THERE are pop concerts and there are pop events. This, being the first night of Kylie's Showgirl world tour, is the latter. There are quadruple the number of photographers here than at a normal gig and rumours flying that the start of the show is a stormer. Heck, even former
Big Brother winner Brian Dowling is here, orange of face and dressed as if he's just come from working at a very progressive cattle ranch.
The showgirl arrives, her bottom obscured by a plume of blue-and-white feathers (though there's no audible sigh of disappointment from the photographers) and the matching head-dress virtually doubling her height.
The first song is Better The Devil You Know and it appears the theme is set: an ostentatiously-staged retrospective of Kylie's career featuring the star of the show in fancy costumes. But Kylie, as we know, has enjoyed many identities over many years, and as the show progresses, they all unfold.
A section featuring songs from the eighties is accompanied on the massive LCD screen by motifs of the decade: luminous CND signs, smiley faces and style magazine mock-ups. A gym-themed segment opens with Y-fronted male dancers pretending to take a shower then working out. After Kylie emerges in knee-length lace leggings and matching bodice, they perform Slow, the choreography combining ballet, jazz and sit-ups – which the male dancers do while their legs are wrapped around the waist of another dancer – before their bodies contort to spell SLOW at the end.
There's the innocence of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, a great big-band version of Locomotion, a supertitled Especially For You that enables the audience to sing Jason Donovan's part (the provision of the lyrics not being necessary, of course, but it's amusing to see pop music corrupting the conventions of opera).
It's packed with ideas that play with every conceivable notion of who Kylie is, why she's become an icon, who her fans are and whether we're just here out of nostalgia. It does so with breathtaking choreography, immense sophistication and a star who wisely trades trying to work the stage for hitting all the high notes. It's appropriate that to end, Kylie joins hands with her backing band and dancers to bow as if in theatre. Indeed, it's better and more complex than a lot of musical theatre.
necessary, of course, but it's amusing to see pop music corrupting the conventions of opera).
It's packed with ideas that play with every conceivable notion of who Kylie is, why she's become an icon, who her fans are and whether we're just here out of nostalgia. It does so with breathtaking choreography,
immense sophistication and a star who wisely trades trying to work the stage for hitting all the high notes. It's appropriate that to end, Kylie joins hands with her backing band and dancers to bow as if in theatre. Indeed, it's better and more complex than a lot of musical theatre.
The Herald
