Kylie
Live @ The O2, Dublin
Celina Murphy, 08 Apr 2011
Excelsior! Someone has rediscovered the lost city of Atlantis and hoisted it onto the O2 stage for my amusement, complete with Trojan-era architecture and sexy, gyrating townspeople! Let us boogie like ‘tis 432 BC!
Forgive me, but there’s so much going on up there, I’ve forgotten that there’s a long-serving pop princess to be fawned over. When Kylie Minogue finally takes to the stage in a giant, gilded clam (note: it won’t be the first giant, gilded somethingorother she appears in tonight), my jaw physically drops... and keeps dropping for the next 120 marvellously ludicrous minutes.
Kylie’s $60 million-grossing Showgirl Tour set a new precedent for grandiose pop shows back in 2005, while KylieX2008 was an even more extravangant extravaganza, spanning several time-periods over eight precisely-themed “acts”. But even by this overachieving Aussie’s standards, the Aphrodite les Folies show is hugely ambitious. Fusing the twin inspirations of Greek mythology and the celebrated 1945 MGM musical Ziegfield Follies is no small task.
Luckily, after a total of 12 concert tours, Ms. Minogue knows exactly what she wants... and what she wants is a ginormous 20ft bust of her own head. You guessed it – no luxury is spared in this neo-classical wet dream, and absolutely nobody is complaining. After all, it wouldn’t be a Kylie party without a host of needlessly flamboyant toys (in this case, an enormous gold Pegasus figurine and a human harp).
Clearly, Aphrodite les Folies was put together by the best creative team money can buy – the choreography is top-notch, costumes by Dolce & Gabbana are nothing short of phenomenal, and the wildly contorting ribbon dancers are some of the most impressive performers I’ve seen.
But it’s not all sweat and breastplate burns. While her 16-strong troop of move-busters are dangling, two at a time, on a piece of string, Kylie solicits help to walk down the stairs. She also gets ferried across the stage on a chariot and flown to the roof of the arena on the back of a sexy, winged Adonis.
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