Kylie
Live at the NEC
When I was 11, and trying to
emulate the iconic 'curly hair through the hat' look modelled by Miss Minogue
on her first album cover, I little imagined that 17 years later:
12345678912345678a) She'd be more successful than
ever
12345678912345678b)
I'd be seeing her in concert for the first time.
12345678912345678c) At
said concert, I'd end up dancing and cheering - in a retro-ironic stylee, of
course(!) - to the same cheesy classics that
12345678912345678were so beloved at the hormone-crammed
school discos of my pubescence.
Kylie has rather slickened up her act since then - this 'Showgirl' tour featured
a £1 million set, fabulously lavish outfits, a full band and and a fit
squad of dancers.
When I saw her on the first of her six sell-out Birmingham nights, she looked
fab and her voice sounded pure and wonderful (in all this 'Best Bum in Showbiz'
hype, I find she is frequently underrated at what she is - a singer).
It was a 'show' in every sense of the word. Like a grandiose musical, it was
divided into themed scenes, comprising intricately choreographed medleys of
greatest hits. So, as Shocked segued into What Do I Have to Do
and Spinning Around, we had breakdancers in Acid House Day-Glo, while
the 'sexy section' - Red Blooded Woman, Slow and a chorus of the
Nick Cave duet Where the Wild Roses Grow - brought us hunks in a changing
room, hoisting Kylie aloft from a school gym horse.
All the old cheese was there: I Should Be So Lucky, Hand on Your Heart,
Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi - and Especially for You, a massively
popular encore, which she performed as a 'duet' with the audience, though I
half expected (hoped!) Jason Donovan would somehow materialise from the wings
when it got to his lines.
Some of the done-to-death hits were revamped with inventive twists. So Confide
in Me was rocked up - and accompanied by some passionate choreography between
Kylie (she's an ace mover too) and a Will Young lookalike dancer - while The
Locomotion was chilled down into a saucy jazz number.
There were surprises too: In Denial, Kylie's haunting collaboration with
the Pet Shop Boys from their 1999 Nightlilfe CD; a beautiful version
of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which she sang in a wistful, almost childlike
fashion, perched upon a slowly descending sparkly crescent moon; Dreams,
a 1998 album track; and the rousing, Village People-esque gay club anthem Your
Disco Needs You.
And as for the clothes...
The broadly-publicised, feather headdress and 16-inch waist 'Moulin Rouge' corset
ensemble, into which Kylie must have had to be poured for the opening (Better
the Devil You Know)
scene, was just one of nine costume changes. The next two hours saw her elfin
body squeezed into everything from a lacy black pedal pusher-length catsuit
to a gorgeous silky gold Julien McDonald dress. Her hair was styled throughout
in a swingy ponytail.
All the way through, Kylie was as bubbly and girl-next-doory as ever, and seemed
genuinely chuffed to bits with her ecstatic reception.
So was she worth waiting 17 years for? Abso-bloody-lutely! My top concert of
2005 thus far - and a new entry to the coveted 'Leigh's Top 10 All-Time Gigs'
chart.
Before I go, I must mention the support band - a young Swedish rock five-piece
called Melody Club, who sported retro black and white suits and whose lead singer's
scrawny verve was very reminiscent of Jarvis Cocker. Somehow I sense we'll be
seeing more of them...
© Leigh Rowley, 2005