auditorium to take my seat. The show starts promptly at 19:45. The lights go down and the band, which comprises a who's who of session musicians, treads a torchlit path to their positions. You can feel the anticipation of several thousand people in the air. As the music slowly rises to fill the Apollo, Bush shimmies on stage at the head of a conga comprising her backing singers. The roar that now rises from the audience at the sight of this very private figure, now here, in the flesh, amongst us, is not something that will soon be forgotten. A dearly and deeply revered woman has just made an understated entrance. For the first six songs, it's essentially a standard rock gig, in that there's a band, a singer and some backing vocalists. These six songs serve to warm us up, although in truth, the whole room is in raptures before Bush has got through the first bar of 'Lily'. Crowd-pleasers such as 'Hounds Of Love' and 'Running Up That Hill' follow in these first half a dozen songs, but it's 'King Of The Mountain' that emphatically puts to bed any wayward notion that the now 56 year old and performance-starved Bush might possibly not be able to come up with the vocal goods any more. Her voice roars with the power of a jet engine and she hits every note with the force of an arrow penetrating the bullseye. The audience are beside themselves with joy, but there's currently no hint of the theatrical side to these performances, about which so much has been made in the media. That changes now. The percussionist, Mino Cinelu, leaves his instruments behind and walks out to centre stage, where he swings a lantern-like object over his head to the sound of cracking thunder. Suddenly, there's an explosion of confetti. Those lucky enough to capture one of the tumbling bits of paper find that it bears lyrics to Tennyson's 'The Coming of Arthur', the piece that gave 'The Ninth Wave' its name. A curtain falls and we now suddenly find ourselves watching a film clip of an astronomer on the phone to the coastguard, reporting a mayday call he has picked up from a ship in distress. He's having trouble getting the coastguard to take him seriously. The curtain rises on a newly configured stage and we now see a second clip, this time projected onto the stage's backdrop, of Bush immersed in water. This is the start of Bush's concept piece, 'The Ninth Wave', the second half of her 'Hounds Of Love' album. A floating Bush in lifejacket, filmed in a water tank at Pinewood Studios earlier in the year, now sings 'And Dream Of Sheep'. You could be forgiven for thinking it's merely the album version, but the vocal is new and was recorded live in the water tank, using microphones attached to Bush's lifejacket. 'The Ninth Wave' now plays out in full, brought to life by the magic of theatre. It's so much more than a suite of music and it's immensely satisfying that Bush is finally achieving her long-held ambition of guiding the work to its full potential by adding the missing visual element. This includes a theatrical sketch of a father and son preparing for dinner at home, with the son played by Albert McIntosh, somewhat better known as Bertie a.k.a. Bush's 16 year old son. A technical hitch occurs during the sketch, when the father accidentally swings the door off its hinges, causing Bush to have to improvise her entrance into the room. Those who haven't seen the show before are probably oblivious to the glitch, and indeed, it's not until the next day's performance that I get to see how Bush should have entered the room and realise tonight's prop failure. The end of 'The Ninth Wave' carries us into the break, and a welcome one it is. It's absolutely sweltering in the venue and I am very uncomfortable. I purchase some much-needed ice-cream and change my batteries for the second act. Twenty minutes later, the show resumes. This time, we find ourselves immersed in 'A Sky Of Honey', the concept piece from the second half of Bush's 2005 album, 'Aerial'. The male lead in 'The Painter's Link' is performed by Bertie, Rolf Harris being otherwise engaged at her majesty's pleasure. Surprisingly (at least for anyone who hasn't read the reviews or listened to any of the recordings that have emerged), these 'Before The Dawn' shows harbour a new song: 'Tawny Moon'. Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that not Bush, but her son, sings it. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Kate Bush in deciding to cast her own son in the show. Similarly, I strongly admire the young man himself for daring to get up there in front of a sold-out crowd of people who have mostly paid well in excess of a hundred quid to see and hear his mother. It takes balls to perform in such circumstances. That said, the young McIntosh's voice is nasal to the point of being annoying. As a spoken voice for the acted parts, it's a minor detail that can be ignored, but when used to carry a song, it falls flat on its face. It sounds as if he has a clothes peg on his nose. It's only one song, of course, and like I said, I admire both mother and son for making this evening a tight-knit family affair. The warmth they exude towards each other on stage is palpable and heartwarming. And let's not forget that we have much to thank Bertie for. It was he who encouraged Bush to return to live performance after an absence of 35 years and it was he for whom Bush stopped smoking when she became pregnant. If not for Bertie, she might no longer be able to hit those high notes. The title track of 'Aerial' completes the 'A Sky Of Honey' suite in climactic fashion. It's one of the highlights of the show for me. That leaves just enough time for an encore. Bush dutifully returns for 'Among Angels', the only song tonight from 2011's '50 Words For Snow', and performed solo at the piano. The solitary figure of Bush at the piano is a striking juxtaposition with the previous two and a half hours, which saw the stage awash with musicians, singers, actors and puppeteers. It's a shame the moment can't be protracted to include one or two other fine examples of Bush's solo piano work, such as 'This Woman's Work' or even 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes', but anyone who has read the reviews knows that there's very little chance of that. Instead, Bush welcomes the band and the chorus back to the stage for the final song of the night: 'Cloudbusting'. And really, what better way to go out? The second half of the song becomes a sing-along with the entire Apollo on their feet, dancing and joining in with vocal duties. If your spine doesn't tingle when you listen to this on the recording, check your pulse. You might just be dead. 'I just know that something good is going to happen.' It already has. And in the rather incongruous words of Bertie during the father and son sketch, 'it's the badger's nadgers'. And thanks to Kate's much publicised polite request in the run-up to this 22 date residency, we get to enjoy the whole thing without being blinded by the mobile phones of hordes of selfish arse in front of us (although the girl seated directly in front of me did hold one up to take a snap at one point -- yeah, there's always one, isn't there?). My advice: Beg, borrow or steal your way to one of the remaining concerts in this run or prepare for many an idle moment in the coming years of regretting that you didn't. I won't go as far as some of the fans on Kate Bush's forums and call this 'a life-changing experience', but as gigs go, it ranks with the most lavish, creative, ambitious, innovative and impressive performances I have ever seen. Its closest counterpart that I can think of is Jeff's Wayne's stage version of 'The War Of The Worlds'. If only it hadn't been so unbearably hot in the Apollo. I was drenched in my own sweat by the time I left the building. And to think that some people had a standing ticket for the back of the stalls or the circle. I don't know how they made it through to the end. I'm back in Amsterdam before I can listen to the recording to hear how it sounds. 2,521 edits and countless man hours later, it's ready to be released to you. It was a huge amount of work to manually attenuate all of the intrusive clapping, but once I had embarked on the task, I felt compelled to see it through to the end. You'll still hear plenty of exuberant audience reaction, but where the clapping sounded distractingly close to the microphones, it has been dampened. It's a fine recording, but doesn't compare to my very best work, because I was too far from the PA for that. That said, those familiar with my work will know how good my finest recordings can sound, and understand that it's possible to fall some distance short of that goal and still produce an excellent recording that is a joy to listen to. And that's what we have here. I should also note that certain parts of the concert were clearly in surround sound, with voices in particular appearing to come from all directions. Obviously, stereo microphones are never going to replicate the experience for you, but where possible I turned to face the source of the sound, thereby facilitating its capture by my directional microphones. This concert (and the next night's) was professionally filmed. Huge HD cameras at the back of the stalls captured the evening's performance as it unfolded. Some ticket holders had received an e-mail from the promoter, informing them that they had been relocated to a different seat, due to a late decision to film the concerts for future DVD/BD release. Should such a release be forthcoming, that is where you will be able to enjoy the surround sound to the full, not to mention the spectacular visuals that accompany the performance. The mere suggestion of such a release -- obviously, nothing has been announced at this time by the artist -- was enough to get the recordings of both performances pre-emptively banned from DIME. In the case of the recording of the 17th, this occurred before the concert had even taken place. Please feel free to share this recording anywhere you wish, with the obvious exception of DIME. That tracker has a reach that is second to none, so these recordings will need to be shared on multiple sites far and wide to reach the same audience as would have normally been accessible via DIME. As always, samples are included to help you determine whether the recording is worth your while. |