As you walked into the Burswood Dome, the stage for Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite World Tour looked a little disappointing, a series of stairs, roman columns and massive circular catwalk, and roman columns flanking the stage. Once they turned the lights on and the music started, it completely changed – this stage was a transformer.
In between each column were massive screens, the video content for this show a work of art in itself; gorgeous Adonis looking dancers diving into water, flying angels and tough warriors were everywhere. Kylie’s troupe of dancers flew through the air on ropes, leapt across the stage and got the hearts of the audience racing – and that’s all before Miss Minogue walked on stage.
The show worked through a series of themes starting off with Greek inspired warriors before moving through a series of stylish concepts. It kicked off with album title track Aphrodite, we quickly worked through The One, Wow and Illusion before a chariot appeared and the dancers pulled Kylie around the massive catwalk while she sang I Believe in You.
One of the show’s first highlights was a jazz infused version of Slow where the dancers fanned Kylie with feathers while the central stage rose up and spun around in a Berkeley-esque showcase that gave the crowd in the stands the best seats in the house. Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was transformed into a rock-infused anthem, while Looking for an Angel saw one dancer don massive wings before Kylie climbed on his back and flew right over the Splash Zone crowd. Once on the other side, a cover of The Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel Playing With My Heart rounded off the sequence.
Some in-between song banter allowed for an audience request that lead to a sing-a-long rendition of The Locomotion. The show came to an unexpected stop when Broome based couple Benjamin McHardy and Scott Goodhill got Kylie’s attention and took to the stage for an impromptu wedding proposal, creating the highlight of the night.
As another series of stairs grew out of the stage Kylie climbed to the top and sat alone singing Prefab Sprout’s If You Don’t Love Me, the B-side of the Confide in Me single. The song showcased Kylie’s vocal ability and showed that she had the ability to hold the audience’s attention without the stage theatrics, dancers and videos.
The big dance hits came forth at the end including Better the Devil You Know, Better Than Today and current single Put Your Hands Up. The encore saw giant water cannons shooting water across the stage and had the huge cast of singers and dancers follow Kylie to the front of the cat walk. A huge rotating fountain emerged from the stage as dancers flew into the air on ropes and twirled around. Water poured down over them as the erotic video imagery of All The Lovers was recreated live on stage.
Graeme Watson
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