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Behind the feathers with Team Kylie - Music - Entertainment - smh.com.au

Behind the feathers with Team Kylie

May 16, 2005
The Sun-Herald


Amazing energy ... Kylie Minogue on stage in her Showgirl tour.
Photo: AP

Kylie Minogue is hands-on down to the smallest details of her huge production of Showgirl, writes Christine Sams.

"Get your Kylie hat, this is your chance to wear Kylie's hat," yelled the Irishman flogging sequined cowboy hats on the street corner near The Point theatre in Dublin, where Australia's biggest pop export was about to perform her Showgirl concert. But forget about hats, how about an opportunity to step into Kylie's shoes?

OK, there were no tiny stilettos lined up backstage at the Dublin concert last month, but in the softly lit backstage area of the Showgirl tour, there were obvious pockets of Minogue razzle-dazzle. Amid the piles of black amplifiers and the busy technicians preparing for the unveiling of the concert, there was a rack of feathered costumes - large angel wings, yellow feathers, sequins twinkling here and there.

It might look like every aspect of Kylie's life is dazzling (boyfriend included, but more on him later) but there's hard graft beneath those feathers. Minogue's manager Terry Blamey, who invited S backstage in Dublin, said there was every reason for the Las Vegas feel: "This is a show, not a concert," he said, matter-of-factly.

Blamey is the guard dog of Minogue's career, an incredibly successful music manager who heads up the close-knit team the singer keeps around her. Behind the stage curtains and the smiling, fresh-faced pop princess who has charmed millions of fans around the world, a finely tuned machine creates the Showgirl experience.

The machine is made up of more than 100 crew members and headed by long-term associates of the singer, including Blamey, Minogue's mum Carol and grandmother Milly, who travelled with her everywhere during the European leg of the tour. But insiders say it is Minogue, with her perfectionist tendencies and work ethic, who firmly controls proceedings.

"When she gets herself into tour mode, that's it, it's rigorous," says Michael Gudinski, the promoter for the Australian leg of Showgirl, who first backed Minogue when she was a teen star on Neighbours. "If things aren't right, whether it's the fourth night in Dublin or the fifth night in Sydney, if something's not right, she's onto it. She wants perfection."

Even the tiniest details are patently important to Minogue's team. In Dublin, Blamey was keen to boast that during her show, Minogue is never away from the stage for more than 45 seconds. Pedantic reviewers such as myself might suggest her absences stretched to about two minutes (with Minogue sometimes returning to stage with a slightly desperate, just-zipped-up energy) but that statistic in itself is impressive, given Minogue's spectacular costume shifts during Showgirl.

When she steps on stage in Sydney on Thursday night for her first Australian Showgirl concert, Minogue will be primed to deliver her best-known pop hits amid a flurry of dancers, laser lights and shimmering sets, including a giant silver moon.

The triumphant, exciting, dazzling nature of the show is at best a celebration of everything Minogue has achieved, at worst a recognition of the extraordinary powers of manufactured pop. But you'd have to be crazy not to take your hat off to Minogue, for her determination has yielded a level of success rarely matched by local or international artists.

"This tour has just completely stamped her as the Queen," says Gudinski. "She's in her own space."

For the record, Minogue turns 37 at the end of this month, midway through her Australian tour. The singer's phenomenal success has not come without hard work, often to the detriment of her personal life. It's something Minogue has referred to openly in the past, but she insists she is happy in her relationship with French actor Olivier Martinez, despite the current rigours of touring. "It's going great, contrary to what you might have read," she told reporters in the UK. "He's been fantastic, really amazing and supportive."

Behind the scenes on the European tour, Blamey made it clear Minogue's key focus is on the show, not her private life. Despite occasionally relaxing with a late-night dinner and some wine, Minogue does not go out partying while she's on the road. Gudinski backs this up: "When she's on the road it's hard for her because her whole focus is on the show, she hardly ever goes out," he says. "Even if she wanted to go out, it's a real hassle for her [because] of how much work there is, but also it's pretty hard to go out as Kylie Minogue. She does get irritated when there are paparazzi chasing her. It is part of the deal, but it is a disease which has really come out of England. It just puts a whole further pressure on things."

Gudinski provided a rare insight into the working relationship between Minogue and Blamey, something he compares to Elvis and Colonel Tom. "[Terry] has had an enormous part in her career having such longevity," he says. "I think in a business where there's very little loyalty from all sides of the fence, it's been incredibly refreshing to see two people work together for so long and achieve so much.

"I think one of the keys to their success is they're not in each other's face. They're absolutely partners as such, that's the relationship they have. [But] they're not close friends. They can rely on each other heavily and yet they keep a certain distance. They don't go off on holidays together and stuff like that."

On the road, though, Blamey and Minogue work intensely together to make sure everything runs smoothly. But there are still some light-hearted moments. Half an hour before the Dublin concert, Minogue was wandering around pretending to be a gypsy, jokingly reading people's palms. But friends say she still suffers from pre-show nerves.

"There's immense pressure on her because you've got a crew on the road of 100 or so people and you've got 15 to 20,000 people in the audience and they're all there for her," says Gudinski. "The show can't go on without her.

"I'm sure like most performers she gets a bit of nerves. She's a true entertainer and those first-night nerves are there. On the Australian tour she's done a lot of shows already, so the pressure isn't there as much. But there's nothing more important to Kylie than coming home and playing to her home audiences."

There have been hints that when Minogue performs her Australian concerts for the Showgirl tour, and a final concert at England's legendary Glastonbury Festival in June, she may take an extended break from performing live.

Gudinski believes she could carry on for decades. "Someone asked me the other day 'how long do you think Kylie can keep going and keep doing it?'. Kylie is an artist that can keep going and doing it as long as she wants to," he said. "I'm not suggesting this will be the case, but when Kylie's 60 she will still have an audience. If she's doing shows then, it will be something else again."

But Minogue herself has pretty much confirmed she'll be taking a break: "I think an audience devotes a lot of energy to a greatest-hits show like this and I don't think you can keep asking that of them," she told Time Out in the UK. "So yeah, I don't see myself doing this again in a hurry."

They're strong words from a woman who has been known to crank out back-to-back tours and who rebuilt the second half of her career on the hype and spectacle surrounding her big-budget shows.

But perhaps Minogue is becoming more comfortable with what she's achieved so far. For a woman who was once accused (by people envious of those famous gold hotpants) of getting Botox injections in her behind, the one thing that stood out about Minogue during her performance in Dublin was her wrinkles: up on the big screen, you could actually see a few friendly creases around her eyes, but nothing out of the ordinary for a woman in her 30s. Maybe it means Minogue is finally more relaxed in her own skin - no sequins necessary.

Kylie Minogue performs at the Sydney SuperDome on Thursday and Friday nights (sold out) but a new show has been added on Saturday night (May 21). Bookings through Ticketek on 9266 4800 or http://www.ticketek.com.au. She will return to Sydney for sold-out shows at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Tuesday, May 31, and Wednesday, June 1, but has added another new show on Thursday, June 2. Bookings through Ticketmaster7 on 136 100.