June 13th?

 

As far as I can make out from google, there's a rugby match there on 13/06/15. Or The Rolling Stones this year.

Damn working until 11pm, then sleeping through my 2am alarm

So what was all this about the Stade de France on 13th June? 

Not great quality and I'm sure the show will be a lot better than this suggests.

First segment is what I expected the whole show to be. Band equipment set out along the back of the stage in very conventional fashion.Kate comes on to near mass hysteria and performs some obvious crowd pleasers including Running Up That Hill and culminating a stonking version of King Of The Mountain. Not exactly a greatest hits package as there is no Wuthering Heights or Babshooka but this is just a prelude to what comes next THE NINTH WAVE. This surely must be the main reason she has come back to live performing. At least double its album length this is presented as almost a mini play but is certainly one of the most boldest pieces of live rock theatre ever attempted. It tells the story of a ship going down and woman lost at sea. She goes deep into her mind falling abck on family memories and surrounded by strange sea creatures before finally being rescued. When the DVD finally arrives you will be able to see just how good this is. I've never seen anything like it!

After the twenty minute break they do something else I've never seen before and that the whole of the band is shifted to the left hand side of the stage and are now facing right as you look at it. This enables another unique set to be unveiled with among other things a giant door , trees and the moon as large as life. This is the Aerial part of the show and the use of back projection film of birds in flight is beautifull. I have to admit that some part of this to drag a little but the finale makes up for it with a thumping version of the title track Aerial. Kate is literally flying by the end!

The encore includes a nice song at the piano and then Cloudbusting. Not much to say about that and its probably the only ordinary part of the show but then what can you do with an encore anyway? Ok she could have done Wuthering Heights but to be fair nobody was screaming 'Cathy'. In natural fact the warmth and respect towards Kate is something that is hard to believe exists with anyone else. I believe that music took a wrong course in the late seventies but somehow against the odds emerged this beautiful unique young lady with an artistic palate not bound by some dull notion of social change. She is our own unique national treasure. Hale Kate.

 

I see she's getting flack in the press now for not doing Wuthering Heights and Babooshka.

I'm a bit envious that you've still got it to come

I note Tim De whathisface ( one of those horrible self conscious punk loving critics) gave the show a 3 star (out of 5) in the MOS magazine and was critical that she didn't perform a greatest hits package. Talk about missing the point entirely. 

 

I'm already thinking that by the time this show gets done 5 times, it will make "The Wall" look like a cheap rock show!

 

The pictures are magnificent, and what a treat. And it is nice to see someone not be afraid to do their own thing, and do it well!

 

Maybe we should reconsider the idea of "progressive"!

SPOILER ALERT! - don't read if you're going to the shows and don't want to know what happens

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Saw the show last night. After all the fuss about security on the tickets, with the named ticket holder having to have photo id etc, I asked the security guard if he wanted to see my id and he just shrugged and said "nah, can't be bothered"!

The set list has already been published here, one or two surprising choices in the first 6 songs but all brilliantly played. The band was seriously good - John Giblin and David Rhodes being the best known names - and the drummer was amazing. Kate got the biggest cheer for someone walking onto the stage that I've ever heard.

After the first 6 songs we got "The Ninth Wave", starting with a short film explaining how the woman ended up in the sea and then another of Kate singing the opening song in a flotation tank. The whole thing was very theatrical, from the opening "waves" to Kate being rescued from the ice - you had to watch all the stage to avoid missing something. Bertie is excellent in the little "sausage" narrative before "Watching you without me". I was most looking forward to "Hello Earth/The Morning Fog" and at first I thought they'd blown it when Kate was carried out of the theatre at the end of "Hello Earth" but the whole band came to the front of the stage for a slower, Cajun-folk style version of "The Morning Fog" which was the highlight of the show for me.

After the interval came "Sky of Honey", again very theatrical with Bertie playing the painter (for some reason Rolf Harris was unavailable). The puppet of the artist's model was brilliant, despite being told to "piss off" by Bertie at the beginning. Musically the whole thing was a big improvement on the album and included a new song about the moon sung by Bertie. The finale was brilliant with the artist's model coming to life, two giant trees dropping down, one right through the grand piano and Kate taking flight.

The ending was a very emotional "Among Angels" sung by Kate alone at the piano which reduced some people to tears, followed by a sing-along "Cloudbusting". Elton John was in the audience but he must have sneaked out early to avoid the crush at the end.

Best show ever? - without a doubt. Nobody else can put this kind of theatricality into a perfomance. The decision to play at a smaller venue was without doubt the right one. Kate's voice was amazing throughout (the only person I've heard whose voice can command a venue like that is Guy Garvey of Elbow) and the band were brilliant. This just confirmed my opinion that there's Kate Bush and then there's everyone else.

Criticisms? - not really, I would have preferred "The Big Sky" to end on but that's just me. Now I just have to wait for the live album and blu-ray. If you have sell your mother or your house to get a ticket then do it.

Sneaky photo taken before the show started.

There's been no new album announced, not that I've heard anyway.

I certainly hope so. I can't wait to see the show again on blu-ray, they'd be mad not to release it given how many tickets they could have sold for the shows.