Australian Pop Rocket Lands in NYC...Sequins Found Near Surrounding Areas

To say I love the effervescent Kylie Minogue is an understatement. I have just about all her albums & tours on DVD. No, not only her tours I also have her video collection, which by the way Darien I want back cuz I'm going through SERIOUS withdrawals. Seriously kids, if you're ever in a funk just hop onto youtube and look for early Kylie videos, they're so horrible & cheesy that you can't help but be in a better mood by the end of it all. And she really needs to stop with the whole Showgirl theme for her concerts, cuz at this point it just seems like she oddly enjoys wearing feathers.

But I digress.

Aside from finding my 3 hellacious contest guest judges, this past weekend saw me finally being able to cross Ms. Minogue off my list of artists I love that I'll most likely never see live. At this point though the list is pretty much comprised of Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson and guess which one won't be crossed off anytime soon? That's right Robbie cuz I expect to see Michael in concert when they put his last one on DVD whereas Mr. Williams can't bother to get his stuff on a North American compatible format.

Back to my once in a lifetime (at this point anyway) experience. Truly the concert gods smiled upon me & my friends on Sunday as we got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened, were at basically the back of the line that wrapped around the block & STILL managed to get in before a majority of people who got there earlier and were essentially in front of us. Look, I'm not saying I'm proud of it or that I don't feel bad for people who got there at like 10am & then had to stand at the back. With that said I'm just chalking it all up to the karma of being a nice guy who helped a woman pick up her avocados at Bryant Park on Saturday while others gawked. See, fruit can bring good things other than digestion.

But on with the show!

That's not her actual opening but doesn't the head of the guy in front of me look like it could have opened up and shot her out with smoke? This is just the first decent pic I took of the diminutive diva. For the next 2 hours she gave us a cross section of all her albums, which would have been ok with me if she'd focused a little less of 'X,' but I get it's the "new-ish" one & all. This woman managed to cram her huge arena sized shows into the space of ballroom. Let me stress that again. She took a production that would fill Wembley Stadium & managed to fit it into a ballroom. Granted, it wasn't an airport Hilton ballroom but still that's some skill at work.

Never let it be said she doesn't know how to appeal to her audience & the boys were out in droves. It was like wall to wall lisp in there, but you know, not in a bad way, although if the place had been bombed there'd be at least 80% less fashion designers and hairstylists today. To that end of course there was outfit after outfit for her & well, less & less material for her male dancers. Again, the woman knows how to play to her audience. And did I mention that she did it all in heels? Not exactly Ginger Rogers style but I was just standing in the audience & my feet were about ready to cecede from the union that is my body. Although I'm pretty sure that's also cuz they're really opposed to freeing my ankles from slavery.

And while all that performing alone would be enough to make anyone realize this woman was clearly giving her US fans everything they'd been expecting, she took it a step further. One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a show where the performer essentially says "Hello (city I'm playing)" and "Good Night (city I'm playing)," with nary a deviation from the script. To say this woman reveled in audience interaction is like saying that Charles Manson is just a bit off. She spent the entire show talking to the audience, cracking jokes, I can't be entirely sure but I even think at one point she offered to make us vegamite sandwiches. Again, her natural adorableness didn't come off as phony or rehearsed, but like a genuine good time being had between her & a few 100 of her closest friends.

Hmmm, maybe that's why she tends to favor the theme of Showgirl. Although unlike Liz Berkely's Nomi, this is one showgirl who I can guarantee doesn't paint her nipples, especially not 2 different colors.