Kate Bush Live Madness

Like many people I found myself quite excited by the news last week that Kate Bush is to 'tour' for the first time in 35 years. You will notice the use of the word 'tour' in that last sentence though how a few weeks of concerts in the Hammersmith Apollo can be construed as a tour is beyond me. Nevertheless it was, as I said, cause for some excitement for myself and it would appear, total hysteria for the rest of the world.

I confess that I suspected the worst. That is that tickets would be -
a) almost impossible to obtain and 
b) priced beyond the means of mere mortals like myself.

Initial postings during the week suggested that tickets would be available FROM £49.
Not too bad I thought.

But that was until this morning when I visited the ticket sales websites and discovered the true situation. Despite the fact that a further seven dates have now been added to the original fifteen, it was impossible to obtain any tickets, unless I was prepared to pay in the region of £500 for one. There was even one site that proudly declared that two tickets were available as long as I was prepared to shell out £1100 each! Also, do not forget that Kate is not visiting us in our towns or cities, but anyone outside of London will have to pay to travel and possibly to stay in the city for the privilege of seeing her. Judging by the comments I have read online this week, that includes people travelling from all over the world.

Please don't get me wrong, I do not blame Kate Bush for this situation. I have been a fan since she burst onto the scene with 'Wuthering Heights' in 1978 and I eagerly await each of her album releases. Like many, I have watched her career develop and I now regard her as a fine, mature, singer, songwriter and musician. With such a wonderful body of work behind her, I can fully understand there being such a clamour for tickets, particularly since she has not 'toured' since 1979. 

Nor do I blame the promoters who, let's be honest, will be getting what they can get for these tickets. They charge exorbitant prices simply because they can. They are not stupid people and they will have been scouring the websites during this past week, assessing just how much demand there would be for the tickets. The price of the seats would therefore reflect that demand.

So at the end of the day, it is our fault. If we are prepared to pay such ludicrous amounts to attend a concert lasting a couple of hours, then we get what we deserve. It is sad though that there will be hundreds or thousands of true fans who quite simply cannot afford those prices and will miss out. Like me, they will have to content themselves with a copy of the Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Apollo DVD when it is released in time for Christmas.

As for me, I am a little disappointed but not totally surprised. There are plenty of other wonderful acts to see for a fraction of the cost and I will content myself with those. I would appreciate however if someone would just answer one question for me.

Just when exactly did the world go totally mad?