Kylie Minogue at the Moody Center - April 17, 2025

Now that's how you command an audience

I was aware of Kylie Minogue when she covered The Locomotion (by Carol King, natch!), way back circa 1987.  I figured she was one of a thousand flash-in-the-pan pop starlets, especially as, much like Tiffany covering I Think We're Alone Now, the song was already in the zeitgeist.  

I can't say I thought much about Kylie again until she popped up as The Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge, at which point I began formulating the idea that Kylie is a good idea, indeed.

a stunningly good argument for absinthe

And then, of course, with the release of her album, Fever, she dropped the single Can't Get You Out Of My Head, and America was finally given a real look at Minogue - including a 2002 appearance on SNL (that is not currently on YouTube, which is a shame).  

As happens, for whatever reason, Minogue has had a hard time breaking into the US mainstream market in the way she has in her native Australia, Europe and beyond.  

If I had to guess - and I may be wrong - Kylie's music and videos tend to be unapologetically sexy - more than just hinting at sex, and without the "look at me, I'm being bad" vibe Americans think is so naughty and desirable, and which Madonna has managed to turn into a career (I love Madonna's first couple of decades, so no shade).  And Kylie tends to do it while remaining herself - her growth and changes organic, and not sudden shifts.  And American music press are sometimes weird and US-centric, let's be honest.

She does have a cult audience of sorts here, as many folks who are big in the UK but not here do.  In particular, she's got a big LGBQT+ following, but, honestly - you may not own any Kylie, but who doesn't like her?

So, between the 2001 release of Fever (which kind of blew up here and has gone Platinum) and 2020, I just wasn't particularly exposed to Kylie's music, which I found kind of odd, but gave minimal thought.

Then, COVID hit.  And we all know how that went.  

But in July - about four months in - Kylie dropped the video for Say Something off her forthcoming album, Disco.  And in a pretty glum time, that song and video seemed like a phenomenal idea.  

At the time I wasn't just locked in my house, but I was working *all the time*.  So I'd put on Kylie on Google Play Music while I worked, and it was what the doctor ordered.  And I confess that I found the entirety of Minogue's Disco very listenable.  In a very real way, Kylie Minogue helped out during a pretty bleak time.

And so it was, I began collecting Minogue's work on vinyl.  And now I have a fairly decent stack.  I am also known to chill out and play some Kylie on Google Play.  I became an actual fan somewhere in there.

She followed Disco with Tension, which featured Padam Padam, which was a surprise song-of-the-summer for many.  And, again, I dug the album.  Personally, I find the title track, Tension, my favorite on the record, and it's kinda what I mean by Minogue delivering straight sexy songs.

I agree with Minogue that her next album was a musical continuation of the first, and so titling it Tension II makes complete sense.  And once again, it's got a truckload of good tracks.  (check out Edge of Saturday Night, for example).  

And then she announced she was touring.  And, to my shock, she was coming to Austin.  So, I called pal JAL, who had also been a fan of the Disco album and - because JAL is always up for a goof - he agreed to go.

Along the way, I found out that Simon had also bought tickets, so he was going to be there somewhere  (edit:  Simon texted me from London, and he was not there).  And when JAL and I met up at Sholz Garten, we ran into old pal, TreyMerica, also headed for the show.

We departed the place together, and for the first time, I was talked into taking one of the bike taxis you see around town.  I am unsure he understood it was me, Trey and JAL, but it was and we got there safe and sound.

For selections from my pics, and snippets of video, join us here.

JAL and TreyMerica

  and, of course, me and JAL.  We had good seats.  Not great seats, but good.

your blogger and JAL

Pop star Rita Ora opened, and I admit, we missed most of her set.  I am also admitting: this was a mistake.  What we did see was great.  I'm now a convert.

I'll be digging into Ora's discography this weekend.

Just after 8:30, the show started, and it was... well, it was great.  The last arena show I went to was Roxy Music circa 2022 at the same Moody Center location.  This was much more full and the crowd far crazier.

The set list is here.  I learned I know a lot of Kylie songs, and many of the lyrics to some of them.  

The show was a big, splashy stage event that was maybe not sold out, but damn near. 

Apparently Kylie hasn't ever played Austin, and maybe not Texas.  Hopefully the incredibly enthusiastic response by the crowd was enough to think about coming back.  I can't recall the last time I was at a show and the audience got that loud between songs just to let the performers know they were having a good time.

Dancers, costume changes, confetti, disco balls, banter from the stage...  it was all pretty great.  For this stop here in Texas, she performed Dancing from Golden - which is my favorite off that album.  

Maybe half-way through, she came to a stage in the middle of the arena and performed some tracks from Disco.  And talked about what she'd wanted to do touring with the album when it started, but it, of course, didn't happen because of COVID.  And, as you might guess from when I started listening to Kylie, it felt a bit full circle-ish.

She is a consummate entertainer.  It is always great to see the folks who've been doing this a long time, who don't seem jaded, and have mastery over how to do a stage show and not look like they're now going through the motions.  For two solid hours, she sang (it was live, I believe), danced, ran around in heels and looked amazing.  If I had an idea what it would be - and I kinda did from watching videos of prior tours - it surpassed all that.

She did post to Threads, post-show:

View on Threads

And just in case Threads loses those pics