We’re still Spinning Around following the announcement that Kylie chose our Great Southern Land as her Tension world tour launchpad – yippee! Our Kylie’s homecoming!
Kylie has long surpassed the expected popstar lifespan, but you can’t remain relevant for 36-plus years – and be the first female artist to top the UK album charts across five decades – by accident. She’s our queen of multiple, meticulous renaissances – hello, Padam Padam era! – and we can guarantee Kylie’s Tension shows will be joyful, life-affirming experiences, ‘cause that’s just her brand.
And what makes Kylie’s triumphant live shows even more delicious to experience is her survivor spirit, both personally and professionally. Circa The Loco-Motion, radio stations declared themselves “Kylie free zone”s, simply refusing to support this soapie star’s musical dreams with airplay. Look at her now, suckers!
We’ve been promised these Tension shows will be her biggest since 2011’s Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour, and additional shows have already been added following demand during presales – as high as Kylie’s sky-high stilettos. Side note: let’s face it, exactly no one can dance as elegantly in heels as Kyles from Camberwell.
Here’s How To Score Tickets To Kylie’s 2025 ‘Tension’ Tour
Given that her upcoming 2025 tour is named after Tension and Tension II – the sequel to Kylie’s 2023 album, which drops on 18 October – we’re pretty sure the setlist will draw heavily from recent material, but let’s not forget she didn’t get to tour 2020’s shimmering Disco album! (We’ll take Where Does The DJ Go, please.)
Timeless, race-ya-to-the-dancefloor bangers? Guaranteed. Misty, water-coloured, side-stepping, blissful-grin-wearing nostalgia flashbacks are also a given. Just add hawt dancers, incredible fashion, pyrotechnics, mirrorballs, plus the below 10 Special Requests (pretty please?) and AAAAAAH! You already know Kylie’s 2025 Tension shows will be unmissable, right?
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (2001)
Those emotionless “la-la-la”s make such satisfying communal singalongs! Ahead of Kylie’s upcoming Australian dates, we totally recommend you learn the Michael Rooney-choreographed, ‘sexy robot’ chorus dance moves from this clip as well, which – thanks to compact arm-ography – could easily be performed in front of your seat without knocking out neighbours in the crowd.
We can’t think of a single person on the planet other than Kylie who would be able to pull off the lewks in this music video, especially the draped, white jersey, hooded jumpsuit – with long, bat-wing sleeves and thigh-high slits – that totally breaks the ye olde golden rule to reveal heaps of leg or cleavage, never both. Gotta love that Kylie gifted this ensemble to the Arts Centre Melbourne as well.
Fun fact: Both S Club 7 and Sophie Ellis-Bextor passed on Can’t Get You Out Of My Head before Kylie snapped it up.
Spinning Around (2000)
Does it get any more iconic than this glitzy, euphoric slice of pop wonderment (and those teeny gold hotpants)? The only correct answer here is no. Spinning Around rescued Kylie from commercial oblivion back in 2000 and, not to condone shoving, but we totally love acting out this song’s chorus: “I’m spinning around/ Move out of my way…”
Did you know? Written by Ira Shickman, Osborne Bingham, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul, Spinning Around was initially penned for Paula’s own album. When that didn’t happen, Kylie lucked out!
Padam Padam (2023)
This song contains so many fun lyrics to camp up while lip-syncing (don’t drown out Our Kylie, thanks!), including but not limited to: “And I can tell you how this ends/ I’ll be in your head all weekend…” and “But we don’t need to use our words/ Wanna see what’s underneath that T-shirt” – stahp! Way to make us blush while we dance, Kylie!
From when those hi-hats enter halfway through Padam Padam’s chorus, nothing else matters except pulling shapes to the driving electro-pop beats.
Have you been in a club/at a house party when the robotic, inquisitive, “Padam?” that opens this deadset contender for Choon Of The Decade pumps through the stezza? Cue: mass squeals and a chorus of, “I LOVE THIS SONG!” Now transfer this moment to AN ACTUAL KYLIE CONCERT – nuff said. Come to think of it, it might be fun to measure your heart rate on a Smartwatch/Fitbit after experiencing this one live.
Did you know? After the station eventually caved following fan backlash and added Padam Padam, our Kyles became the first woman over 50 to be added to rotation on BBC Radio 1.
ICYMI: Be sure to check out the spoof of Padam Padam’s music video that genius staff members from Hobbycraft, a fabric shop in Wimbledon, shared on TikTok:
Slow (2003)
This breathy, minimal number gives us horny goosebumps. It also provides a breather from full-out dancing ‘cause Slow’s more for slow-mo, oozing moves and seductive side-eye. According to one British Summer Time reviewer, Kylie’s current live version of Slow is sped up – an “erotic frenzy”. We could swoon along to Kylie’s breathy, innocent delivery here aaaaaaall day.
Did you know? Tricky covered Slow for his 2008 Knowle West Boy record. You’re welcome.
Step Back In Time (1990)
“Remember the ooold daaaaaaays…” – obviously, her SAW (Stock, Aitken and Waterman) era needs acknowledging, and Kylie historically tackles this during her live shows via a medley. Although lately, she’s included an a-cappella requests section, so maybe plastering your old-school request onto an attention-grabbing banner would improve your chances?
Step Back In Time’s cheesy ‘80s synth line is simply irresistible, but we’d also love to hear at least a snippet of I Should Be So Lucky (preferably the gorge torch-song version that appears on Kylie’s 1998 Intimate & Live album), Shocked; the enraptured Love At First Sight; her duet with Jason Donovan, Especially For You; Better The Devil You Know – one of Kylie’s most-successful songs ever; and, of course, the song that started it all for Australia’s soapie star-turned-pop princess: The Loco-Motion, “chug-a chug-a motion”-inspired arm movements inclusive – toot-toot, all aboard!
Where The Wild Roses Grow (1995)
Kylie performed a snippet of her Nick Cave duet, Where The Wild Roses Grow (from Cave’s 1996 album Murder Ballads), when the Golden tour hit our shores in 2019 – her last Australian shows on home soil – which was thoroughly enjoyable. But we want more!
Ever since Sir Nick sauntered on stage to make a surprise appearance during Kylie’s 2019 Glastonbury set to perform Where The Wild Roses Grow, we’ve been wishing and hoping for this to happen on local stages. Yeah, yeah, we totally understand this is a stretch, given that Cave doesn’t even live here anymore, but a girl can dream, right?
Confide In Me (1994)
After three years off, this deadset masterpiece was released as Kylie’s first single on her freshly-inked Deconstruction Records deal. Upon its release, Confide In Me – one of the most innovative singles from the ‘90s, IMHO – received much popular and critical acclaim.
“We all get hurt by love/ And we all have a cross to bear…” – with its woozy strings replicating the melody of It’s A Fine Day (Jane’s 1983 a-capella indie hit, which Opus III later translated into a 1992 dancefloor banger), Confide In Me perfectly represents the Sex Kylie era.
Did you know? Confide In Me’s drum beats were sampled from a jazzy 1974 Jimmy Smith cover of Barry White’s I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More, Babe.
Fun fact: Kylie has also performed this song in French, which we would very much love to experience live, s’il vous plaît.
Red Blooded Woman (2003)
“This girl wants to rock with you!” – remember this underrated belter? The beat actually wouldn’t sound outta place on an Eminem record! Red Blooded Woman made/makes us wanna be Kylie’s kinda sexy (read: keepin’ it classy).
Kylie performed a shortened version of Red Blooded Woman during her headlining set in Hyde Park for British Summer Time (July 2024), so we feel pretty confident it’ll get a guernsey during her Tension Tour. All together now: “You’ll never get to Heaven if you’re scared of getting high…”
10 Out Of 10 (2023)
“Wanna kiss me where the sun don’t shine?” – just WOW! Way to make us blush, Kylie!
A contender for next season’s Pose theme song, the fabulous 10 Out Of 10 flirts with New York’s underground ballroom culture before a sampled ‘judge’ gives Kylie full marks in all categories: “Body: 10/ Touch: 10/ Energy: 10/ 10 out of 10” – it’ll make you strut, duckwalk (start doing your squats now to slowly build up to these and hopefully avoid gig injury) and vogue like you own that runway. Kylie has been referred to as ‘Nice Madonna’, which checks out.
All The Lovers (2010)
For some reason, experiencing All The Lovers en masse in an amplified live setting – especially when accompanied by exploding glitter/ticker-tape cannons – offers a delightfully wistful opportunity to remember our lost loved ones. “All the lovers that have gone before… They don’t compare…” – gazing around a packed arena filled with smartphone torches held aloft and beaming faces is such a powerful communal experience! •sets reminder alarm for 10 and 5 mins before Kylie tix go on sale*
Tension II drops on 18 October via Mushroom Music. Tickets to Kylie Minogue’s Tension Tour are available via Frontier Touring.
Presented by Frontier Touring and MG Live
KYLIE MINOGUE
TENSION TOUR
AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY/MARCH 2025
Saturday 15 February – RAC Arena | Perth, WA
Tuesday 18 February – Adelaide Entertainment Centre | Adelaide, SA
Thursday 20 February – Rod Laver Arena | Melbourne, VIC
Friday 21 February – Rod Laver Arena | Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 22 February – Rod Laver Arena | Melbourne, VIC – NEW SHOW
Wednesday 26 February – Brisbane Entertainment Centre | Brisbane, QLD
Thursday 27 February – Brisbane Entertainment Centre | Brisbane, QLD – NEW SHOW
Saturday 1 March – Qudos Bank Arena | Sydney, NSW
Sunday 2 March – Qudos Bank Arena | Sydney, NSW
Monday 3 March – Qudos Bank Arena | Sydney, NSW – NEW SHOW
