Kylie Minogue’s Melbourne concert rekindled the sparkle, spirit and the sexiness of Vegas
With all the glitz of a Vegas showgirl, Melbourne’s own Kylie Minogue wowed her hometown crowd at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night with sizzling acts.
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There’s no place like home.
Pop princess Kylie Minogue would know that feeling because it’s taken six years, three albums, and a Las Vegas residency to find her way back to where it all began.
“Do you know what a pleasure it is to say, ‘Good evening, Melbourne’,” Minogue said at Rod Laver Arena – home turf – on Thursday night.
“Welcome home; thank you, thank you. It is so good to be back.”
Kylie is Melbourne, and Melbourne is Kylie.
She grew up in Surrey Hills, went to high school in Camberwell, shot to fame on a TV soap in Nunawading, planted the seeds for a pop career by singing Loco-Motion at a footy club benefit in Fitzroy, and signed a record deal in Albert Park.
The rest, of course, is history.
Minogue, 56, is one of Australia’s most successful, and enduring, music exports.
She has weathered the shifting tides of pop with era-defining reinventions and, almost 40 years since her singing debut, reclaimed the throne as a global chart-topper via her 2023 megahit, Padam Padam.
The hometown crowd has grown accustomed to her many career triumphs.
But Kylie the Conqueror’s Padam Padam phase might be her best resurgence yet.
It was a hit in the US first, sparked a run of Sin City shows, and made Kylie a star in America all over again.
On Thursday, at the first of three shows at Rod Laver Arena, Kylie rekindled the sparkle, the spirit, and the sexiness of those Nevada nights in a spectacular two-hour show.
Clearly, Kylie doesn’t believe what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Her latest tour, Tension, features all the glitz, glamour, and gamut of hits, a showgirl can muster.
The show, divided into five acts, opened with Kylie hoisted high into the air on a giant swing, and perched at the top of a diamond-shaped light installation.
From there, it was all glittering carats: In Your Eyes, Come Into My World, Spinning Around, Shocked, Better The Devil You Know, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, All The Lovers, and so much more.
“Oh Melbs, you were never going to disappoint,” Kylie said. “You just raised the bar.”
Meanwhile, earlier on Thursday, Minogue posted a collaboration with TikTok star Julian Sewell to her Instagram page.
Minogue, dressed in bold 1990s chic, with striking makeup from her Impossible Princess era, plays spiky housewife Arlene in the hilarious clip.
In the video, Arlene rings her husband’s workplace and asks for a returned phone call.
“I know he’s a busy bee,” Arlene sneers, “but I should be so lucky if he calls me back.”
Originally published as Kylie Minogue’s Melbourne concert rekindled the sparkle, spirit and the sexiness of Vegas
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