With a career spanning twenty-seven years, twelve studio albums and a countless number of hits, Kylie Minogue has well and truly proved herself to be nothing short of a pop legend, and she’s got a consistently impressive touring record to show for it. As she hits the road with latest album Kiss Me Once, the production appears somewhat scaled back compared to the Les Folies tour of 2011, but this matters for nothing when your stage presence is as energetic as Kylie’s.
The setlist is difficult to fault, as material from her Stock Aitken Waterman days sits effortlessly side by side with more modern productions. It’s easy to imagine many artists in similar positions ignoring the likes of Hand On Your Heart and Got To Be Certain in favour of more credible (or simply newer) tracks, and while the absence of Confide In Me is a little disappointing, the sight of Kylie singing I Should Be So Lucky in a bathtub more than makes up for it. This is essentially one of the key reasons she proves to be so likeable as a performer – she embraces all aspects of pop, from the dazzling to the brilliantly ridiculous.
Admittedly the night does kick off rather slowly, as none of the first three tracks performed (Les Sex, In My Arms and Timebomb) were big hits, meaning the crowd is a little lifeless until she storms into 2008’s Wow, but from then onwards she has them eating from the palm of her hand. Fan favourite Your Disco Needs You is certainly a highlight, as is the often overlooked Slow and the impressive light-show provided for On A Night Like This. Surprisingly, one of the finest moments of the night comes in the form of the Robbie Williams collaboration Kids. It’s easy to imagine it was only included in the set for the benefit of the more casual fan, but the end product makes it very obvious that had Kylie’s Glastonbury headlining set gone ahead back in 2005 it would have been nothing short of spectacular.
Elsewhere she is keen to mix things up occasionally, adding in a cover of INXS’s Need You Tonight and giving Can’t Get You Out Of My Head a darker makeover. Both end up working splendidly, and the former shows exactly why Kylie works so effortlessly as a sex icon. One thing that’s very noticeable as the night goes is how few tracks from her latest album Kiss Me Once are performed, though following its lukewarm sales this may have proved to be a sensible decision. Of the five performed, the Sexercise performance (featuring Kylie reenacting the video in what feels like an attempt to be the night’s equivalent to Beyoncé doing the chair dance to Partition) is simply nothing but an enjoyable gimmick, and while Into The Blue is still as euphoric as ever, it feels unwise to have it and All The Lovers sitting side by side when both are so similar. However, we’re pleased to report that the much-derided Beautiful ends up sounding rather glorious in a live setting. Kylie’s back catalogue doesn’t have many ballads, and the change in tempo is a nice opportunity for her to show off some pretty impressive vocals.
The staging may have been scaled down, and the choreography is at times a little basic for someone of Kylie’s capabilities, but what these weak points highlight more than anything else is how Kylie doesn’t always need an over the top production to work as a performer. She has the star quality, the likeability and the amazing catalogue of songs to make any performance an incredible live experience – long may she continue for another twenty-seven years.