| 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 17th September 2014 (2014-09-17) RECORDING: Type: Audience master, recorded from seat slightly left of centre stage in row P of block 4 of the circle, approximately 25 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 of first act by 1 dB. * Amplified left channel of second act by 7 dB. * Amplified right channel of second act by 7.3 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. [01:14] [announcement] 02. [04:50] Lily 03. [03:39] Hounds Of Love 04. [06:08] Joanni 05. [00:19] [banter] 06. [05:28] Top Of The City 07. [05:54] Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) 08. [08:28] King Of The Mountain The Ninth Wave: 09. [03:05] [video: The Astronomer] 10. [04:13] [video: And Dream Of Sheep] 11. [03:20] Under Ice 12. [07:16] Waking The Witch 13. [03:34] [sketch: Father And Son] 14. [06:46] Watching You Without Me 15. [05:18] Jig Of Life 16. [08:16] Hello Earth 17. [04:53] The Morning Fog 18. [01:09] [banter] 19. [00:12] [announcement] [intermission] Act II. A Sky Of Honey: 20. [02:52] Prelude 21. [10:26] Prologue 22. [05:33] An Architect's Dream 23. [01:35] The Painter's Link 24. [08:00] Sunset 25. [01:54] Aerial Tal 26. [06:55] Somewhere In Between 27. [06:25] Tawny Moon¹ 28. [08:45] Nocturn 29. [10:49] Aerial 30. [00:41] [banter] 31. [00:51] [encore break] 32. [05:38] Among Angels 33. [00:37] [banter] 34. [06:56] Cloudbusting Total running time: 162:15 ¹ Sung by Albert McIntosh MD5 CHECKSUMS: 2c75792aca94ef736d5362fb6bd69e9b *artwork/kb.jpg 38dfc3ffad80eba08f4db02b7b68adec *artwork/poster.jpg 3d6b0d75c476f55059bde44bdb4e025a *artwork/soldout.jpg 99623e9d3b0d467fa330c3e58d32a628 *flac/01_announcement.flac c41a710c77a0bee75061399a77e59844 *flac/02_lily.flac 661e6a66f871d58b942c95c6e2530cd3 *flac/03_hounds_of_love.flac 2b31f25b7abe64d9bed0e73503e6f495 *flac/04_joanni.flac 4f3a222e4bd1caddacbf8aff5d59d485 *flac/05_banter.flac c4a89744ee53ce7e3e6a8e4a6b469472 *flac/06_top_of_the_city.flac 4f3478cc69ffaffdea6d7855f6497b31 *flac/07_running_up_that_hill_a_deal_with_god.flac 9d226fef9778ad1b44ec4f4cb1fdbf86 *flac/08_king_of_the_mountain.flac 59b7b79b8eac582efd4bbcc728cbd02e *flac/09_video_the_astronomer.flac a514e0d42e0fe78029b5454ab796903d *flac/10_video_and_dream_of_sheep.flac 96f808e8b8477226430adff8e6e2ffcd *flac/11_under_ice.flac a10074809d062efb4f7e0f870751c991 *flac/12_waking_the_witch.flac f9e42ac442f932ad6c9dce9fff39214f *flac/13_sketch_father_and_son.flac a53b79c2fe71951ecb90d1da9248e181 *flac/14_watching_you_without_me.flac 4ffb9453587bfa42e6f16130b17b855b *flac/15_jig_of_life.flac 121ed7e84da13935e74faa188038f5c9 *flac/16_hello_earth.flac f96fd5fd104e7ef4516d16f79b2cd9e0 *flac/17_the_morning_fog.flac 5fd83e9f420ecbeb5bc9388f779992e9 *flac/18_banter.flac 758d6630c5fdaf16b33250be49e099ef *flac/19_announcement.flac a01d03dba4345e193ae15a10d14c4c4b *flac/20_prelude.flac d4b02e8e60a3d89ef8df84c697ee3aa8 *flac/21_prologue.flac 39f4c2a0a4d38560455bfa7c4e809b60 *flac/22_an_architects_dream.flac 9f93c65a6290639955f08de749f2e357 *flac/23_the_painters_link.flac f9af8bc36fb93d4dc33a0b2277d2f546 *flac/24_sunset.flac ea176a7e0d3a0f64861eaa419c872edc *flac/25_aerial_tal.flac 3a4ec2edba2a9c9ae5a0a75f10d3bbfc *flac/26_somewhere_in_between.flac 28599ff4bee32127a5ef75a9a301af5b *flac/27_tawny_moon.flac 25700590f238b5f670fee635ec05f9cc *flac/28_nocturn.flac f91007d61f50a5dfc34a9583868fd9ea *flac/29_aerial.flac 02615b011716c49875ddbbfb67ed4283 *flac/30_banter.flac 5df25f2e1fc10b1f7b09595b300c404d *flac/31_encore_break.flac c7948c72bb438deccda4e95ac9219c72 *flac/32_among_angels.flac 3473e0ead859a2ebdab8cd376cc6f94b *flac/33_banter.flac 22b872eb9db32edd46beb56f069cc611 *flac/34_cloudbusting.flac 3838d7d67d751e0d16c1d8b241641bd3 *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 cc09c5f54221e71017ffae6283e83d40 *photos/20140917_190919.jpg dd3467877e410ff89332206db93befd0 *photos/20140922_012146.jpg 3bc6b555a2d1e8414a942e22284fb935 *tags.txt 5eddcedaf0f861b5898ba36a119182f8 *titles.txt NOTES: I'm back outside the Apollo for the second of four performances I will be attending of Kate Bush's 'Before The Dawn' show. I'm still pinching myself after last night. Was it real? Did I really get to see the one and only Kate Bush perform live on stage after more than 35 years? It hasn't quite sunk in yet: the spectacle, the music, the grand scale of it all. To return from a performance hiatus of some three and a half decades and approach these new shows with such ambition impresses the hell out of me. Not only is the woman a creative genius, she's courageous with it. I've treated myself to another early dinner of fish and chips at The Swan, a pub just around the corner from the venue, and I'm queueing outside the venue again a good hour before the official doors time of 18:15. Next to me, separated by a barrier, a separate queue of stand-by hopefuls wait to hear how many of them will be getting into the show tonight on a late return. Every afternoon at about 3 o'clock, numbers are doled out to those queuing in hope of a miracle outside the venue. They must then return at around 5 o'clock, when the person in possession of the lowest number is called forward to go inside to the box-office and purchase the first of the evening's returns. This process continues every few minutes until there are no more returns, only disappointed fans, who must then try their luck another day. I got speaking to a woman yesterday who was queueing in the stand-by line for the third time. The previous two times she had been turned away before her number came up. Last night turned out to be third time lucky for her. I was as excited as she was when she was finally called forward to go and get her ticket. She emerged from the venue beaming from ear to ear, and who can blame her? Even now, just a couple of hours before the show is due to start, it is still possible to get hold of a ticket if you are determined enough. And there are other means, too. The occasional ticket still flashes up on the Eventim web site, and every night there are, of course, fans with a spare ticket to sell. There's always someone who can't make it, even to these gigs. Yesterday, I queued early to get my merchandise as soon as the doors opened, but tonight I have no express purpose requiring that I be so punctual. The reason I'm still here so early is that I am leaving nothing to chance. Every one of these Kate Bush shows is important to me and I want to make the best possible recording of each of them. The venue is still somewhat unfamiliar, and the sooner I get inside, the more time I'll have to note and address any unanticipated issues. For example, last night, I was in the 6th row of the stalls and the view was incredible, but I was unable to train my microphones on the PA, which was situated directly overhead. Instead, I had to aim at the stage monitors, which provide much less balanced sound. Tonight, by way of contrast, I am located somewhere in the circle; row P of block 4 to be precise. This is a 'cheap' seat, having set me back a mere £104.50 compared to last night's whopping £145.50 (making it only the second most expensive I've ever purchased). On paper, it's probably the worst of my four seats for actually viewing the show, but it will be interesting to see how it lends itself to recording. That's another great thing about having a ticket to four of these shows: I have four attempts to make a great recording. If I can make just one, I will be over the moon. Last night's recording was slightly disappointing. Although perfectly listenable and an accurate reflection of the sound at my location in the auditorium, it wasn't the mind-blowing document I had hoped for. Once again, I make my way into the auditorium to discover exactly where I'll be sitting. It turns out that I'll be about two thirds of the way back in the circle, but with decent line of sight to the PA, which is now actually downward of me. It's a little further away than I would ideally like, but should still provide decent results unless there's a lot of audience noise at inappropriate moments. Having noted the angle to the PA that I'll be working with this evening, I head to the toilets and emerge wired for sound. It's already roasting in the Apollo again and, given the unfortunate fact that heat rises, it can only get worse in the circle as the evening wears on. I wish I could take my jacket off, but that would be the taper equivalent of any other fan here tonight getting fully undressed. In anticipation of all the fluid I'm going to sweat off this evening, I down a pint of lemonade for the princely London sum of £4.10 and take my seat in the circle. I pass the time until the show's 19:45 curtain time chatting to the Scot next to me. He's driven 600 miles for this gig over the course of the last few days, and I contemplate for the umpteenth time in the last 48 hours just how convenient it is to get here from Amsterdam. The lights go down and 'Before The Dawn' begins. The voice of Lily Cornford reciting 'The Gayatri' introduces the eponymous 'Lily' from 1993's 'The Red Shoes'. The music kicks in and a roar envelops the Apollo as Kate Bush leads her chorus singers out onto the stage in an entrance that is wonderfully unstated for a performer of her stature and whose return to the stage has been so strongly anticipated. One thing becomes immediately apparent: the sound from this vantage point is amazing, much richer and fuller than last night. That bodes well for the recording. I double-check my input levels, then lean back and lose myself in the music. 'Hounds Of Love', 'Joanni', 'Top Of The City' and 'Running Up That Hill'... they all sound unbelievably good tonight, but once again it's 'King Of The Mountain' that soars to fill the Apollo to its rafters. Bush sounds so incredibly confident during this song. She commands that stage and her voice permeates every nook and cranny of the Apollo from the front of the stalls to the back of the circle. The confetti explosion signals the transition to the theatrical component of the show, starting with Bush's 1985 concept piece, The Ninth Wave. None of the confetti makes it anywhere near the circle, but I unashamedly swept up handfuls of the stuff from the floor last night to take home with me. You might not believe it, but individual pieces of this confetti, adorned with lyrics from Tennyson's 'The Coming of Arthur', have been selling on eBay; not that a similarly mercenary fate awaits my little stash, you understand. That little pile is staying firmly within my possession as a memento of the occasion. It becomes apparent during this section of the show just how many speakers are being used to convey the sound. Each of the voices at the beginning of 'Waking The Witch', for example, appears to come from a different direction. It's complex and very effective. Once again, tonight's show is being recorded for eventual DVD/BD release and I can only imagine what the experience of reliving the event in full surround sound will be like. The door manages to stay on its hinges this time during the domestic sketch, allowing Bush to make her proper, scripted entrance. It's interesting to note how well the actors coped with the prop failure last night. I make good use of the 20 minute break to stretch my legs. There's less room in the circle seats than in the stalls, and as a result, my left knee is playing up. I'm also soaked in sweat, but the jacket has to stay on, so all I can do is purchase some ice-cream to cool myself down a little. Back in my seat, I place a fresh set of batteries in the recorder and await the second act. 'A Sky Of Honey' plays out pretty much as it did the night before, with one minor technical hitch. One of the veil curtains snags and fails to fall to the ground when released. It will spend the rest of the evening partially obscuring the top of the stage, and I wonder how much of an impact it will have on the cameras recording the show. Tonight, as last night, 'Aerial' is the highlight of the main set for me. Not only does it sound incredible, watching Kate spar with a bird beak-sporting David Rhodes, as his guitar whines and howls its way to the climax of the song, is great theatre. The guitar is so much louder and clearer than last night, too. The encore once again features the stark contrast of 'Among Angels', performed by Kate solo at the piano, and the rousing, full ensemble anthem of 'Cloudbusting', with the full house joining in on the yay-yay-yay-yos. I wrote about what a magical moment this was last night, but with the superior sound bestowed on me this evening, the experience is mesmerising; one of the most memorable moments in my long history of attending concerts. The entire audience are on their feet and united in experiencing the joy of this song, and by extension the minor miracle that it is to have Kate Bush amongst us once more. A truly great artist has just delivered a truly outstanding performance. I can find only good things to say about it. My only gripe -- and I wouldn't be me if I didn't have one -- is the temperature in the venue. It was hotter than a witch's cauldron. Even if I'd sat there with nothing more than a fig leaf to protect my modesty, I'd still have been much too hot. So, what about the recording? That's what you really want to know, right? Well, it is significantly better than the one I made the night before. In fact, it's really very, very good and I will be hard-pressed to make a better recording with my two remaining tickets. What I lost on the visual side, by not being closer to the front, is more than made up for this evening by the superior sound further back in the venue. In that sense, it's ironic that this ticket was considerably cheaper than last night's. Whether or not that makes sense depends on whether you consider the theatrical side of the performance more important than the actual music. For me, it's a real privilege to be able to experience the show from multiple locations in the auditorium. Both literally and figuratively, they offer a very different perspective on the show. The front is great for the visual detail, such as the facial expressions, but the back offers a better overview of the whole stage. After another 2,189 edits and more hours of work than I care to think about, my wife is asking me if she's ever going to see me again. Since returning from London, I have been holed up in my study, emerging only to take meals, use the toilet, sleep a few hours and fulfil my inescapable parental responsibilities. My family have seen about as much of me since my return as they did while I was away; and next week, we get to do it all again. But it's not every day you go to see and record Kate Bush, is it? Once again, it was a huge amount of work to manually attenuate all of the intrusive clapping, but if it was worth doing well on the recording of the 16th, then it is doubly true of tonight's recording. This really is a very nice recording. Whilst it perhaps cannot compete with my very finest work, it comes very close indeed. My anticipation of the final result therefore relieved some of the tedium of the mastering process. I knew I would be bringing you something very special and I am now proud to be able to offer you a concert from the 'Before The Dawn' residency in such superb quality. Obviously, my stereo capture fails to accurately reproduce the portions of the concert that were in surround sound. For that, you will have to purchase the DVD or Blu-ray, if and when it becomes available. Please feel free to share this recording far and wide to bring it to as many fans as possible. Unfortunately, both this recording and the one of the previous night have been pre-emptively banned from DIME, due to their having been professionally filmed for future release. As always, samples are included to help you determine whether the recording is worth your while. |