Live Review: Kylie Minogue – 20th March 2015 – Qantas Credit Union Arena, Sydney, Australia
7 min read
I think it’s only right that I start this review off with a little story. In 2008 I went along to Wembley Arena to see Madonna perform two nights as part of her Confessions on a Dance Floor tour. I left the venue on those nights knowing that I had witnessed something truly iconic and it became the tour that set the bar for all future shows that I would attend. It’s was an incredible night; the Queen of Pop appearing from a giant disco ball that was lowered from the ceiling of the venue to deliver a solid 2 hours of club inspired hits from her recent album and back catalogue. Over the years I have been to hundreds of concerts and since Confessions I have seen some absolutely mind-blowing shows and while I tend to walk away from many with the opinion that a concert was the best I have seen in a while, something that is true as different types of shows bring something different to the table, I haven’t walked away from a concert and said “that was the best show I have seen since Confessions” and last night, after leaving the Qantas Credit Union Arena following a stellar show from Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue, I said just that! When you can walk away from a concert and say something like that, you know that you have witnessed something pretty bloody special!
There are two things that Kylie knows how to do better than most. The first is recording some of pop music’s biggest (and campest) hits and the second is how to put on one hell of a show. I’ve seen Kylie a few times now including one of the singers Earls Court shows as part of her Showgirl Greatest Hits stint, at London’s O2 Arena for the Aphrodite tour and at the Hammersmith Apollo as part of her 25th Anniversary Anti-Tour celebrations and each time she has delivered something unique and memorable. We love a bit of camp and sparkle and this is one pop icon who truly knows how to deliver both by the bucket-load. With new album Kiss Me One released at the end of last year, Minogue is setting arenas alight around the world on the Kiss Me Once world tour. While album sales for the starlet were less than desired and despite announcing within the past few days that her 2 year relationship as part of Jay Z’s Roc Nation management was no longer, any disappointment that the singer may have been feeling wasn’t showing in her performance last night as she launched into her performance for her Sydney fans at the Sydney venue.
Kylies show was a spectacle of mammoth proportions. Vivid could certainly take some advice from the pop princess in terms of its laser displays that were shooting all over the venue in astonishing numbers during many of the hits that the pint-sized superstar revealed for the near sold out crowd during the 2 and a half hour show which included hits that have created one of the most successful careers in pop music history.
As the lights of the venue dimmed, a roar engulfed the arena as the crowd went wild with many clutching glow in the dark Kylie branded sticks that added further colour to the arena. As the music began and dancers took their positions, the floors of the stage opened and the superstar was raised up on a large pair of glowing red lips for a sexually driven performance of Kiss Me One track Les Sex before launching from her horizontal position in a figure hugging red outfit complete with unicorn inspired head piece to perform X hit In Your Arms, 25th Anniversary thumper Timebomb and a full throttle performance of Wow.
Most of the singers records were touched upon during the set last night and most hits that are regarded as fan favourites made a winning appearance at some point. While it was difficult to draw highlights from the massive pool of hits that Minogue offered us during the lengthy set list there were some that had the crowd screaming just that little bit louder than others. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, with Kylie dressed in a white shirt and waist high black leather skirt, was one of the biggest numbers of the night as giant metallic toned visuals draped the screens while Kylie strutted the stage with attitude while a medley made up of early Kylie hits Hand On Your Heart, Never Too Late, Got To Be Certain and I Should Be So Lucky were accompanied by clips from each of the singles’ videos on the enormous screens and had the singer sitting in a bubble filled bath with a glass of champagne as she reinacted the iconic scene from latter signature hit.
The stage design, though less elaborate than previous tours, particularly her last Aphrodite run which involved a Roman theme and ‘splash zone’, was much more colourful and visually explosive than any show we have seen with a giant screen set up at the back of the stage to show images and video clips of the star as well as a Japanese inspired animated segment for a her classics medley and interlude videos. In front of the screen was an industrial inspired structure that allowed her dancers to move between and which was mirrored onto the ceiling and provided even more tantalizing visuals to admire as the bars changed colours during the songs being performed below.
Her backing band were on the mark for every song and provided meaty, pulsating instrumentation to each of the career defining hits that we were presented with during the 2 and an half hour spectacle. Her backing vocalists strutted the stage with the singer during numerous numbers, providing the singer with a confident duet during her performance of her Robbie Williams collaboration, Kids, as well as during her performance with iconic disco producer Giorgio Moroder who joined the singer onstage behind a giant moustache and glasses shaped disco platform for their new single Right Place, Right Time and a pitch perfect chorus of the Donna Summer staple and Morodor produced I Feel Love. The singer was also joined by a phenomenal dancer during her performance of Slow who manoeuvred, sometimes in jaw dropping slow motion, around the singer and got the crowd cheering as loud for his performance as they were for their idol who looked just as impressed as the rest of us.
Kylie looked absolutely phenomenal throughout the show and her stylist should be praised as she opted for figure hugging outfits for the duration of the set. During the show we saw the singer sporting a bright red number with unicorn head piece to open the show before turning to a disco ball inspired number for hits like the anthemic Your Disco Needs You and On A Night Like This; a flowing power blue gown was introduced during the singers ballad segment for Kiss Me One track Beautiful and the records highlight title track which had red lasers striking all corners of the arena; a hugging leather outfit was worn for her stunning cover of INXS hit Need You Tonight and a sexy performance of Sexercise, complete with exercise props, while a final charge into a white shirt and waist high electric blue leather skirt was a winning combination for closing number and lead Kiss Me Once single, Into The Blue. It was the musicians silver and black outfit with knee high boots and towering tinsel draped head piece however that was the most eye catching of the night and reminded me of the outfits worn during her 2005 Showgirl greatest hits tour as she delivered mind-blowing performances of Get Outta My Way, Love At First Sight, The Loca-Motion, All The Lovers from 2010’s Aphrodite and a brief song request of Better The Devil You Know following an invite to several audience members onto the stage for a few selfies.
With a mammoth catalogue to be fortunate to pick songs from, last night’s set contained the cream of the crop and each hit was delivered in iconic camp style that comes so naturally to a performer like Kylie. It was simply awe-inspiring and a show that every music fan should witness. It was energetic, colourful, visually captivating and absolutely mind-blowing!
Setlist:
Breathe (Intro)
Les Sex
In My Arms
Timebomb
Wow
Secret Kiss
Bauhau Disco (Interlude)
Step Back in Time
Spinning Around
Your Disco Needs You
On a Night Like This
Right Here, Right Now (with Giorgio Moroder)
I Feel Love (Donna Summer cover)
Slow
Dizzy Kiss
Chasing Ghosts
Enjoy Yourself (Intro)
Hand on Your Heart/ Never Too Late / Got to Be Certain / I Should Be So Lucky
Lick Kiss
Skirt (Interlude)
Need You Tonight (INXS cover)
Sexercize
Nu-di-ty
Can’t Get You Out of My Head
Tears on My Pillow (Little Anthony & The Imperials cover)
Kids (Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue cover)
Aussie Kiss
Beautiful
Kiss Me Once
Get Outta My Way
Love at First Sight
Better The Devil You Know (brief request)
The Loco-Motion
All the Lovers
Encore:
Into the Blue
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
