It was the culmination of 35 years of pent-up hopes, wishes and frustration. But for the thousands of fans who poured out of Kate Bush's first live show for more than three decades, the consensus was that this performance had been worth the wait.
The first date of the Before the Dawn tour, which was shrouded in mystery even as fans filed into Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday night, proved to be as theatrical an affair as many had suspected.
Returning to the venue where she last sang on stage – in 1979, aged 20 – Bush, now 56, opened the first of 22 dates barefoot and dressed in black, leading a procession of backing singers on stage singing Lily from her 1993 album The Red Shoes.
Shortly after the show began, the writer Caitlin Moran tweeted: "Kate bush, in black, barefoot, hounds of love, running up that hill, king of the mountain. JESUS."
Bush continued the set with the songs Hounds of Love and Running Up That Hill before the performance moved into the lavish theatrical affair that had been rumoured, based around The Ninth Wave – a seven-track concept piece from the Hounds of Love album – about a woman drifting alone in the sea.
Songs were interspersed with theatrical pieces based on the tale of being lost at sea, with the set including a rescue helicopter flying overhead, a full portable living room and sea monsters.
Giving her reaction after the show, fan Iwona Boesche said: "I've been a fan of Kate Bush from the beginning. It was the best concert or show that I've ever seen and that I will ever see.
"She has just as good a voice as ever, maybe even deeper than before – it's very warm, velvety and expressive as always.
"She's so dynamic and she didn't hold back at all. I cried and everybody around me cried. It was amazing in every respect and she sang all the songs I was hoping [for]."
She added: "When she was doing The Ninth Wave, you felt the cold of the water, you could see it, you could hear it.
"The sea monsters were really very scary. But mostly what she managed to convey was the coldness, the darkness, the solitude of being alone at sea.
"And another thing about the concert was that I was sitting next to people I've never met before but we all held hands throughout, she just created this warm, intimate atmosphere."
Bush's desire for her 22-night residency to be without the sea of phones, cameras and tablets to ensure she could have "contact" with her audience was also strictly adhered to, with a pre-show announcement requesting everyone turn off their mobiles and security guards patrolling throughout the performance.
Fans were said to be respectful of Bush's wishes, with Ben McMullen saying: "I didn't see a single phone, everyone was so respectful of it. It felt like it would be like taking your phone out in church."
Bush's 16-year-old son, Bertie, was also a constant presence during the show, singing in the backing choir always on stage, taking part in several of the acting scenes and even singing his own solo.
Bush paid tribute to him early on in the performance and, writing in the programme, said: "Without my son Bertie this would never have happened.
"Without his encouragement and enthusiasm, particularly in the early stages when I was very frightened to commit to pushing the 'go' button, I'm sure I would have backed out. Throughout he has been my chief consultant, my editor, my confidant."
Rob Hunter said this intimate family connection on the stage had elevated Bush's performance further.
He said: "I found it very touching that she had her son on stage from the point of view that this woman in the eyes of the world has been so inaccessible.
"But having her child on the stage beside her and the way they interacted, she suddenly seemed exposed and very accessible and it felt like a very warm-hearted moment.
"And that connection came across on the stage. And she seemed spellbound by how people responded to her and how many people love her."
Fans from as far away as the US and Australia flocked to attend the opening concert.
Chad Siwek, who flew from Los Angeles, described standing at the venue on Tuesday night as "like a dream. Kate Bush just means everything to me, she cares more about her work and pleasing her fans than the commercial value or just making money off it."
He paused as his voice broke with emotion, before adding: "I'm sorry, I'm getting choked up but it's just my whole life I've been a huge Kate Bush fan."
Daren Taylor, drummer for band The Airborne Toxic Event, had taken a similar journey to make it to the opening night.
"I've flown in from Los Angeles today just to see Kate Bush," he said.
"It's not easy to express what Kate Bush means to me. Her music touches me, and I'm sure everybody here, in very unique ways. I don't think any two people will tell you the same thing that her music means to them."
For Patrick Bastow, the show was "unlike anything else I have seen. It was a mixture of a West End show and a rock concert.
"The attention to detail that she put in was phenomenal – the lighting, the sound is like nothing I've seen.
"I thought she looked a little nervous to begin with but by the end she looked like she was loving it. The audience didn't really know how to take it. She sang beautifully, she moved gracefully."
He added: "All the theatrics of The Ninth Wave part of the show really brought the songs to life. And then just seeing her on the piano, which I had been hoping for, that was a wonderful moment.
"Interestingly, she did do some new things and she did re-interpret the songs and put new music into the show. Maybe that's why she didn't want photographs and camera phones because she's done something so different.
"I didn't see one person lift a phone. They say 35 years ago that Kate Bush moved rock concerts on, well she's done it again I think."
Guillaume Chatelain, who travelled from Lille, France, for the concert, said this was a moment he had been waiting for since he first heard Babooshka on the radio when he was 14.
"Kate was my first love," he said, as he left the venue clutching several posters and a T-shirt. "It was like a dream, like I fell down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. My world will never be the same."
