Kylie Minogue hasn’t performed at BST Hyde Park in nearly a decade, but my goodness she knows how to make up for lost time.
Our camp queen of addictive dance pop, 80s singalong hits and euphoric 00s floorfillers returned to the London festival for the first time since 2015, and her comeback could not have been more outrageous.
Entering onto the stage in skintight red latex to a heaving crowd of 65,000, it was like a seal had been broken. Life has been grim lately in the UK – our summer so far has been defined by a haphazard general election and classic cold, grey British weather. In July.
But Kylie made it all OK again, at least for those of us crammed into Hyde Park – she put on one hell of a party and gave us a reason to feel joyful again. It didn’t even rain despite threats from the clouds, and I fully believe this was the power of Kylie. It just cannot rain in her presence.
She kicked off the night with Tension, one of her newer bangers, dressed in aforementioned red latex backed by a gaggle of sweaty male dancers in their own shiny outfits.
‘Here’s the thing, I knew we were going to be here tonight,’ she said after her epic intro through the world’s biggest smile. ‘I knew you were going to be here tonight, but you still take my breath away. British Summer Time, I’m really aware it was nine years since I last played this stage… But we are here and I am so so grateful.’
Not to bang on about a woman’s age too much, but it’s genuinely impossible to believe Kylie, 56, has been around since the 80s. We’ve been blessed with decades of her but she appeared on stage in the body of a 25-year-old. It has to be said that she is in another echelon of youthfulness, and this goes beyond her appearance. Absolutely fizzing with energy and awe at her own concert, it was gorgeous to see and be a part of Kylie’s world for 90 minutes.
From Come Into My World to In Your Eyes, Get Outta My Way to fan-favourite Red Blooded Woman and eerie, ethereal Confide In Me (accompanied by Dementor-looking hooded fellows) the first half of the show was a riot. Kylie is the ultimate show-woman, dripping in glitter and fun and bouncing around on stage like a toddler who broke into the chocolate drawer.
Her energy is infectious, but so too is her emotion. Of course Kylie’s show was 98% upbeat and clubby, but she had no qualms in showing just how touched she was by the support from the tens of thousands of fans there.
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For an artist who started her pop career in the late 80s, Kylie has really managed to bridge a generational gap. She was openly stunned and honoured to see so many people in the crowd of all ages, from young kids dancing to Padam Padam to elderly ravers, and she made sure everyone was satisfied with her anthem-filled set. Visually it was a feast for the eyes too, with the Aussie legend making several outfit changes, wearing five looks overall, including that red latex jumpsuit, a gold gown with a wet-look effect clinging to her body, a heavily tasseled sheer jumpsuit and a shimmering sheer catsuit with a black skirt draped over the top and covered in what may as well have been diamonds. She was sparkling.
She even tried a request segment, joking with her fans that she regretted offering this up as an option before treating us with swift acapella versions of Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi, 2 Hearts and Got To Be Certain. Then a quick bit of I Should Be So Lucky proved her vocals are still perfection.
More hits came, with epic, disco-infused light shows and pulsating graphics backing our pint-sized princess, through Slow, Better the Devil You Know, Spinning Around, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Padam Padam (of course) and the Locomotion, for which she of course pulled out the old train routine down the catwalk stage. Cute, perfect Kylie.
She ended her sensational night with a three song encore with On A Night Like This, her new track My Oh My with special guests Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo and Love At First Sight.
It really was an outrageously good gig, drenched in glitter and pop perfection for the thousands of us in Hyde Park, Kylie really did cure us all and proved she is the best to do it. Nobody can throw a party quite like her.