REVIEW

Kylie Minogue

Earls Court

THE NEXT time Kylie Minogue embarks on a major tour will probably be in 2008, to mark the 20th anniversary of her first number one. In the midst of the current fuss about it being 50 years since Elvis changed the world, it may be strange to think that for many people under the age of 30, Kylie's could be an even more significant landmark.

This 37-year-old in the 16-inch corset has been at or near the top of pop's tree throughout the past two decades, flitting in and out of fashion, squeezing in and out of increasingly minuscule outfits, always looking as if there are plenty more glitterball classics to come.

Lesser starlets have come and gone, while other Eighties chart- toppers are now creeping back into daylight, tentatively hoping we still remember their names. Kylie's staying power is remarkable above all else.

An indication of her hold over the British public is given by her current Showgirl tour, which arrived in London over the bank holiday weekend for seven arena shows. Since she last toured in 2002 she has notched up seven more top 10 singles, and now she will don her gargantuan feathered contraption for a total of 300,000 people across Britain.

She glided on to the stage dressed as a nine-foot blue ostrich to open proceedings with a nostalgic blast of Better The Devil You Know, surrounded by a strutting troupe of men sporting sparkly pants and huge black wings.

There followed a veritable dumper truck of visual treats - her most faithful fanbase got a beefcake shower scene during Red Blooded Woman, and oily hunks pumping iron in Slow.

She dressed as a Doctor Who villain for the futuristic Can't Get You Out Of My Head and a flamenco dancer for the Latin sounds of Please Stay. The real show stopper saw her drifting down from the ceiling crooning Somewhere Over The Rainbow perched on the edge of a crescent moon. Her voice was strong, if shrill at times, although she skipped the high notes in a climactic I Believe In You, the fabulous recent single written for her by the Scissor Sisters.

Despite her myriad re-inventions, no corner of her career was deemed too embarrassing to visit. The Locomotion was reinvented as a smoky jazz number, 1991's Shocked as pumping acid house, but the endearingly terrible I Should Be So Lucky was performed unchanged, and Especially For You was sung as a cheesy duet with the swaying audience.

The reception was incredible for a woman who, after all this time, remains as unknowable as a statue, who barely communicated with the crowd until the end of her two-hour set.

Perhaps the mystery of her personality makes it easier to focus on the songs, of which she now has enough winners to make for a flawless two hours of arena entertainment. That forthcoming 20th anniversary will be but one more landmark on a very long road.

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