Last week the reclusive singer-songwriter Kate Bush announced that she would play 15 shows in London between Aug. 26 and Sept. 19 her first extended run of performances since her single tour of Britain in 1979, at the start of her career. Fascination with Ms. Bush, and the prospect of seeing her the 1979 shows were lavishly staged and choreographed, and her music since then has retained its inventiveness and mystique was sufficient to crash her website almost instantly. She quickly added another seven shows at the 3,500-seat Eventim Apollo, extending the run to Oct. 1.
Tickets, priced at £49 to £135 (about $81.50 to $225.50) with hospitality packages that include premium seats and a picnic for £424.50 ($706) went on sale on Friday at 9:30 a.m., London time, and within 15 minutes, the 77,000 seats for the 22 shows were sold out. A message was posted on Ms. Bushs website fending off pleas: We do not have any tickets in our possession at all and regret that we are unable to assist with requests for concessions in any circumstance, it read.
A spokesman for Ticketmaster, one of a few sites authorized to sell the tickets, told the BBC that at our peak, the Ticketmaster website had over 65,000 fans looking for tickets. And despite efforts to thwart scalpers buyers were limited to four tickets per order within a few hours, eBay had several listings with offers of tickets at more than $2,000 apiece.
Even Ms. Bush appears to have been taken by surprise.
I am completely overwhelmed and genuinely shocked by the incredibly positive response from everyone, she said in a short message on her website.
How can any of you debate the quality of pop tunes and not know who Kate Bush is? Running Up That Hill and Hounds of Love alone destroy discographies. She's a genius.
Running Up That Hill and Hounds of Love alone destroy discographies. She's a genius.