Having seats just seven rows (in front of Grace Jones and David Gilmour) from the stage on the closing night was rather special indeed.
Meeting up with three of the musicians (David Rhodes, John Giblin and Omar Hakim) who make up part of Kate's awesome band made it so much more personal.
The concert had a few visual tweaks since the opening night, with more thought given to the lighting during the first six songs. I'd been told by Rachel Z, jazz pianist and keyboardist for Peter Gabriel some years back that the band had got "exponentially better" since night one. I think that was probably only something that a musician would notice because to me both nights were rather incredible.
One thing I did notice during my second was the use of surround sound during the concert. I've never even acknowledged stereo at a live gig before (normally you are just hit by a wall of sound) so this was quite remarkable.
Kate was again on top form, and clearly enjoying herself. At the end of the concert she gave the smallest of hints that there might well be more live performances on the way.
Not having expectations of certain favourite songs being performed made the second half of the concert much more enjoyable to me. Things may have got a tad emotional during the final few songs, with the breathtaking Aerial and the spinning around with guitarist David Rhodes, followed by the sublime piano solo, Among Angels. With the crowd on it's feet and Cloudbusting being performed it was all over.
Driving back home took me past the Hammersmith Apollo at around 1am and the "Before the Dawn" signs had already been taken down.
Easily the best concert I've ever seen and probably the best concert I ever will see.
Now to sit back and wait for the DVD which was filmed over a couple of nights in September.
Thank you Kate.
I wonder what comes after the dawn?
Below is Rachel Z, Omar Hakim and myself meeting for "coffee". Definitely not a "meh" moment!
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