Kylie Minogue Sidney Myer Music Bowl review: Icon’s special Golden era bowls Melbourne over
Kylie Minogue last played the Bowl back in 1987. Now she’s a Melbourne icon headlining the iconic Melbourne venue. While her pop sound has taken a detour through Nashville her transformation into a disco Dolly Parton translates into pure joy.
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You want peak Melbourne? Try Kylie Minogue playing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl after having coffee and lunch at Pellegrini’s.
The last time Kylie played the Bowl it was back in 1987 as part of a Young Talent Time concert with her sister Dannii.
Kylie was on Neighbours and still a few months away from launching her music career.
KYLIE MINOGUE PAYS TRIBUTE TO SISTO
Thirty-two years later she’s a Melbourne icon headlining the iconic Melbourne venue for the first time.
When it comes to touring, this was Kylie’s first hometown outdoor show but not her first time at the rodeo.
However there’s something special about Kylie’s Golden era, where her pop sound has taken a detour through Nashville.
Transforming herself into a disco Dolly Parton translates into pure joy.
Kylie has never seemed more relaxed on stage.
She’s found her sweet spot between interacting with her band and dancers.
There’s less of the whizzbang special effects of previous tours.
She’s not being shot out of the stage or flying above it.
For the first time in a long time there’s not even a catwalk.
It puts the focus squarely on the songs — which have always been her not so secret weapon.
Kylie shows are like a night out with a friend you haven’t seen in a few years.
She’s particularly chatty about the new songs (A Lifetime to Repair; the break up in the lyrics at least gave her a cracking tune) and mentioned parents Carol and Ron before Shelby ‘68 which was inspired by his favourite car and her year of birth.
Minogue’s father invited “twenty revheads” from his car club to the show, who also got a shout out from the singer.
However like any Kylie show, it’s all about the hits and how they’ve been presented this time around.
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head is more rock than robotic and now morphs into Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain.
The underrated Get Out Of My Way is rightly bumped up to second song of the night, Confide In Me has become a dark gothic beast and we’re all here for it.
There’s tweaks to Better the Devil You Know, In Your Eyes and Wow, while early single Wouldn’t Change a Thing is mated with the even earlier album track I’ll Still Be Loving You for the old school fans.
It’s a testament to the kind of pop star Kylie is that she can swing from channelling something as dark and sinister as Slow (embedded with the Human League’s bleak Being Boiled) to the karaoke singalong fun of Kids literally back-to-back in the setlist.
There aren’t a lot of ballads on the Golden tour - bar Especially For You.
Jason Donovan (her other duet partner back on the 1987 Young Talent Time show at the Bowl has his part handled by the audience).
Even when you think things are mellowing out, like on the lost hit The One or the fanthem All the Lovers, they start off slow before the euphoria builds up and the party has started again.
However the Golden tour’s platinum moment comes in the Studio 54 homage.
With over 35 Top 20 singles in Australia alone, every Kylie tour sees some major hits jettisoned.
Mercifully, I Should Be So Lucky has been put out to pasture for Golden, but somehow they’ve managed to breathe life into Locomotion — it’s had a disco rebirth with an injection of Donna Summer’s Bad Girls.
Also given the Studio 54 treatment are Spinning Around, Raining Glitter, unreleased song New York City and even On a Night Like This.
By the time the show ends with Love at First Sight (arguably her finest single) and then boldly with recent single Dancing, you feel like you’ve just watched Kylie Minogue pull off yet another reboot of her career, this time it happened to have a spur and some sawdust on it.
Every Kylie Melbourne show is particularly emotional, but when her regularly scheduled pause just before the end of Spinning Around saw the homegirl overcome with a rush of hometown love, having to take a minute or so to compose herself.
And right before leaving the stage, Minogue even went off script and shed a tear when she thanked her family and friends in the audience and apologised for the fact her job keeps her away from them so often.
It was the perfect personal touch to end her most personal tour to date.
Kylie’s Golden tour ends with two A Day on the Green shows - Hunter Valley NSW on Saturday and Mt Cotton Queensland on Sunday.
Kylie Minogue
Sidney Myer Music Bowl
Review by Cameron Adams
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