Before The Dawn

This is the artwork version of the ticket, which features a fantastic seabed design. I've heard that there’s a variant version of the ticket with slightly altered artwork, but I haven’t personally seen any myself. If there is one, it would be interesting to find out if there are any further variants out there.

The ticket measures 3½” x 8”. It’s a bit difficult trying to explain the surface texture of the ticket because it’s not exactly laminated, but it does have a sort of glossy finish to it.

These bits of paper weren’t for sale at the concert, but rather they blew into the audience during the Ninth Wave portion of each concert. They measure just over 2¾” by just over 4¾” and the written extract is the same one that appears on the back of the Hounds of Love album jacket, which is taken from the Tennyson poem, “The Coming of Arthur”. The written extract on the confetti can also vary from piece to piece in terms of its positioning. Some are perfectly centred, while others are printed more towards the top, bottom or sides.

Also keep in mind that these confetti pieces are pretty fragile and can damage easily. I found one of the best and easiest solutions to protecting them is by simply placing them into a plastic photo page designed for 4 x 6 photographs. I know some people have chosen to frame theirs, but if you don’t want the expense of buying a frame for them, photo album pages are definitely the quickest and cheapest solution.

Despite the fact that this is just a piece of confetti paper, it became a big collectable almost immediately. It was also pretty sickening to see the amount of money people were charging online for them, and still continue to do so, considering they were free to begin with. I know lots of people ended up with multiples of these and gave them away to other fans for free, so thumbs up to all of you who did. For those who’ve been charging online – SHAME ON YOU!

Original Price: Free

The biggest tragedy here is even calling this a programme. This thing is more like a book… a beautiful book. This isn't your typical cheap looking programme with staples down the middle that you normally get from concerts. A lot of thought and effort went into the design and layout of this and it shows. In fact, this is probably the nicest and most stunning programme I've ever seen.

The front and back outer covers have got a wonderful texture to them, almost velvety. The printing on the front cover (and the feather design on the back) have been done with spot varnish printing. It can be tricky to see, unless you hit it with the light at a certain angle. The inner front and back covers, along with the end papers, are printed with that same fantastic seabed design found on the artwork tickets and lithograph. It was created by a textile company called Timorous Beasties, and you can find out more about them and their designs at http://www.timorousbeasties.co.uk/

The programme is absolutely stuffed with photos, designs and colours. There’s also quite a lot of info about the tour process and how it all came together. One of the more unique details of this programme is the French folded pages. I totally love that. I also wouldn't advise cutting the pages open at the fold just to see what’s inside as there really isn't much there. Some of the pages do have quotes on the bottom inside portion, which you can easily see for yourself by gently parting the pages open to have a peek.

This is definitely one tour programme where you get your money’s worth. Unfortunately, scanning this in would be near impossible to do without wrecking it completely.

Original Price: £15

This is probably the coolest item that was sold at the concerts. It was created to coincide with The Ninth Wave section of the concert, and It’s also not surprising that it’s become a huge collectable from the tour already. In fact, it temporarily sold out at Hammersmith midway through September – possibly a bit earlier, but by the end they got more in again.

It’s a tin box with all sorts of little goodies inside. Here are the full contents:

1. One rubber ring with “Get Out Of The Water” printed onto it. Unfortunately, I’m not taking mine out of the packaging and blowing it up. I’ll never get it back perfectly again.

2. One whistle with the words “Wake Up” printed along the side. The other side is blank.

3. One mini flashlight (or torch) with the words “Little Light Shining” printed along the side.

I did discover one interesting thing about the flashlight while taking these new photos that I didn't know before. If you aim the flashlight towards a wall and press the button, you get a nice little surprise. I won't ruin the surprise for anyone who doesn't know about it yet, but I will say to make sure the battery still works fully and isn't almost dead, otherwise it probably won't work.

4. A set of 4 postcards featuring: the Aerial album artwork, Hounds of Love album artwork, Fish People logo and Kate floating in the water with a life-jacket. The postcards measure slightly over 4” by just under 6” and have a flat matte finish to them. Each one has “Before The Dawn” printed on the back, along with a photography credit for each postcard. 

5. A set of 4 badges featuring: image of Kate in the water, KT logo, “Get Out Of The Waves” and “Before The Dawn”. The badges are just a fraction short of being 1” round in diameter.

Everything is nicely contained within this vintage style silvery tin box. If you’ve seen this online, but don’t own it, I can tell you that the tin box is actually much larger than it appears. It measures 7¾” in length, with a 6”width and a height of 3”. There’s actually enough free room inside to store your feather pin, Fish People keyring and Cloudbusting pendant… even the confetti if you want.

The only suggestion I would make when it comes to the tin box is not to open and close it a gazillion times. Doing so will eventually leave wear marks around the rim.

Original Price: £45

I was a little surprised this photo was used for the tour poster, considering the fuss some people were making over the shot when it was first released, and especially as Kate eventually took it down from her website because of it. But I’m also glad that she did use it because it’s a stunning photograph.

The poster measures 23” x 16½” with all the tour dates listed for the Hammersmith below. Even though I've never been a huge collector when it came to posters, this is definitely one I had to have. 

Original Price: £15

I’ve been reading some very random, but interesting online comments about this one. Some people (presumably guys) feel this looks a bit too girly, while some others feel this is rather cheap looking. I strongly disagree with both assessments.

As for the “cheap looking” comments I’ve seen…. admittedly, this pendant doesn’t seem to photograph very well at all, especially in bright light or with the camera flash on. It tends to create an odd glare in most cases, and I think that’s due to it being made from a reflective material to begin with. Seeing this in a photo as opposed to seeing it in person is like night and day – huge difference. I personally like it, and I think anyone else who has it will also say how nice it really is. Photographs really don’t do it any justice.

I also think it’s pretty funny how some people have been moaning over the price of this online. Like, seriously??? Most tour items aren’t cheap these days, and most things you generally get from concerts are crap anyway. I’m sure if there was no merchandise to speak of some of you would have had your mouths flapping the other way about it. Be grateful.

The chain measures 21” unclasped and the pendant is 1½” round in diameter. On the reverse side of the pendant it says ©Kate Bush. It also comes in this purple/red velvety type bag with drawstrings. The bag measures almost 3” x 3½”.

Original Price: £30

For something so small, this pin is really nicely detailed. I’m also sure my cheap camera isn’t doing it any justice at all, but it’s really nice. The KT logo is engraved near the tip and the whole thing measures 1” in length and a ¼” at its widest point.

Unless you bought yourself an extra one, I really wouldn't advise wearing this pin at all. I personally hate this kind of a pin with the stud backing on it because they do tend to come loose very easily, and you could end up losing something like this without even realizing it. I’ve lost many pins over the years with this kind of backing on it, so it happens.

Original Price: £6

This has got to be the coolest keyring that I've seen in a long, long time. These days you typically get some cheap plastic crap with a small double-sided photo inserted into the centre, so this makes a welcomed change.

What makes this even more unique is the cool Fish People design. It’s very detailed, and I’ve tried showing this from a few different angles, but I’m quite sure my photos really aren’t doing this any justice at all. I can assure you it’s very well done though. The only thing that lets it down a tiny bit is the reversed side, which is hollow. It would have been nice if the backside had a reverse image to match the front, but I’m not going to moan about that.

The height of the fish person (minus the ring part) is 1¼”. At its widest point it measures ¾” and with the rings from top to bottom the entire keyring is just under 3”.

I know there are some people out there who are altering their keyring and turning them into pendants and other forms of jewellery as an alternate idea to the Cloudbusting pendant, which I think is a pretty cool idea.

Original Price: £10

I love this mug, and it’s such a huge improvement on the 50 Words For Snow mug that used to sell on Kate’s website. I also like the fact that Kate took a completely different route with the artwork design on this and didn't reuse the album artwork or something else that would have been typical. I love the really crazy looking handle and the huge KT logo – overall really nice.

Like the Rescue Kit, the mug was another item which sold out completely around mid-September. I have no idea if they eventually got more stock in, or if it was permanently sold out until the end.

The height of the mug is just over 4” and the width of the mug from the top is 3¼” round in diameter.

With any concert mug it’s not easy to know if it’s dishwasher safe or not. So if you’re going to use this, and I think it would be a shame to use it, I would highly recommend hand washing it to be on the safe side of things.

Original Price: £13.50

Out of all the t-shirts that were available, this is definitely my favourite one. It has a very unique life jacket design on the front and back, with a lot of simulated wrinkles, creases and tears. I’m not sure if this is my imagination or not but, if you look on the back near the top right-hand side, there looks to be the letter K there. I have no idea if this is intentional or an absolute fluke in the design.

From what I’ve heard, there seems to be a lot of people out there who never saw this shirt at all. I’ve also heard that this particular shirt was limited edition and is now considered the rarest out of all the shirts, but I really don’t know how much truth there is to that rumour. This shirt was selling on Kate's site for a time after the shows were done and over with, so I doubt the validity of this story.

Original Price: £25

The image on this t-shirt differs to the one on the tour poster. I wish they had used the same one from the poster, but I’m not going to complain too much about that as it’s the only t-shirt to feature Kate. I am going to moan about the quality of the image a little bit. Apart from the life jacket, the rest of the image is pretty devoid of colour, which makes the image look pretty washed out. I personally wish the whole thing had been printed a little more strongly.

The back of the shirt has a really neat moon cycle design on it, which has been slightly modified to include the months and the dates of the tour. This design is also included on the back of the feather t-shirt.

Original Price: £25

This is the last t-shirt I got. It's a simple grey t-shirt with the KT Fellowship/Before The Dawn logo on the front, and on the back is this nice pair of wings.

I mainly got this one for the wings design on the back. I’m not sure how many people have noticed this, but all the lyrics for Nocturn have been cleverly printed inside the majority of the feathers. I thought that was pretty cool. I've taken a couple of photos to try and show this better.

Original Price: £25

THINGS I NEVER GOT:

Below is a list of the things I passed on and my reasons why.

Between Two Worlds – Lithograph Version: There were only 250 pieces of this produced, and they sold out pretty fast. Just a shame many of them didn't seem to go to real fans – apparently! I’m really not too bothered that I never got one because I wouldn't have had any room for it anyway. I already had to sacrifice something off my wall just to make room for the tour poster, so getting this would have been redundant because it would never have seen the light of day on any of my walls.

I did think it was pretty disgusting that some people only bought them up for the sole purpose of profiting online with them because there were people out there who would have genuinely liked to have gotten one. It was pretty low when people began selling the free confetti at extortionate prices, but the greed factor on these really reached all new levels. I’ve seen one sell for as little as £390 and another for as high as £1,131.00. So much for real fans! That being said, if you do plan on seeking out the lithograph version online, here’s a quick word of warning. The one that sold for £1,131.00 was supposedly for lithograph #1. I’m in no way doubting the validity of it having been the first lithograph in the series. However, keep in mind that the limited edition numbers are handwritten in pencil, so it would be very easy for any person to erase certain numbers on any of them. That’s all I’m saying.

Between Two Worlds – Art Print Version: Unlike the limited edition lithograph version, the art print version was printed in greater quantities. Even though you could only buy it via the concerts it’s certainly not rare or scarce in comparison to the lithograph. The fact that people are selling this online for the same price as the lithograph (or higher) and calling it rare is an absolute lie. To start with, this was like £30 cheaper than the lithograph – not to mention it was more mass produced. I passed on this one for the same reasons – I wouldn't have had any wall space to accommodate it. I personally don’t see the point of getting something if it’s only going to be packed away and can’t be enjoyed – but that’s just me.

Lithograph – Original Price: £50

Art Print – Original Price £20

Hounds of Love T-Shirt: I passed on this one for the simple fact that I felt the image worked better on the mug than it does on the shirt. The mug spoke to me – the shirt didn’t. Perhaps if a completely different design had been used on the shirt I would have felt differently about it.

Original Price: £25

Feather Event T-Shirt: When deciding between the blackbird wings t-shirt, the Hounds of Love t-shirt and the feather t-shirt, the latter two lost out completely. This is a nice shirt, and I actually like it, but I just thought the blackbird wings shirt was a bit more interesting.

Original Price: £25

Fish People Hoody: First of all, I don’t do hoodies – period! Although it has an interesting design to it, it still wasn't enough to sway me. I also think the £60 price tag is a bit steep for this. If you haven’t seen it before, basically it’s a black hoody with a skeletal fish design on it done in white. The hood area has the fish skull (open mouth) on both sides, and on the back is a huge skeletal fish spine. On the front of the hoody, on the left-hand side in small letters it says: The KT Fellowship Presents Before The Dawn.

Original Price: £60

Fish People Replica Head Mask: These were full sized replica mask models, which had to be specially ordered during the tour and also had to be custom made. They had the look of wood, but most likely they were made from some sort of resin or moulded plaster material. These were made and designed by the Robert Allsopp workshop, the same people who made lots of the masks, props and costumes for the tour.

This was another limited edition item, and with a price tag of £350 it wasn't cheap at all! From what I've heard, it was limited to 50 custom made pieces only, and just under two dozen of them sold in total. I’m sure in a year or so you’ll see someone flogging one online for a couple of grand, claiming they’re moving house and no longer have any room for it. Isn't that the excuse most people use these days?

Original Price: £350

Hounds of Love, Aerial, The Whole Story, Director’s Cut and 50 Words For Snow were also available for £15 each on CD.

Overall, an extremely nice selection of unique items produced for this tour – and far more than I expected there to be. I especially like how all the items were themed in some way or another to coincide with some aspect of the show.

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FINAL NOTE:

I’d also like to take a moment to mention the unbelievable level of selfish greed out there during the tour. It’s been pretty disgusting to see so many so called fans ripping off other fans online with tour items they were selling (and continue to sell) for extortionate prices, claiming they got “confused” at the concerts and bought too many t-shirts by accident or whatever other excuses they had. Yeah, right! Nobody in their right mind gets that confused. I’m sure it was also an accident that some of you got confused when you bought an extra 5 or 6 of the rescue kits as well and began selling those for large sums of money. If you had really bought the items in a confused state, you would have done the right thing and resold them for the same face value and not a 1000% mark-up price. You all knew exactly what you were doing. In fact, I even saw one person trying to sell the rescue kit for 700 euros. Ridiculous!!!

The real icing on the cake with these online auctions is how the sellers had listed the items as “rare” and “sold out at Hammersmith” to put people into a buying panic. The greed of these people left stocks depleted at the concerts, which also meant that many fans that went couldn't get certain items because they were either temporarily or permanently sold out, thanks to these hoarders. Every last one of you who “stocked up” to make an online profit should be disgusted with yourselves because, truthfully, people like you make me sick! You call yourselves fans, but yet you have no problem ripping people off left, right and centre.

Most of you who chose to participate in the greed-fest could have done something really nice for a lot of people out there who were unable to make it to the concerts, but instead you chose to exploit people for your own gain. I just hope you're all proud of yourselves. You give new meaning to the word selfish.