London Bridge Station this afternoon (Credit Colin Seimer)
“And now here we are. The first Kate Bush concerts since 1979. We can’t imagine what they’ll be like. All we can know is that they’ll be unlike anything anyone has seen before. And at the heart of them will be some of the most extraordinary, brilliant, moving, astonishing and incomparable pop songs of all time. And they’ll be sung and played and danced by a genius. That’s why everyone wants a Kate Bush ticket.”
(Tim Chipping on Holy Moly)
Kate’s PR has tweeted that the tickets for Kate’s live shows in August to October 2014 basically sold out this morning in 15 minutes. However a few hours later persistent fans were still surfing the Eventim site picking up the last few tickets dropping back for sale after their original purchasers could not complete the transaction for one reason or another.
Kate said this morning: “I’m completely overwhelmed by the response to the shows. Thank you so much to everyone. Looking forward to seeing you all later this year”.
Not all fans were able to purchase a ticket in the morning rush, though it is now quite clear that many reselling agencies were quite succesful. Unfortunately, despite stringent reselling safeguards, some ticket resellers are already seeking up to £2,500 for a single resold ticket. Plus extortionate “booking fees”.
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Lee Stark
Yes! Tried so very hard to get tickets, major Kate fan for many years, grown up with her music, alas as suspected it proved impossible, was on the site from 9am..
A lot of bitterly disappointed fans today I’m guessing :0(
Peter
Apparently there a few of the expensive hospitality packages left, and odd tickets are still re-appearing for sale where the previous purchasers can’t complete for one reason or another.
NEIL
Got my ticket!!!!! Was on at 8am and stayed on till opened lines.Got great seat, expensive but probably wont get another chance maybe to see my all time fave artist.A real bucket-list moment.
dota
15 minutes wtf lol 😀
She generated about 10.000.000 Euros within minutes… wish I could do similar lol..
Im so lucky to have been successful on the fan presale- many thanks to all holy gods and godesses…
giulio
Is it not possible to give a ticket as a present to a fan who just couldn’t
get one? And I point out as a present (no selling tickets for profit).
It would be wonderful to be able to help each other.
Peter
Giulio – I don’t see how this would work. The ticket restrictions require the person who paid for the tickets to be present with photo ID on entry to the venue.
Adam
If both are at the venue this will work. I had no choice but to buy tickets online today for $2000 each. What I’m guessing will happen is the person who owns the tickets will be there and we will enter the venue together.
What an utterly idiotic way to try and curb ticket resales. It’s going to happen anyway, this just makes it more difficult and some people will be heartbroken twice if they get to a show and can’t get in. And these are only huge Kate fans who would do this, so what’s the f***ing point?
giulio
I know, I only have a ticket that I won’t be able to use. I don’t wish to get any refunds, that’s not the point, but the simple idea of leaving this ticket unused makes me feel ill at ease, for all those fans who couldn’t make it….
sincla
hello everybody.
i’m a longtime reader of this forum (and always appreciated it) but i’m writing for the first time.
it’s such a unique circumstance i couldn’t get along without.
Would like to point your attention to the fact that a spare ticket may be used in case the person who will receive it will come the same day as the giver.
So Giulio, saying the date the ticket is for would be helpful.
Last note: very likely, i’m in the same situation as giulio… one of my two tickets (for the opening night!) might be declined by a friend of mine; i let you know…
Bye everybody
dota
only possible option I can think of is that you accompany your friend to the gig
giulio
The problem is that I won’t be in London that night (I don’t live in England either) so this option is out of the question. I’d rather dispatch the unused ticket directly to FishPeople (though I have no idea of their address) telling them to do whatever they please but please don’t let it be unused. I bet there are several fans in my shoes who would genuinely give their extra ticket(s) to other less fortunate fans… I’m sure FishPeople will help us solve this . . . 🙂 .
masanori
The postal address of katebush.com was written in the e-mail which told me pre sale code, while I don’t know whether it’s something you giulio mean by “Fish People”. So, sorry for I don’t copy it to here now, also because I’m not sure whether the address should be appeared in public place like here as it’s not written in the katebush.com website. But I think there’s other way to let you know that. Of course I am not suggesting you to release your ticket by writing this, for I don’t understand your situation fully.
mark
How powerful is Kate Bush! Mega! I hope the likes of Maddonna, Kylie and Perry are just sick with jelousy for no even coming close to achieving this kind of frenzy just once in their mere effort of a career in comparrisson.
Kate Bush reminds of a special comet that just circles the earth once evey 110 years, or in this case 35. She truely does amaze me.
neil
You cannot buy a ticket for someone else if they do not go the same day as you…..simples.
The buyer must show proof of ID.
Was done to prevent profiteering , ,but if the people agree to go along with the purchaser then the tickets can still be sold for big profits.
Mark
I hope everyone has a good time. And I hope there is a DVD for an American fan like me.
Decimus
I will be making the journey from upstate NY. Should I bring my passport to the venue to prove identification? I wonder what specific ID they require.
And whats to stop all these touts for example buying a fake NY drivers license online and mailing that with the inflated tickets? Certainly the venue could easily spot a fake UK document; but, how would they know what American drivers licenses looks like?
Colin
If you’re from out of country I wouldn’t even risk showing up with only one form of ID- ie DEFINITELY bring your passport!
You don’t want to risk them declining your licence simply because they can’t verify it’s authenticity!
Gary
As with everything in life nothing is perfect. Whoever devised this system was doing their best and it seems quite logical. I want to go to a concert. I book the ticket, I pay for the ticket and I go to the concert. I know that not everyone who wanted a ticket got one; luckily I did and had I not got one I would have done almost anything to get one so maybe I am pontificating BUT….
I could have bought more than the number of tickets that I needed and then sold them on to someone at an inflated price. With this system you would need to meet up with the people you sold the ticket to, at the moment they are going for £800. Would you want to sit next to them knowing that you have profited from the fact that they could not get a ticket.
If you really wanted them to see the concert and you had an extra ticket by all means sell them your extra ticket, but at face value, and then meet them before the concert so that they can get in: Anything else is just profiteering and you are not a fan but RIP OFF MERCHANT!!!!
kaybee
Unfortunately it’s the basic law of supply and demand in action – the scarcer the commodity, the higher the price will go. Inevitably. The value of these tickets however is priceless to many.
It’s a shame that some fans are being exploited by touts but what else can be done? The organisers seem to have put in place the most stringent ‘rules’ and I’m very grateful to Kate and the guys here for the fan pre-sale. But there will always be those who want to make a fast buck at the expense of others. It’s not in the spirit of what Kate’s work stands for and these concerts are so precious to real fans that it completely goes against the grain to think there will be people in the audience who bought tickets solely to deprive others.
We can hope of course that after spending an evening listening to Kate’s music and rubbing shoulders with lovely fans like us that the touts will be inspired, reform their seedy ways and give every penny of their ill-gotten gains to charity. We can hope. 🙂
Andrea
I got my ticket but am upset that so many others didn’t. 🙁
Guy Herbiest
Hello, i was lucky enough to get a hospitality-package for about 430 pounds. I am still not sure what i bought now. One or two tickets ? Because i could only choose 1 or 2.
Well, growing up with the music of Kate Bush, it was a dream of me to see Her life perform.
Poetry on music … and lot’s more …
Keep feeling it people!
Warm regards, Guy ( Belgium )
l percy
guy it was 430 for one ticket
davidly
First, another big woof of thanks to Seán & co for all you do! I don’t wish to clutter this wonderful forum you provide with negativity. Like so many who have been frequenting this site since way back when Kate didn’t have one herself, I relate so profoundly with the excitement expressed herein.
But for anyone who might have booked using someone else’s credit card, I submit my latest response to the customer service section of Eventim, who have asserted that they cannot change the name on my booking. I only put this here because I think that in the long run it will be of great interest to the, no doubt, large number of people for whom this will be an issue. There must be a solution other than several unused tickets, and therefore a bunch of empty seats.
UPDATE:
Re. your not being able to “change the name” on my booking. You say it all there. “My booking”. I am David Lee Smith and if my name is not on the booking, you have attributed the booking to the wrong person.
Moreover, the online account I had set up with you booking system in advance – so that I could expedite the process on the day of the fan pre-sale – by default changed that info to what I typed in the billing address for this order only. Though I promptly changed this info back to reflect that the account is still mine, it is clear that your system is not set up to handle such orders properly.
Along with the divergence in terminology as it relates to “booking” and “billing” – it is clear that you did not take this into consideration when you received the instructions from the promoter.
My friends Kate & Jarrod – whose credit card I used for this booking – have further pointed out, they could not have booked this anyway, for I was the one with special access to the ticket for the fan pre-sale.
Put simply: Printing David Lee Smith on the ticket would not be “changing the name” – but merely putting the name that should have been assigned to it in the first place.
Respectfully,
David Lee Smith
davidly
Dear Mr Smith
Thanks for your email.
The name on the booking is XXXXXX, however this is not the name of the cardholder. I appreciate that you have explained who these people are but the terms of access are strict and we are not allowed to change the name as you have requested.
Next step for me, I guess, per Decimus’ recommendation of the other thread, is to write the post address and trying to appeal to the good sense that it is absurd to leave that seat empty on the night of the show.
I mean, can this really be what the promoter wants?
neil
Totally agree with you Gary.
SteveH
I couldnt believe it….Id gotten through on the wednesday, was halfway through, filling all the blurb in and the damn PC crashed, and by the time I got back, i found meself typing like a Lunatic and was timed out, with 3 digits left to enter. I felt like Id been kicked in the guts. Then friday, I got on, was entering the security code and their damn web site went down and when I got back, everything had gone. Un believable. Clearly I am not meant to go. Hope I dont get another email from Eventim, asking if they can help…………………………
Eric
Truly, I am disappointed not to have been able to get a ticket for BTD. However, it’s really a great comfort to see that her great music – which is not the easiest of all musics – evokes so much enthusiasm among such a large number of people. And for me: maybe there is a way for me to become part of the concert after all. A humble request: can anybody with a ticket when cheering at KB make one cheer on behalf of me saying, or thinking: ‘this one is from Eric’. In any language? I’ll be so grateful.
antoni
I want to see Kate in a live duet with Peter Gabriel, Elton John & Stephen Fry. I want to see Kate singing live with the Trio Bulgarka. I want to see Kate inviting her son Bertie to sing live with her on stage. I want so many things. I was “Kind To Your Mistakes”, Kate! I better have a Deluxe Box Set of these concerts. Love from Brazil, antoni
kaybee
Consider it done, Eric. So sorry you weren’t able to get tickets, maybe one will make its way to you somehow x
neil
sorry to inform you Antoni but at least one of trio Bulgarka is deceased
neil
Also Antoni i dnt think in a million years of protecting her family life she would submit Bertie to this exposure imho and at 16 yrs of age he will no longer have the voice he had on past recordings anyway.Peter Gabriel did however allude to some big Kate news about 2 weeks ago in an article in the Mail on Sunday before news was release of the concert so he knew she was planning something.
Paul
I’m walking on air as I managed to get tickets when they went on pre-sale on Wednesday, like a muppet though I was in a blind panic and the Eventim website only gave you a limited amount of time, and I booked four tickets with hotel. I STILL think I got a bargain though as we would have had to book an hotel anyway. My heart goes out to the true fans, that have been there since day one, who were unable to get tickets. If any of my group backs out, I will post on if that’s permitted.
Eugene Yang
Hi Paul, I am in search of one ticket before 10-Sep. If you do have someone backing out in the last minute, please contact me at eugene_yang@uip.com, thanks.
ken
I have 2 tickets for Saturday 30 August.
I bought them at the pre sale.
I was also in a panic and bought 2 at 100 pounds each .
The clock was ticking and when it asked me if I wanted circle or stalls I picked circle -thinking that was the area in from of the stage – I never really understood what circle or stall meant but I do now alright!!
Anyway seems fitting – so many Kate songs are written from the perspective of height – Kite, Cloudbusting, Aerial , Hello Earth, Snowflake, December will be magic again..
So although I do have tickets Im disappointed I won’t be right under the stage where Kate will be able to see me and I her.
Anyway I don’t have many friends and I don’t have anyone to go with. Who wants to go?? You would have to sit right beside me…..and theres a reason I don’t have many friends ha ha ha
Peter
You are prepared for the reaction to that last paragraph Ken?
Eugene Yang
Not sure if you are serious about having that one ticket available. If you are, can you contact me at eugene_yang@uip.com?
kaybee
Eric Eric Eric – wake up love !
Eric
I am awake. And I want to thank you very much.
kaybee
Did you contact Ken? He has a spare ticket!
neil
Kate tipped to play Glastenbury now lol……. i dnt think so.It would not suit her i dnt think being stuck in a field
neil
Maybe April fool?
neil
when do we receive our tickets?