Live At The Point Depot, Dublin

Having followed Kylie’s career throughout my Australian adolescence, it was with great excitement that I went along to the Point to be reunited with the diminutive singer for the Showgirl: Greatest Hits tour. On the final night of a five night run at the Point, I was intrigued, but not surprised, to see that Kylie had drawn such a cross-section of society.
Looking around at various moments, I saw young families passing popcorn buckets, gaggles of gals in cowboy hats and sequined apparel, middle-aged women in midriff-baring dance moves, testosterone-fuelled men beguiled by the object of their sexual fantasy and swarms of screaming queens faced with the world’s biggest gay icon. Like all great pop shows, Kylie Minogue offered something for everyone.
A celebratory trip down memory lane, Kylie moved with chameleon-like ease and professionalism. As dancer, clotheshorse, performer and singer, she really is the ultimate Showgirl – a pint-sized focal point for a colossal show that took in seven band members, a troupe of twelve dancers, several set and costume changes and a stage construction that transformed the Point “Theatre” from holding-ground warehouse to a powerhouse of hydraulic lifts, sweeping staircases, catwalks, projection screens and mirrorball crescent moon swing (for ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’).
Visually, it felt like the Mardi Gras had come to town. Musically, we knew what to expect. But this was Kylie and she pulled out the stops. Clocking in at two hours running time, the show took in most of her new two-disc Ultimate Kylie collection, charting her finest moments and the most cringe-worthy, like ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ and a decidedly sexy swing version of ‘The Locomotion’.
Costume-wise, we saw plenty of throwbacks to the Moulin Rouge, with the former Absinthe Fairy opening in diamond-clad corsetry and a peacock-like tail and crown. The feathers re-emerged in a Roman theme and a marching band summoned ‘Your Disco Needs You’, while an ‘80s chapter manifested all manner of fluorescent flourishes, smiley faces, peace signs, bike shorts, polka dots and lasers. Utterly priceless.
Most camp of all was the communal gym shower scene, which featured four men in newsprint underpants, backs to the crowd, as they preened themselves to ‘Slow’. The homoerotic factor was outrageous throughout.
The only real let down was that Jason Donovan, who as fate would have it was playing a “more intimate” gig across town, didn’t make a cameo appearance for ‘Especially For You’, which Kylie engaged the crowd with during the joyous second encore. Bravo.

Photo by Cathal Dawson.