| Product: |
Kylie Minogue Live |
| Date: |
21/01/08 (50 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Great sets, brilliant singing, and lots of dancing for everybody
Disadvantages: Sometimes the stage threatens to upstage her
Having only witnessed the Kylie Live experience for the first time in 2001, I have to say that I got her at her best. I have seen the previous concerts on video - but was never allowed to attend the events. Whereas Kylie's voice has never been her strongest asset, her star pulling power certainly is.
I went to the On A Night Like This tour on opening night (originally it was supposed to be in Dublin 2 nights before - but weather didn't permit) - 3 March 2001, in Glasgow. I had mixed expectations. After all, her voice seemed a bit poor in the early days and she hadn't really toured the UK properly in 10 years. I should have given her more credit. On A Night Like This was a theatrical experience that could give Andrew Lloyd Webber a run for his money. Its hard to run a narrative through pop music, especially given that there is very little consistency in Kylie's sound or lyrics. Performing a mixture of her classic hits (Jazz versions of Better The Devil You Know, Torch Song versions of I Should Be So Lucky), and material from her 2000 comeback album Light Years, Kylie opened on a huge oceanliner to the sound of a foghorn. Lowered onto the stage on a glittered anchor, she soon wiggles with her dancers, sashays with the backing singers and flirts outrageously with her audience. The tour was sold out mega-quickly, but I managed to get a couple of cancellation tickets to take a friend 2 nights later, so good was my first experience.
I was back witnessing Kylie Live again a year later. I saw Fever02 both in Manchester and in Glasgow. A much bigger show this time, Kylie and her team incorporated many references from some of the most influencial science fiction and pop culture elements of entertainment. Star Trek, Doctor Who, A Clockwork Orange, Moulin Rouge - it was all thrown into the mix for a strangely dark but hugely entertaining 2 hours. This time Kylie gave us renditions of tracks from her Fever album (opening with Kylie as a cyberfigure who is unleashed from a casing of chrome to the sound of her hit Come Into My World) as well as many more of her classic hits, and even a few surprises. A cover of The Crying Game allowed us to hear just how good Kylie Minogue's voice actually is as she hits all the high notes, and belts out the song with feeling. A danced up Lucky, and a mix of Cant Get You Out Of My Head and Blue Monday make for an exciting and unpredictable show which Kylie mused at the time allowed her to play with light and space with the use of a huge stage and various screens.
My next experience of Kylie was the Showgirl tour in 2005. Interupted due to the sad news that Kylie had breast cancer, I saw this 2 weeks before her diagnosis. It treaded all ground for me, mixing elements of past tours with quirky new pop references. However, given that it was a Greatest Hits tour, its only natural that it should feel a bit repetitive. Her ballet performance to Confide In Me is the finest performance of her career, whilst jazz versions of Locomotion, covers of Somewhere Over The Rainbow certainly show Kylie's versatility. But once again its the costumes and huge stage shows that would get more attention than the music. Apparently truckloads of feathers were brought in to dress Kylie in her tiny opening jewel-encrusted corset, whilst making costumes that her dancers could move in. 2 years later and Kylie was back on the stage for Homecoming - the completion of the Showgirl tour. A change in costumes and a setlist revamp showed that Kylie never stays still for long, and constantly attempts to evolve as a performer.
Whilst, I feel that Kylie has become a bit lost in huge lavish productions and too much money, she still manages to capture the attention of her audience. And if the most surprising thing about it is that her voice is excellent in concert, then she must be doing something right. Each show has its own individual narrative, and an independent visualisation of her hits, so its no surprise either that her last 4 tours have broken records to sell out in minutes. Her return to the stage in 2008 is an official world tour, visiting many European countries as well as dates in the UK. The Australian leg is still to be confirmed, but news from Kylie is that it will happen. I would recommend this artist to many who wanted a good fun night out at a concert. She is devoid of all the ego-trappings of many arena performers, and keeps it strictly about the music. Her band, despite being new to her music at the turn of the century and not really having much to do with her studio recordings, capture perfectly the Kylie sound, and update her early material beautifully.
I look forward to KYLIEX2008.
Summary: Kylie is a legendary performer who brings her somewhat uninspired music to life in a concert setting
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