I must admit that I am a fan of Kate Bush and have attended several of her concerts, but I never thought about how much it costs to get tickets for one of her performances.
They include Kate Bush, who has recently come back after 35 years to perform a series of concerts in 2014. Dubbed Before the Dawn, this two-and-a-half-hour concert at Hammersmith Apollo in London drew a lot of attention from fans who were eager to view an artist who had not been seen performing live for years. However, how much did Kate Bush's tickets cost for these comparably few and therefore highly glamorous concerts? Let's break it down.
Kate Bush Ticket Prices: First-Day Release
When the Before the Dawn shows were being planned back in March 2014, tickets were released to the public for sale at £49 to £135, depending on the position of the chair. While the tickets closest to the stage cost £150, the basic tickets at the higher levels of Apollo's tiers cost just £49 or £65. Seated tickets in front of the pit were £135, whereas premium standing and seated tickets in lower and middle price brackets were between £85 and £135.
There was simply an unprecedented rush to book tickets for the band to watch Kate Bush's first full concerts since her only tour in 1979. More than 100,000 new fans flocked to ticket vendor Eventim's homepage, leading to website overload. Sellouts were near-instantaneous. Some fans did not manage to grab a ticket and many expected more dates to be added, but no, the residency was kept to only the initially planned 22 dates.
Average Ticket Prices for Kate Bush Concerts from Secondary Market
With such feverish demand, which could not be met by the initial sales, the shows saw the advent of a booming secondary market for those fans who still wished to get into the show. Sites that simply provide a platform that directly links buyers and sellers, like StubHub, had markup prices that even varied a lot, and they ranged from £200 per ticket to £1000 and above!
Of course, many fans were angered by paying such exorbitant rates as compared to the face value of the ticket. However, tons of loyal Kate Bush fans thought that the specialness of the event called for one to travel more and spend more money to get the chance to see the singer perform live again.
Finally, it is ascertained that the average price range of most of the second-hand Kate Bush tickets lay between £400 and £600. Still expensive, it is probably reasonable to say this was more of a "mid-point where the unmet demand was met by market prices acceptable to consumers. While some moviegoers were able to purchase later-released tickets at the original price, this was only happening on occasion.
This question can be answered by further comprehending other aspects of ticket sales:
What was it, specifically, that prompted this kind of frenzy over Kate Bush tickets? Several key factors came into play:
This most effective combination made the expectation of Kate Bush's return to theaters even greater and gave her the right to set high prices. For true fans, not getting a chance to see this single event could just not be sacrificed, regardless of the price that would be paid.
This factor can be measured in terms of the length of shows and the number of shows produced.
The plan was to perform only fifteen dates, but due to the immense popularity of the performance, Bush decided to perform Before the DawnTM for twenty-two shows. This was possible because over 65,000 lucky people got to participate in it. All concerts lasted about 3 hours, minus the intermission break.
The final episode, which aired on October 1st, was broadcast to cinemas across Europe for fans yearning to see Bush's grand rock concert. For those who did not get the taste of the lucky tickets, at the very least it provided them a live vicarious experience of what they had sadly missed in person.
Afterglow and Future Hopes
In any case, Bush's. The Dawn in Residence was so grand that one could only have expected the performance to be great, and it turned out to be one that was way beyond the roof and highly praised. Finally witnessing the virtuoso at work was called enigmatic, ethereal, and heavenly, the epitome of a thrilling demonstration of life being told that, yes, a sexual harassment case was filed against him, and fans said it was a miracle. As for the critics, even they ran out of adjectives to describe the grand theatrical concert and Bush's exceptional artistry.
Speculations for a new tour do not seem likely to materialize any time soon, perhaps not for another 35 years before the next Kate Bush tour, and even then it may never happen again; however, live albums and concert films are still being predicted to surface. At least fans can enjoy the peak of nonsense in concerts where the tickets were priced through the roof on the secondary market during those memorable nights at Hammersmith Apollo. As for now, anyone who still wishes to see Kate Bush perform live would probably grind their teeth and wish they had the opportunity to pay the steep prices to get a taste of the rare and valuable experience. However, the crowd enthusiasm from all those present to hear the bands in those days leaves no doubt for true fans that all those who spent all their money to get tickets to those great concerts were worth it.