Bush tickets offered for £1,500 after selling out in 15 minutes

Some of the tickets, which were originally priced from £49 upwards, were for sale online for £1,500 each last night.

One fan, writing on Twitter as @kankurette, said: “I love Kate Bush but I am not paying out the nose to see her. I have my limits.”

Another fan, on Twitter as @rugfoot, said: “Touts totally loving the #katebush gigs.”

Demand for tickets was so high that the singer’s own website, as well as some of the original ticket sellers, crashed as people tried to log on yesterday.

The star said: “I’m completely overwhelmed by the response to the shows. Thank you so much to everyone. Looking forward to seeing you all later this year.”

Her PR company told fans on Twitter: “Tickets for all 22 @KateBushMusic dates sold out in less than 15 minutes.”

Ticketmaster UK managing director Simon Presswell said: “As expected, demand for Kate Bush tickets was phenomenal. At our peak the Ticketmaster website had over 65,000 fans looking for tickets, and our call centre was humming.”

The London gigs mark the singer’s return to the stage 35 years after her one and only tour and to the same venue, the Hammersmith Apollo, where she effectively retired from live performances after just six weeks on the road in 1979.

She was just 20 when she completed The Tour of Life with three dates at what was then called the Hammersmith Odeon, after topping the charts with Wuthering Heights the previous year, becoming the first woman to go to number one singing one of her own songs.