Kate Bush Live Shows 2014 *Spoiler* Thread

Hi
How much did the programme cost and was there any other merchandise?

 

Well, the fact that you managed £145 and yet others where £170+ means it was all a bit of a swizz to be honest.

The main official site, Eventim, even after about 10 minutes of the tickets going onsale, there where ones for £431+ for closer to the stage. That is obscene.

I agree, first come first served is fair, but random ticket prices are not. If it was £145 per seat whatever you got, I could accept. But it was so random it was unfair.

 

Poster £15
T-Shirts £25
Programme £15, I think
There is also an art print, which I think is £50
Also, an inflatable rubber ring with GET OUT OF THE WATER printed on it.

This is based on a Twitter photo of the merchandise stand that's doing the rounds.

 

Now that's not true. Grabbing tickets through the internet automatically becomes a lottery due to the vagaries of the technology. Also UK fans edged out by the international demand and affordability. £145 is unaffordable to most people. Then add travel to London programmes food etc. At least £200 per person night out. I'm afraid it's biased mostly towards the wealthy or those committed enough to stretch finances over the limit and are lucky with lotteries. I prefer the old method of getting in a queue, then it is first come first served. Most deserving get in. Glastonbury et all are the same now - have to be poised over a keyboard at dawn with a fat credit limit.

 

Isn't this the thread for discussing what she played, not for whining about ticket prices or how unfair it all is that some people got tickets and others didn't?

 

You know, something similar happened to me in Hambley's, the London toy store. I was with a Japanese colleague and we were watching a young female employee demonstrating a glider that always comes back (like a boomerang). She kept tossing it and catching it, and I said (in Japanese) "man, can you imagine doing this 24 hours a day?", and the other guy laughed. Suddenly, the girl looks at us and says "I do this 5 hours a day, NOT 24!" Turns out she was a college student majoring in Japanese.

I should have learned my lesson then.

 

Most smaller venues still operate like that, so its the same price, standing or seating and first come first served policy. I had the Apollo down really as a smaller venue in recent times.

However they followed the frankly tired and predictable pattern of the o2 and larger venues by having some sort of presale, followed by (what I call) a "front row lockout" of the best seats in the house being unavailable to the public at a fair price because (a) its reserved for "VIP's" and corporate nobs, (b) its up for a competition type promotion or (c) its a package deal of a chicken-in-a-basket dinner, hotel room and boat trip "experience" **

** The o2 is guilty of this in a big way, seeing Prince a few years back ALL of the best seats in the house nearest the stage where only available with the boat trip and dinner, which was a cool £250 per head.

 

Paul, you sound frustrated, but the old days were awful too, we had to go to a shop to stand in line in the rain, waiting for the shop to open -finally!- and then we had to put up with arrogant staff, who clearly looked down on us miserable popmusic fans. Less physical media sales will translate in higher ticket prices for "established" artists. People are willing to pay these amounts and regard all these events as one in a lifetime events - they are also marketed as such! In itself the whole marketing around these events is fascinating to me, maybe more fascinating than the actual acts and their music!

 

Apparently the artists themselves stopped resisting these practices and now "tolerate" or even promote them.
The marketing is geared towards experiences, events, once-in-a-lifetime, priceless bla-bla........

 

Agree. I should be the last one to complain as I got incredibly lucky last night when three office girls offered me a spare ticket outside the venue, in Stalls, Row F, at face value, which since the first four rows were removed, turned out to be Row 2. While I also got a ticket for the 17th for the same price, it's at the back of the stalls, and even though it's been claimed there's no bad view in the house, it is a rather different view and should be priced accordingly. No matter how great the show is, I still think £145 for one ticket is quite outrageous - especially since there wasn't even a Cloudbuster ;-), and for that matter, a string section.

 

Yes the old days were bad but the tickets were cheap. I think in this case you have a smallish 5000 seat venue trying to meet an international event which doesn't fit the new marketing model well. Hats of to Kate for doing 22 performances instead of 2 or 3 in an arena. My gripe is that this new marketing model leaves too many people feeling excluded. They had the same thing on an even bigger scale for the Olympics. Then there were obviously a load of empty seats reserved for the corporate crowd. Even if you have the money it's down to luck if you can get in. I don't expect the media or celebrities that went had to apply on the internet.

 

So how much money will Kate get for the whole run of 22 shows?

 

There was also a limited edition "Fish Head Mask" for a whopping £500.

 

Not true in this case. I was in Row 2 and we chatted to quite a few people around us, including Row 1. There didn't seem to be many, if any celebs or industry people in the very front rows, which I thought was highly unusual for an opening night. The few celebs I spotted - Frank Skinner, Holly Johnson, David Gilmour - were all sitting further at the back. Someone mentioned the best views are to be had in rows H-K.

 

I wonder if she'll change up the setlist? I'm hoping for some more from The Dreaming.

 

So many great songs left out. I hope more songs have been rehearsed and future setlists will add surprises.

 

Is it the case - as I have heard - that Rows A to D in the Stalls have been removed to accommodate the larger stage (i.e., they were never sold), and that - as such - Row E is now technically the front row?

 

That is my understanding too. This was discussed in the Homeground spoilers thread

 

That's it!

I didn't know they were never sold, I just assumed they added a few more seats left and right, so thanks for clearing this up.

 

maybe you should just be grateful that you are getting to see the show twice when many on here could not get tickets and would love to go. Also, it is a bit rich of you to start complaining about the price of tickets when you when you have paid for a good seat not once but twice, you can obviously afford it.
In other words you are extremely fortunate, so stop whinging. Sorry but someone had to say this.

 

I was a little miffed too that nothing pre-1985 made it into the setlist. And that two very similar and imo rather mediocre songs ("Lily" and "Joanni") were played almost back-to-back when there's such a wealth of strong material to choose from. I was very pleased with "Top Of The City" though. And I couldn't have been happier when she did "Among Angels", which I think is one of her best latter-day tracks. Wish she'd used that grand piano more.

 

If this comes across as a bit rich, so be it. I agree with you but you have no idea what **** I've been through in the past few years. I was mainly saying it because there's no way I could have afforded this five years ago, not even a standing ticket, and I wouldn't pay that sort of money for any other artist, even now.

 

I would assume filming will come during the last quarter of the run whwn everything is a fine oiled machine - DVD and Blue-ray in the winter or early spring

 

I love 'Lilly' and 'Joanni' but don't care too much for 'Top Of The City'. Just goes to show that everybody has their favourites. Bearing this in mind she had little chance of keeping everybody happy with her track selection. I guess I'm lucky in the fact that the set list I've seen suits my personal taste in her later stuff.

 

I'm normally yellow (as you can see) but today I'm green with envy...

I was pleased to read the news regarding the price of the concert programme. I have a friend from 'down south' (I'm 'up north') who managed to score a ticket and I've been emailing him begging for him to get me a programme (and he isn't replying...). Maybe if I just send him the cash in advance he will have a greater incentive...

And, Kate, please, please, please release an official film of this for those of us who lost out in the ticket lottery. Oh, and a vinyl reissue of Aerial would be more than welcome too...!