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Elly Roberts reviews
Parlophone
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 3433519
- Running time: 144 mins
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 0, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Linear PCM Stereo
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: On documentary – English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish
- Widescreen: 16:9
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Rating: 6/10
- Extras: Behind The Feathers documentary (20 mins) Screen Projections,DVD-ROM Section; Booklet: Glossy pictures, credits
Kylie Minogue has always had the best people behind her.
Best producers and stylists have more than made up for her feather weightvoice. Things are no different here.
Pulling in a great all round production team, they put on the style in oneof the slickest shows ever: with a cost of £5m, it showed in everydepartment.
Feathers, gloss and froth run riot throughout the two hour non-stopspectacular filmed at Earl’s Court London on May 6 2005.
Fourteen and a half thousand fans witnessed the Impossible Princess roll outthe hits and more.
Designed as a ‘Hits’ tour, it also included fan favourites such as Dreamsand Impossible Princess to pad out her huge stage back-catalogue. Using the1930’s Art Deco theme for costume and set, she strutted her stuff in ahighly stylised fashion, leaving little room for free expression – but thatwas the agenda and it worked. The initial ‘artistic’ brief was impressive asit followed a nostalgic and up-to-date plan.
Incorporating space age Kylie, torch singer Kylie, Las Vegas Kylie,disco-diva Kylie and Folies Bergere Kylie, it represents the pop princess inall her evolutionary guises – a true retrospective of her career.
On stage we get muscular men and rounded ladies parading in various costumesto add to the glamour-this show should have been taken to Las Vegas wherethey would have lapped it up. Aesthetically, it’s is one of the best showsyou’ll see, but falls way short of Cher’s incredible Farewell Concert.
Lighting and set design get top marks, as do the brilliant band on bothsides of the main set.
Kylie’s ubiquitous singing is perfect for the dance songs which are purepop, though the low key ballads like Over The Rainbow reveal her weaknesses.Most of the time her voice is characterless – her fans don’t really care. Atleast she’s doing it live.
Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head are sensational crowdpleasers: Confide In Me was by far the best on the night.
Snappy multi angled shots and surround sound capture every fleeting second.
Mini-documentary Behind The Feathers gives us an insight into the planning,and various behind the scenes shots during rehearsal and showtime.
On a night like this, Kylie is unstoppable.
Kylie releases her first ever digital only single on Parlophone on CHRISTMASDAY. The single, a live version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow is backed by SantaBaby. Eight further live tracks and 3 video tracks are available now.
Tracklist includes: Better The Devil You Know, Confide In Me,Chocolate, Hand On Your Heart, Especially For You.
Weblink:Kylie.com
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.