Before the Dawn

A Scottish couple introduced themselves pretty much as soon as we had sat down in our seats.  The chattier of the pair took about a minute before he said not to "expect the hits", they had seen the show on the first night of Kate Bush's return.  He needn't have said, while only 24 hours ago I had been unable to resist and had read the reviews, seen the set list, and been very excited.

Some were perhaps a little too excited.  When Top of the City kicks in there are a series of "Oooooh-Ahhhhhhhh" exclamations, in the show accompanied by spotlights washing up and over the audience; a young woman seemed to be having her own transcendent religious experience, arms raising in time with the music before lolling back in her seat as one sees people falling down after a particularly violent blessing from an evangelical faith healer.  Another was desperately trying to get the attention of her idol, waving at her in such a fashion that suggested that had her gesticulating been acknowledged she would have keeled over there and then and died a happy woman.

I had never quite understood 'The Ninth Wave' and only in the past few month's speculation learnt its name. All I knew was that, since hearing the B-Side to 'Hounds of Love' in the late 90s, I had thought there were a stretch of songs unlike any I had come across before; with limited access to her catalogue Waking the Witch and Watching You Without Me were two of my favourite tracks of hers.

A few years later I read somewhere that they were related, the story of a woman overboard; with the titles and some of the lyrics that did make a little sense but having seen it performed live as theatre rather than music one got the sense of finally seeing an approximation of what it has always supposed to be about. 'Watching You Without Me' became less of a gently burning song from a slightly mad woman to her spouse to a song about a mother trying to reach out to her son and husband - the crackles and juddering being when she directly tries to interact - the morse code beeping I didn't understand at age 15 being the beacon on her life jacket as she drifts in and out dreams and reality.

It is that element to the show that makes it amusing to see many music journalists and critics trying to make their way to a judgment or review that ends with a star rating: "4 out of 5 whisks for whatever we experienced last night".  I don't envy them, the 'concert' portion is present, an opening blast through some belting songs and tremendous lighting effects (the opening Lily is spectacular), but it quickly turns into how Kate Bush sees 'The Ninth Wave' and 'Sky of Honey' playing out in her head.  Many reviewers decided to focus on the strength of, and natural changes to, her voice alongside the lack of This Woman's Work, Wuthering Heights, and Baboushka without seemingly recognising that the two were probably related.  It was a touch disappointing but I have those tracks, and many others that she didn't play, on my iPhone and they sound phenomenal.

'Before the Dawn' is certainly not a show I'll forget in a while; aside from a legendary and lucky opportunity to be able to experience an incredibly rare event, it was demanded that you experience it, your full attention requested and graciously thanked at the end. The no phone policy made a surprising difference and I wouldn't be surprised if it begins to sneak into other artists' shows.  I do have one question though, are some of the pages in the programme a secret waiting for later or am I supposed to investigate?