Kylie X 2008 – Vector Arena, Auckland, Monday 8 December [Review by Darlene Brown]

http://www.kylie.com/

Don’t laugh, but I went to see Kylie Minogue. I did get a freebie – but I will admit I was intrigued to see what a 24 million dollar show might look like…

I went to her second show, and had heard a lot of the audience from the first night made an effort to dress up; however I arrived to girls and their BFF’s (with accompanying boyfriend/husband brigade looking guiltily uncomfortable) and loads of gay guys.

Vector was at capacity, and our tickets may well have been situated atop Mt Everest they were was so high up. The show started with Kylie dressed Cleopatra-like, and went through several different costume changes – Cheerleader, Sailor (with accompanying Love Boat Theme and Barry Manilow cover), Gentleman, Sparkly…more Sparkly…but the annoying thing was that between each change, the show literally stopped! In terms of the stage, it was dressed with a giant visual backdrop projecting Madonna-esque images of Kylie relating to the different songs/sets, and was littered with androgynous dancers and a backing band.

Songs covered were from the new album “X” and pretty much all of her singles – there were two encores of which the last contained an accapella version of Locomotion and a normal version of I Should Be So Lucky…which in all honestly was the only song that nearly everybody got up to dance to (but not me).The crowd overall was pretty calm considering the nature of her music, but managed to get excited every time Kylie said “New Zealand”. Kylie did manage to chat with the audience during the show; she turned up the lights, looked out at the crowd and praised a few fans who had made an effort to dress up which would have definitely made their year.

Overall, my thoughts on the concert was that it was all a bit too High School Musical for my taste. In fact, I really disliked it! I thought it lacked emotion, grit, and Kylie came off as a poor mans Madonna. I went with an open mind, a little excited to see what kind of show a popstar of Kylie’s fame would produce; and left really disappointed! One friend who is a huge Kylie fan had a blast – and obviously the woman has sold millions of records. But without the effects and costumes, the show would have been a dead bore – and as my colleague the next day put it: “millions of people can be wrong, right?”

Buy: Kylie Minogue