Coming back from Chicago yesterday evening, I still find myself humming
Kylie Minogue songs everywhere I go. Seeing her
live on Wednesday October 7th was
QUITE an experience. Total
S-P-E-C-T-A-C-L-E! Wow. Before I get into the good, let’s first discuss the bad bits…
Having recently announced a change of venue, I didn’t know what to expect. The reason for the venue change was that the production was apparently too big for the Congress Theater. The new venue was the UIC Pavilion. I was honestly a bit disappointed initially because the Congress Theater sounded more intimate. I had never been to either location before so I didn’t know what to expect, but I DID know that I had paid almost $100.00 for a General Admission ticket. To me, that should mean up close & personal. Unfortunately the UIC Pavilion was NOT up close and personal. Since the new venue was bigger, they sold more tickets, which means more people. I’m not one of those people that gets to a venue super early, and as a result I missed the opportunity to stand in front of the stage. They only allowed 1,500 people into the main stage area and the rest sat in the stadium seats around the stage. $100.00 is a lot to spend for a GA ticket, and while I had a great time, I was still left a little bit miffed.
All negative aside, Kylie really did play to the whole crowd. She knew her audience was predominantly gay men and both her performance AND the show itself truly catered to her audience. There were Jean Paul Gaultier-designed costumes, there were strobe lights & confetti, there was glitter, lasers, and lots and lots of thumping bass. Oh…and there were lots of half naked men prancing around on stage.
The show opened with Kylie singing Light Years as she descended down on a big shiny skull. Kylie was decked out in pink feathery gayness. Of course, some speaker hanging above the stage was obstructing my view of Kylie (I was sitting off to the right of the stage) but that’s OK. At first it sounded like she was lip-syncing, but no. She was DEFINITELY singing live. The show was the perfect mix of both old and new Kylie material, definitely pulling more from Fever and X with a little bit of Light Years and Body Language mixed in. Added bonuses came in the form of “Kids,” with one of the back-up singers filling in for Robbie Williams as well as a vampy Cabaret rendition of her first hit single “The Loco-Motion.” Kylie also gave us a taste of new material with “Better Than Today,” which to me sounded a little like something off of Light Years, with a little bit of X to keep it contemporary. I’m definitely pumped for the new record! The stand-out performance for me was an A Capella performance of “Your Disco Needs You.” I don’t know if this performance was in place of something else, because there was a technical issue going on at the time, and Kylie sang this song to keep things moving. Whatever the reason, Kylie proved her vocal abilities here sounding absolutely perfect throughout the set.
While I may have been a little disappointed in the venue, Kylie certainly did not disappoint. Not one single bit. I’m hoping and praying that this wasn’t her last North American tour but just in case it was…I’m glad that I was there to experience it. Wah-Wah-Wah-WOW!
**The tour photos above are NOT from her current U.S. Tour
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