Amelia’s Magazine | London 2012 Olympic Games Team Opening and Closing Ceremonies Illustrated

Jessie J By Laura Hickman
Jessie J by Laura Hickman.

Can it really be a week since the Olympics ended? Here’s my final blog post inspired by the visual drama of the ceremonies that opened and closed London 2012.

Antonia-Parker-London-2012-Olympic-Opening-Ceremony
Olympic Opening Ceremony London 2012 by Antonia Parker.

Opening Ceromony by Lizzie Mary Cullen
Opening Ceromony by Lizzie Mary Cullen.

I watched the Opening Ceremony from a small cottage in Wales, where we marvelled at Danny Boyle‘s very British spectacle and wondered what on earth other nations would think about the pastoral scenes, the ironic exploding industrial landscape, the skydiving Queen, the swing dancing NHS nurses, the children’s choirs, the awesome Dizzee Rascal, the brilliant volunteer disco dancers and, erm, Emeli Sandé (can anyone explain the fuss?) It was a fantastically oddball celebration of real everyday Britain, a two fingers up at the hugely expensive perfection of the Beijing Olympics.

London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony Industrial Revolution by Helen Beeston
London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony Industrial Revolution by Helen Beeston.

After two weeks of mind boggling physical feats it was a shame that the Closing Ceremony did not wow in quite the same way – instead it resembled a badly put together festival, including as it did mainstream bores such as Elbow, Muse, Kaiser Cheifs and Liam Gallagher (singing out of tune!) two appearances too many from the apparent reigning queen of British pop Emeli Sandé, Jessie J in a series of crystal encrusted flesh bodysuits and no shows from the legendarily (and shy) Kate Bush and David Bowie. Don’t even get me started on the truck bed catwalks – as one commentator pointed out, clothes horses suddenly look very untalented set against the athletic prowess of Olympic medalists. And Victoria Beckham mentioned in the same breath as Burberry and Alexander McQueen? The price paid for a reunited Spice Girls, perhaps? Mind you, call it a guilty pleasure but that was one performance I did enjoy.

Olympics Closing Ceremony Newspaper Cars by Olivia Cook
Olympics Closing Ceremony Newspaper Cars by Olivia Cook.

London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony The Spice Girls by Helen Beeston
London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony The Spice Girls by Helen Beeston.

And so now onto the Paralympics. Last night I watched the brilliant BBC drama The Best of Men, which follows it’s creation in the 1940s at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where the remarkable refugee Dr. Guttmann took a radical new approach to the rehabilitation of soldiers with spine injuries. It’s still available to view for a few more days and I highly recommend you do catch it before the Paralympics start. I for one am really looking forward to the ‘Lympics round two.

Russell Brand by Victoria Elizabeth James
Russell Brand by Victoria Elizabeth James.

Olympic Ceremony by Helen Dodsworth
Olympic Ceremony by Helen Dodsworth.

Don’t forget to check in with our previous illustrated Olympics blog posts here and here. And find out more about the true cost of the Games here, outlined in a series of thought provoking illustrated blogposts by designer and theoretician Jody Boehnert.

Categories ,2012, ,Alexander McQueen, ,Antonia Parker, ,beijing, ,Closing ceremony, ,Danny Boyle, ,David Bowie, ,dizzee rascal, ,Elbow, ,Emeli Sandé, ,Helen Beeston, ,Helen Dodsworth, ,illustration, ,Jessie J, ,Jody Boehnert, ,Kaiser Cheifs, ,Kate Bush, ,Laura Hickman, ,Liam Gallagher, ,Lizzie Mary Cullen, ,Muse, ,NHS, ,Olivia Cook, ,Olympics, ,Opening ceremony, ,Paralympics, ,review, ,The Best of Men, ,Victoria Beckham, ,Victoria Elizabeth James

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | London 2012: The XXX Olympic Games


Olympic Gymnastics by Lucy Palmer

Tonight’s the night. After what has quite possibly been the longest warm up for anything to happen ever, seven years in the making, the 30th Olympic Games launches tonight in spectacular style in East London with a lavish opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle. I’ve only just recovered from my Diamond Jubilee excitement, too.

Now this might come as a massive surprise to my friends, but I don’t care much for sport. I do, however, love the Olympics. There’s something pretty magical about it, don’t you think? The dramatic opening ceremony, the fastest, strongest people in the world coming together in one place and Russian weightlifters walking into walls. I’m still terribly upset that Disco Dancing hasn’t been recognised as an Olympic sport, but I’ll be writing to the IOC again re: this oversight.


Olympic Snacking by Helena Maratheftis

Here, in no particular order, are a few things that have got me going so far:

• I (sort of) love that florists in Stoke-on-Trent are threatened with legal action by the International Olympic Committee for making replica rings out of tissue paper and Bostik.

• I love *grits teeth* listening to berks on the tube moaning about how busy the city is, as if London is a sleepy little hamlet suddenly invaded by Charlton Heston and the cast of Ben Hur. You’ve had seven years to moan about it, pals.

• I know that we’ll never compare to China and their fastidious approach to drumming at the opening of the 2008 Beijing games. Our highlights include a farmyard of animals, the Coronation Street theme tune and Boris Johnson slobbering as he waves a flag (I know I’ll be eating my words come 9pm).


Boris and Bradley by Angela Lamb


London 2012 by Katie Laura Wood

• I love the mindboggling stories of the piggish sponsors; the ludicrousness that McDonald’s are the only vendor allowed to flog chips. Please.


The Olympic Park by Sam Parr

• I love that we’re hosting the XXX Olympic Games. Arf.

• I love that we haven’t even performed the opening ceremony and we’ve already offended everybody in North Korea and Welsh footballer Joe Allen, who’s listed as English in the Olympic programme.

• I love how brands fall over themselves to be the official provider – Official Cereal Bar had me proverbially ROFLing. I’m just hoping that the Official Ironing Board Provider comes forward soon.

Nevertheless, no doubt we’ll look back at how wonderful the next few weeks ill inevitably be. In celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on home turf, here’s a wonderful selection of illustrated images by some of our favourite contributors, and a few other surprises along the way!


Olympic Girl by Angela Keeler


Paralympian Aimee Mullins by Laura Hickman


Usian Bolt by Lucy Palmer


Olympic Hoola Hoopers by EdieOP


Olympic Hair by Isher Dhiman


Olympic Stadium by Sinead O Leary

You can rely on Maiden in Shoreditch to deliver something hilarious as an Olympics tie-in. Take your pic from unofficial Olympic bags and Great British tea towels…



Olympic tea-towels


Olympic Bags (unofficial…) by Toby Leigh. All products available at Maiden, Shoreditch

Good luck to all of the athletes involved. Enjoy the opening ceremony. Come on Team GB!


Olympic swimmers by Lucy Palmer

Categories ,Angela Lamb, ,beijing, ,Ben Hur, ,Bethan Wyn Williams, ,Boris Johnson, ,Bostik, ,Bradley Wiggins, ,Cereal Bars, ,China, ,Coronation Street, ,Danny Boyle, ,EdieOP, ,Helena Maratheftis, ,I’m renting my flat to a fat American family, ,IOC, ,Ironing Boards, ,Isher Dhiman, ,It only took me three hours to get to work this morning, ,Joe Allen, ,Katie Laura Wood, ,Laura Hickman, ,London 2012, ,Lucy Palmer, ,Maiden, ,Matt Bramford, ,Olympic Games, ,Olympics, ,Sam Parr, ,Sarah Bromley, ,shoreditch, ,Sinead O’Leary, ,Stoke-on-Trent, ,Tea Towels, ,Tess Redburn, ,Toby Leigh, ,Tote Bags, ,Veronica Rowlands, ,xxx

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | London 2012: The XXX Olympic Games


Olympic Gymnastics by Lucy Palmer

Tonight’s the night. After what has quite possibly been the longest warm up for anything to happen ever, seven years in the making, the 30th Olympic Games launches tonight in spectacular style in East London with a lavish opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle. I’ve only just recovered from my Diamond Jubilee excitement, too.

Now this might come as a massive surprise to my friends, but I don’t care much for sport. I do, however, love the Olympics. There’s something pretty magical about it, don’t you think? The dramatic opening ceremony, the fastest, strongest people in the world coming together in one place and Russian weightlifters walking into walls. I’m still terribly upset that Disco Dancing hasn’t been recognised as an Olympic sport, but I’ll be writing to the IOC again re: this oversight.


Olympic Snacking by Helena Maratheftis

Here, in no particular order, are a few things that have got me going so far:

• I (sort of) love that florists in Stoke-on-Trent are threatened with legal action by the International Olympic Committee for making replica rings out of tissue paper and Bostik.

• I love *grits teeth* listening to berks on the tube moaning about how busy the city is, as if London is a sleepy little hamlet suddenly invaded by Charlton Heston and the cast of Ben Hur. You’ve had seven years to moan about it, pals.

• I know that we’ll never compare to China and their fastidious approach to drumming at the opening of the 2008 Beijing games. Our highlights include a farmyard of animals, the Coronation Street theme tune and Boris Johnson slobbering as he waves a flag (I know I’ll be eating my words come 9pm).


Boris and Bradley by Angela Lamb


London 2012 by Katie Laura Wood

• I love the mindboggling stories of the piggish sponsors; the ludicrousness that McDonald’s are the only vendor allowed to flog chips. Please.


The Olympic Park by Sam Parr

• I love that we’re hosting the XXX Olympic Games. Arf.

• I love that we haven’t even performed the opening ceremony and we’ve already offended everybody in North Korea and Welsh footballer Joe Allen, who’s listed as English in the Olympic programme.

• I love how brands fall over themselves to be the official provider – Official Cereal Bar had me proverbially ROFLing. I’m just hoping that the Official Ironing Board Provider comes forward soon.

Nevertheless, no doubt we’ll look back at how wonderful the next few weeks ill inevitably be. In celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on home turf, here’s a wonderful selection of illustrated images by some of our favourite contributors, and a few other surprises along the way!


Olympic Girl by Angela Keeler


Paralympian Aimee Mullins by Laura Hickman


Usian Bolt by Lucy Palmer


Olympic Hoola Hoopers by EdieOP


Olympic Hair by Isher Dhiman


Olympic Stadium by Sinead O Leary

You can rely on Maiden in Shoreditch to deliver something hilarious as an Olympics tie-in. Take your pic from unofficial Olympic bags and Great British tea towels…



Olympic tea-towels


Olympic Bags (unofficial…) by Toby Leigh. All products available at Maiden, Shoreditch

Good luck to all of the athletes involved. Enjoy the opening ceremony. Come on Team GB!


Olympic swimmers by Lucy Palmer

Categories ,Angela Lamb, ,beijing, ,Ben Hur, ,Bethan Wyn Williams, ,Boris Johnson, ,Bostik, ,Bradley Wiggins, ,Cereal Bars, ,China, ,Coronation Street, ,Danny Boyle, ,EdieOP, ,Helena Maratheftis, ,I’m renting my flat to a fat American family, ,IOC, ,Ironing Boards, ,Isher Dhiman, ,It only took me three hours to get to work this morning, ,Joe Allen, ,Katie Laura Wood, ,Laura Hickman, ,London 2012, ,Lucy Palmer, ,Maiden, ,Matt Bramford, ,Olympic Games, ,Olympics, ,Sam Parr, ,Sarah Bromley, ,shoreditch, ,Sinead O’Leary, ,Stoke-on-Trent, ,Tea Towels, ,Tess Redburn, ,Toby Leigh, ,Tote Bags, ,Veronica Rowlands, ,xxx

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Brutalist dreams: The Balfron Project


Illustration by Karina Yarv

A utopian ‘community in the sky’, website like this was the dream of architect Ernö Goldfinger when he designed Balfron Tower in Poplar, East London. This may or may not be the result today, but the effort remains fascinating. The impressive tower, part of a social housing complex near the Blackwall tunnel under the Thames, keeps capturing artists’ imagination, most recently that of Simon Terrill as he initiated The Balfron Project.

The photographer went one step further than most and followed in the footsteps of Goldfinger himself, by moving into the high-rise. Like the architect did 32 years earlier, he invited his new neighbours to come and talk about their experience of living in the building. The eventual result was an hour-long photo shoot, where the residents came out onto their balconies and lawns to be a part of Terrill’s photo of their home.


The Balfron Project by Simon Terrill

Last night at The Nunnery Gallery in Bow we could see the result – a massive, stunning photograph of the tower, beautifully lit against a dark sky. Gallery visitors crowded around to take in the details, with each balcony and window showing the lives of another family living in this City of London heirloom. Some of the tower’s inhabitants were present at the opening, proudly pointing out which flat was theirs. ‘The project does not seek to fictionalise nor expose the lives of those who call the tower home. What the Balfron Project will do, for the first time since the building’s inception, is to generate an arena for reciprocal viewing,’ said Simon Terrill.


Illustration by Romain Lambert-Louis

Goldfinger applied the lessons from Balfron when designing the bigger Trellick Tower in West London, and both buildings remain subjects of fascination. Novelist JG Ballard featured Balfron in his book ‘High-Rise’, while Danny Boyle put it in his post-apocalyptic film ’28 Days Later’. Goldfinger’s futuristic visions meant the architect himself became the inspiration behind the James Bond villain of the same name.

While Terrill’s image of Balfron Tower is beautiful, those who haven’t seen the tower in real life should make sure to do so if they make the trip to Bow. The tower is not far away, at St Leonard’s Road in Poplar. A couple of blocks from Balfron is another brutalist structure, Robin Hood Gardens, where architects Alison and Peter Smithson set out to create ‘streets in the sky’. The structure has outdoor walkways broad enough for several people, but unlike Balfron, Robin Hood does not enjoy listed building-status. This means Robin Hood is looking increasingly rough around the edges, but in spite of this, or maybe because of it, it’s definitely worth seeing as well.


Tower of Balfron by Simon Terrill, after Bruegel’s ‘Babel’

The Balfron Project is on at The Nunnery Gallery, 183 Bow Road, London E3, until 23rd January. See our listing for more information.

Categories ,28 Days Later, ,Alison and Peter Smithson, ,Balfron Tower, ,Bow, ,Bruegel, ,brutalist architecture, ,Danny Boyle, ,Ernö Goldfinger, ,High-Rise, ,James Bond, ,JG Ballard, ,Karina Yarv, ,london, ,photography, ,Poplar, ,Robin Hood Gardens, ,Romain Lambert-Louis, ,Simon Terrill, ,The Balfron Project, ,The Nunnery Gallery, ,Trellick Tower

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Brutalist dreams: The Balfron Project


Illustration by Karina Yarv

A utopian ‘community in the sky’, website like this was the dream of architect Ernö Goldfinger when he designed Balfron Tower in Poplar, East London. This may or may not be the result today, but the effort remains fascinating. The impressive tower, part of a social housing complex near the Blackwall tunnel under the Thames, keeps capturing artists’ imagination, most recently that of Simon Terrill as he initiated The Balfron Project.

The photographer went one step further than most and followed in the footsteps of Goldfinger himself, by moving into the high-rise. Like the architect did 32 years earlier, he invited his new neighbours to come and talk about their experience of living in the building. The eventual result was an hour-long photo shoot, where the residents came out onto their balconies and lawns to be a part of Terrill’s photo of their home.


The Balfron Project by Simon Terrill

Last night at The Nunnery Gallery in Bow we could see the result – a massive, stunning photograph of the tower, beautifully lit against a dark sky. Gallery visitors crowded around to take in the details, with each balcony and window showing the lives of another family living in this City of London heirloom. Some of the tower’s inhabitants were present at the opening, proudly pointing out which flat was theirs. ‘The project does not seek to fictionalise nor expose the lives of those who call the tower home. What the Balfron Project will do, for the first time since the building’s inception, is to generate an arena for reciprocal viewing,’ said Simon Terrill.


Illustration by Romain Lambert-Louis

Goldfinger applied the lessons from Balfron when designing the bigger Trellick Tower in West London, and both buildings remain subjects of fascination. Novelist JG Ballard featured Balfron in his book ‘High-Rise’, while Danny Boyle put it in his post-apocalyptic film ’28 Days Later’. Goldfinger’s futuristic visions meant the architect himself became the inspiration behind the James Bond villain of the same name.

While Terrill’s image of Balfron Tower is beautiful, those who haven’t seen the tower in real life should make sure to do so if they make the trip to Bow. The tower is not far away, at St Leonard’s Road in Poplar. A couple of blocks from Balfron is another brutalist structure, Robin Hood Gardens, where architects Alison and Peter Smithson set out to create ‘streets in the sky’. The structure has outdoor walkways broad enough for several people, but unlike Balfron, Robin Hood does not enjoy listed building-status. This means Robin Hood is looking increasingly rough around the edges, but in spite of this, or maybe because of it, it’s definitely worth seeing as well.


Tower of Balfron by Simon Terrill, after Bruegel’s ‘Babel’

The Balfron Project is on at The Nunnery Gallery, 183 Bow Road, London E3, until 23rd January. See our listing for more information.

Categories ,28 Days Later, ,Alison and Peter Smithson, ,Balfron Tower, ,Bow, ,Bruegel, ,brutalist architecture, ,Danny Boyle, ,Ernö Goldfinger, ,High-Rise, ,James Bond, ,JG Ballard, ,Karina Yarv, ,london, ,photography, ,Poplar, ,Robin Hood Gardens, ,Romain Lambert-Louis, ,Simon Terrill, ,The Balfron Project, ,The Nunnery Gallery, ,Trellick Tower

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Kate Bush at the Eventim Apollo 2014: Live Review

kate bush 1 by daria hlazatova

Kate Bush by Daria Hlazatova

This could never be an ordinary show. Not like some 20 minute set at the Windmill, oh no. This was Kate Bush, and Kate Bush never does ordinary. After a completely unexpected announcement, having not performed live for 35 years (aside from charity duets with the likes of David Gilmour and Rowan Atkinson)? No, this was going to be spectacular.

The thought of ever seeing Kate Bush on stage again had seemed inconceivable, so it was no surprise that, come the fateful day when no doubt tens of thousands of index fingers hovered expectantly over the refresh button, awaiting the inevitable crash of over-subscribed ticketing websites, her mammoth 22 date stint at the Eventim Apollo sold out in minutes (I was actually very lucky, and got my ticket at the second attempt). And what were we to expect from the shows themselves? There was the promotional photo, of Bush in a lifejacket adrift in the sea, and the enigmatic title, Before The Dawn. There were rumours, as there always are, of what might be performed, but nothing else. We would have to wait and see.

Kate Bush by Sam Parr

Kate Bush by Sam Parr

Why the enduring appeal of Kate Bush? I guess it’s partly because her music is so, well, different. When she first appeared on the scene in the late 70s, popular music pretty much fell into two distinct camps, New Wave and Disco, and Kate Bush was most definitely neither. Also, there’s her continuing influence, both musically and artistically, taking firm control of her career from an early stage in a very male dominated music industry.

So here we are, on a pleasant late summer’s evening in West London. The Eventim Apollo (better known as the old Hammersmith Odeon) is a fitting venue – the stage where David Bowie famously “retired” Ziggy Stardust now marking the return of Kate Bush (who also closed her only previous tour here) as a live performer. With showtime starting promptly at 7.45, there was already a sizeable queue snaking its way indoors when I got there, making its way past a forlorn figure with her homemade placard saying “it’s my birthday today, I need two tickets.” The recently renovated foyer was buzzing with an excitement I don’t ever recall seeing before a gig, with people laying siege to the merch stall. As I’d gathered from assorted posts on Twitter over the last few days, there would be plenty of scope for celebrity spotting, and sure enough I saw film director Danny Boyle at the bar, the comedy actor Stephen Mangan and someone who may or may not have been Miranda Richardson (short of actually going up and asking her, I wasn’t entirely sure). It had been so long since I’d last been to the Apollo, I’d forgotten how small the auditorium is (certainly for a venue of its ilk), so even though I was right at the back of the stalls in the “standing room only” section, I still had a really good view of the stage.

KATE-BUSH-BY-LIZZIE-DONEGAN-1

Kate Bush by Lizzie Donegan

By now, almost two weeks into the run of Before The Dawn, the set list was pretty well known (as it remained unchanged for each performance), so although there wasn’t the element of complete surprise about what was (or wasn’t) played that there was on the opening night, it didn’t really matter because you were seeing Kate Bush.

KATE-BUSH-by-Gilly-Rochester

Kate Bush by Gilly Rochester

The lights dimmed and with the spoken word introduction to Lily echoing over the PA, a barefoot Kate Bush led a procession of her backing singers out on to the stage, to an immediate standing ovation. It’s Kate Bush! On stage, in front of you! With her band spread out behind her, filling the stage on different sized pedestals (including a serious amount of percussion), she moved on to that perennial classic, Hounds Of Love, with the backdrop to the stage transforming into a forest at night. This first part of the show was the “hits” section, and (as we soon found out) the most conventionally gig-like part of the night. Anyone expecting any of her older songs would have been disappointed as Bush stuck to post mid-80s material – Joanni from 2005’s Aerial was followed by Top Of The City from 1993’s The Red Shoes, featuring a performance proving that any cobwebs on those vocal chords had well and truly been dusted off. A fair bit of interpretive arm waving had been going on from a girl just along the row from me during Top Of The City, and I think she must have gone into overdrive at the unmistakable opening of (an extended) Running Up That Hill. The opening part of the show finished with King Of The Mountain, another song from Aerial, before a screen dropped in front of the stage, with a projection of storm clouds thrown upon it, and the auditorium was showered with what at first seemed like confetti, but which upon closer inspection turned out to be intricate slivers of paper bearing lines from Tennyson’s The Coming Of Arthur, heralding the onset of The Ninth Wave.

YouTube Preview Image

The Ninth Wave (based around the idea of a woman adrift at sea at night) is the conceptual second side of the Hounds Of Love album and, along with An Endless Sky Of Honey (from Aerial), forms the centrepiece of the Before The Dawn show. This is where we transcend the regular notion of a concert and move into something which is more theatrical, yet not quite theatre – with costumed dancers, impressive props, filmed inserts and a “helicopter” buzzing the audience, it’s more of a multi-media experience. Indeed, as Kate Bush notes in the beautifully created programme, she enlisted the help of renowned theatre director Adrian Noble and author David Mitchell (who provided some of the dialogue) to help realise the production. It also explains, on the one hand, why Before The Dawn hasn’t toured other venues (the logistics of continually dismantling and then reassembling the set) and also why the Apollo was chosen over other venues (intimacy versus an aircraft hangar sized auditorium).

kate bush by daria hlazatova

Kate Bush by Daria Hlazatova

Starting with a short film depicting an amateur astronomer (played by Kevin Doyle) who picks up a ship’s distress call, we then move to another filmed piece (shot in a water tank at Pinewood Studios, resulting in a case of mild hypothermia!) with Bush in a life jacket lost at sea, singing And Dream Of Sheep. The stage is transformed with what resembles the remains of a sunken ship’s hull, with billowing fabric mimicking the rolling waves, dancers in skeletal fish heads attempting to claim the heroine for the Deep, and later on a giant buoy appears to offer hope for salvation. Before Watching You Without Me a surreal, Lynchian living room set is wheeled on stage for a brief sketch featuring the heroine’s husband and son, with Bush making the kind of appearance from nowhere that could easily grace a Japanese horror film!

YouTube Preview Image

After a 20 minute interval, we were on to the Sky Of Honey segment, with the band repositioned stage right and, instead of a cold forbidding atmosphere, it’s all warm hues and a backdrop of beautifully rendered projections of birds. On Aerial, this section has less of a narrative arc, compared to the Ninth WaveBush explains that Sky Of Honey was originally intended to be about the relationship between light and birdsong, and about “us, observing nature.” On stage, it’s fleshed out with a fuller role given to the character of the painter, now played by Bush’s teenage son, Bertie (who even gets his own song, a new composition called Tawny Moon). Bush spends most of this set at the piano, and, for me, there are also two actual WTF moments that crop up too (more of which later).

YouTube Preview Image

As the Prelude plays, the scene is set with one of the two protagonists of the piece, a child size wooden artist’s dummy (operated in an unusual, unique but very effective way by an ever present puppeteer) being locked out of a giant set of doors. The dummy then generally wanders around, interacting with the band and the other performers, and generally getting in the way of the other main protagonist, the painter. Musically, the pace picks up as we go along, from gentle piano led pieces to a spot of Spanish guitar at the end of Sunset which I noticed persuaded some of the seated audience in front of me to have a bit of a boogie. The cool groove of Somewhere In Between carries on into Nocturn before the surreal finale that accompanies Aerial – as the band members don bird masks, the artist’s dummy returns on stage and it becomes alive, and starts hitting the puppeteer before running off! Didn’t see that one coming… Even more remarkable, as the stage goes black at the end of Aerial, the lights then briefly come back on and you see Kate Bush suspended in the air, her outstretched arms are wings, and the stage goes black again. Kate Bush has turned into a bird!

YouTube Preview Image

Well, how do you follow that? With an encore, of course. Bush returned to the piano for a solo rendition of Among Angels, the final track on her most recent album, 50 Words For Snow, before the band came back out for a run through that other Hounds Of Love hit, Cloudbusting. I’d lost count of standing ovations by this stage, as a smiling waving Kate Bush thanked everyone and wished us all a safe trip home. It was a strange sensation, coming back out into the foyer (past Danny Boyle getting his photo taken with random audience members), after experiencing all that, having actually seen Kate Bush on stage. I hadn’t noticed floods of joyous tears (as reports from earlier shows suggested there had been) from people in the crowd, but I wouldn’t have been surprised.

Well, that was that. Kate Bush on stage again after 35 years. Something we never thought we’d see happen, but will we see it again? Who knows, but if nothing else, tonight (and indeed this whole 22 date epic) has shown that Kate Bush can still surprise us.

Categories ,Adrian Noble, ,Before The Dawn, ,Danny Boyle, ,Daria Hlazatova, ,David Bowie, ,David Gilmour, ,David Lynch, ,David Mitchell, ,Eventim Apollo, ,Gilly Rochester, ,Kate Bush, ,Kevin Doyle, ,live, ,Lizzie Donegan, ,Miranda Richardson, ,Pinewood Studios, ,review, ,Rowan Atkinson, ,Sam Parr, ,Stephen Mangan, ,Tennyson, ,Windmill, ,Ziggy Stardust

Similar Posts: