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In March 2014 Kate Bush announced plans to perform 15 shows in London in August and September that year, her first live shows since 1979. The shows sold out so quickly that a further 7 were immediately added, with all shows selling out in 15 minutes. Kate’s own website crashed with the demand.

The first night of the shows prompted a complete media frenzy with the Evening Standard declaring that the show was “an extraordinary mix of magical ideas, stunning visuals, attention to detail and remarkable music – she was so obviously, so unambiguously brilliant, it made last night something to tell the grandchildren about.”

Later that year the show won the special Editor’s award at the highly prestigious London Theatre Awards, the only contemporary music show to do so.

On November 25 the live album “Before The Dawn” will be released on CD and vinyl – 3 CDs and 4 vinyl. The conceptual heart of the show is reflected in the CD format, which is split over 3 discs centred around the two integral pieces – ‘The Ninth Wave’ and ‘A Sky Of Honey’.

CD1 ends with the pivotal track ‘King Of The Mountain’ which bridges into ‘The Ninth Wave’ suite of songs on CD2.

The full CD tracklisting is below.

CD1:

Lily
Hounds of Love
Joanni
Top of the City
Never Be Mine
Running Up That Hill
King of the Mountain

CD2:

Astronomer’s Call (Spoken monologue)
And Dream of Sheep
Under Ice
Waking the Witch
Watching Them Without Her ( dialogue)
Watching You Without Me
Little Light
Jig Of Life
Hello Earth
The Morning Fog

CD3:

Prelude
Prologue
An Architect’s Dream
The Painter’s Link
Sunset
Aerial Tal
Somewhere In Between
Tawny Moon
Nocturn
Aerial
Among Angels
Cloudbusting

The full 4x vinyl tracklisting is below.

Vinyl 1: Side A

Lily
Hounds Of Love
Joanni
Top Of The City

Vinyl 1: Side B

Never Be Mine
Running Up That Hill
King Of The Mountain

Vinyl 2: Side A

Astronomer’s Call
And Dream Of Sheep
Under Ice
Waking The Witch
Watching Them Without Her
Watching You Without Me

Vinyl 2: Side B

Little Light
Jig Of Life
Hello Earth
The Morning Fog

Vinyl 3: Side A

Prelude
Prologue
An Architect’s Dream
The Painter’s Link

Vinyl 3: Side B

Sunset
Aerial Tal
Somewhere In Between

Vinyl 4: Side A

Nocturn
Aerial

Vinyl 4: Side B

Among Angels
Cloudbusting

The album was produced by Kate Bush. Nothing on the record was re-recorded or overdubbed.

Following the first week of performances eight of Kate Bush’s albums charted simultaneously within the UK Top 40, making her the only female artist in history to achieve this feat.