Love was definitely in the air as pint-sized pop princess Kylie Minogue held court at Brisbane Entertainment Centre last night (26 February).
Minogue had the audience in the palm of her hand from go to whoa with a mix of hits from every decade of her career.The eclectic set list matched the diverse range of people of all ages who made up the sold-out crowd, many decked out in their own finery, with sequins, sparkles and tutus a popular choice.
There were a number of costumes throughout the evening for Minogue herself, who has shown over the years that she is a queen of reinvention who has been able to find relevance by continuing to write new chapters in her musical career.
Officially a tour for her latest releases 'Tension' and follow-up 'Tension II' – her sixteenth and seventeenth studio albums mind you – which has seen her dive headfirst into her EDM-dance-pop era, though only a few songs from those records featured like 'Lights Camera Action' to kick us off as well 'Good As Gone' and 'Edge Of Saturday Night'.
Image © Jesse Chaffey
Recent hit and winner of the inaugural Best Pop Dance Recording Grammy 'Padam Padam', from 'Tension' of course, was also performed, but mostly, Kylie happily mined her back catalogue reworking classics to the crowd's delight, at one stage even calling for requests.
'Better The Devil You Know' was the first song to get everybody up and on their feet dancing, while the performance of a reimagined 'The Loco-Motion' – her debut single originally released in 1987 – was a feature point of the evening.
Performing seems to come so naturally for Minogue, who started her set early and went through a solid two hours of performance with an array of songs, multiple set design changes and changes in tone; from the boisterous up-beat pop of her 1980s catalogue, to a moody and noir-inspired rendition of 'Confide In Me' which morphed into another of her sensual slow-burners 'Slow'.
Throughout the show, it seemed like she was also having genuine fun onstage and received great support from her seven-piece band and troupe of talented dancers.
Image © Jesse Chaffey
Earlier in the evening, local product Mallrat opened the show with some of help from DJ Denim, formerly of Mackay but now residing in Naarm (Melbourne). Mallrat performed a compact set featuring a few of her better-known songs and collaborations including 'Surprise Me', 'R U High', 'Charlie' and 'Pavement'.
With minimal stage production besides her name with a spider on it (and an accompanying 'fun fact' story about why she loves the eight-legged creatures), it gave nothing away on what was to come from Minogue, who hit with both barrels with sequins, streamers and strobe lights.
Kylie Minogue's Tension tour continues tonight at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre before three live dates in Sydney.
