The truth about Kylie Minogue’s surprisingly controversial Australian tour
If early social media reactions are to be believed, Kylie Minogue’s new Aussie tour is a big disappointment. Here’s the truth, from someone who went.
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If you believe everything you read online, Kylie Minogue’s latest tour is a massive disappointment.
The show opened in Perth two weeks ago, and by the following morning, the comment sections of Minogue’s socials were filled with angry fans, declaring that they expected better of the pop icon and found the show lacking.
Dramatic tabloid headlines followed, declaring the Tension tour “cheap” and “overhyped.”
Reading those comments, it seemed most who were expressing their displeasure hadn’t actually seen the show and were basing their critiques off the photos and videos that had so far surfaced online.
Of course, Kylie’s set a bar high for herself. During her early noughties commercial peak, she arrived on stage during her concerts variously strapped to a giant CD, locked into an HR Giger-esque robot suit and riding a giant glittering skull.
One dazzling opening set piece aside, the staging for the Tension tour is undeniably… simplistic by comparison to those jaw-dropping moments.
But here’s what a grainy iPhone video can’t capture, and what Kylie has in spades: Hits, and stage presence.
The show’s first act is a total baller move: A frenetic medley of bangers, from Tension II lead single Lights, Camera, Action to Fever highlight In Your Eyes, to Aphrodite classic Get Out of My Way to the undeniable bop that is 1991’s What Do I Have To Do.
They’re performed at breakneck pace, in a medley that means we’re 15 minutes into the show before Kylie’s even paused to say hello.
The message is clear: You want hits? Oh, I’ve got hits – here’s one from each of the past four decades.
From that electric opening sequence on, the energy never sags. It helps that Minogue has banked three albums since she last toured back in 2019, meaning she can cherry pick the very best songs from those projects to sprinkle through the setlist.
Newer songs like Edge of Saturday Night, Things We Do For Love and Hold On To Now slot in perfectly next to the older hits.
It’s an undeniably stronger recent catalogue to pull from than during her last tour, which served up half a dozen or so samey songs from her country-lite sojourn Golden.
Padam Padam is present, of course, and thankfully so is Disco lead single Say Something, a majestic slice of the sort of pop Minogue does so well: Shimmering euphoria, with a hint of meloncholy.
That song’s performed on a small stage in the middle of the arena, part of a thrillingly intimate set midway through the show where the stripped back approach works so well: Just Kylie, a guitarist, and one giant disco ball to light up the room.
The online whinges aren’t totally without merit: Aside from that stunning entrance that sees Kylie floating inside a giant laser-light diamond, there are a couple of sections that feel like slight missed opportunities for another big “wow” moment in the show.
The strings swelling dramatically for Confide In Me - always a live highlight - seem to signify something special is about to happen, until Kylie simply walks on stage post-costume change to begin the song. Twenty years ago, she probably would’ve rode in atop a giant disco horse shooting lasers out of its eyes.
But it’s a small quibble in a show that’s big on customer satisfaction: All four big singles from Fever get an airing, plus another three from her Stock / Aitken / Waterman high point, 1990’s Rhythm of Love.
There’s even a brief crowd-pleasing audience request section, which has seen the star perform 1997 single Did It Again several times already this tour for the first time in years (last night’s Sydney audience got a brief run through Hand On Your Heart instead).
The focus throughout is on the many high points of a back catalogue of hits that is not far off spanning 40 years. Simple, striking staging so Kylie can cram around 30 of her best songs into a two-hour show.
To paraphrase the lady herself during triumphant concert closer Love At First Sight: The music she was playing really blew our minds.
The Australian leg of Kylie Minogue’s Tension tour concludes with two more shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday and Monday. Tickets via frontiertouring.com/kylie
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Originally published as The truth about Kylie Minogue’s surprisingly controversial Australian tour
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