Kylie Minogue has the Voice to wow Sheffield audience

Kylie Minogue - Pic: Wall To Wall - Photographer: Ray BurmistonKylie Minogue - Pic: Wall To Wall - Photographer: Ray Burmiston
Kylie Minogue - Pic: Wall To Wall - Photographer: Ray Burmiston
It seems an age since Kylie Minogue burst onto the British pop scene in 1988 with I Should Be So Lucky.

But now, 26 years since her first hit, the Pop Princess is still going strong.

And tonight the 46-year-old Australian songstress arrives in Sheffield as part of a full UK tour.

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She admits being on tour creates a ‘bubble’, insulating her and the rest of the crew from the outside world.

Kylie Minogue plays Sheffield's Motorpoint Arena tonight.Kylie Minogue plays Sheffield's Motorpoint Arena tonight.
Kylie Minogue plays Sheffield's Motorpoint Arena tonight.

The build-up can be a confusing time, because she has one foot in her real life, the other in tour-mode.

Kylie, who shot to fame as an actress, playing mechanic Charlene in Neighbours, says: “It’s a bit odd, but when we are fully on the road, you can’t really think about anything else, and the crew becomes family.

“If someone needs a hand or is having an off day, everyone else just rallies around to pick up the slack and helps out where they can.

“It’s an incredible thing.”

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21/12/2012 PA File Photo of Kylie Minogue performing during the Hit Factory Live Christmas Cracker concert, at the O2 arena in London. See PA Feature TV Kylie. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA Photos. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature TV Kylie.21/12/2012 PA File Photo of Kylie Minogue performing during the Hit Factory Live Christmas Cracker concert, at the O2 arena in London. See PA Feature TV Kylie. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA Photos. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature TV Kylie.
21/12/2012 PA File Photo of Kylie Minogue performing during the Hit Factory Live Christmas Cracker concert, at the O2 arena in London. See PA Feature TV Kylie. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA Photos. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature TV Kylie.

The current tour is the first time she has taken songs from Kiss Me Once, the album she released in March this year, out on the road.

She has performed a couple of them before, but with a backing track, rather than the full live band.

The setlist includes six songs from Kiss Me Once and a further 18 from the remainder of her career, including a medley or two, a couple of unexpected covers and, perhaps most exciting for pop fans, a full section of her Eighties hits – many of which were produced under the Pete Waterman Ltd banner with hit producers Stock Aitken Waterman.

Kylie was among PWL’s first breakthrough names, followed by the likes of Rick Astley, fellow Neighbours star Jason Donovan, Sinitt and 2 Unlimited.

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During the late Eighties and early Nineties, the charts were dominated by PWL acts, with Waterman claiming he is Britain’s most successful producer-songwriter ever, with worldwide single sales of 500 million.

Kylie says: “We’ve worked closely with them to get the recordings and it’s just brilliant.You’re going to hear sounds that you haven’t heard since the Eighties.

“They’re not all in the same key, though,” she says, noting she can’t quite hit the high notes of I Should Be So Lucky any more.

It was in 2001, at the age of 33, when Kylie really hit her stride.

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She had just released I Can’t Get You Out of My Head and it was after this release – a worldwide number one smash – she says she felt really confident.

She reflects: “It takes time. I still worry about a lot of things and my anxiety levels can go through the roof, especially on tour, although I don’t think they’re as bad as they used to be. I trust my team.”

However, even after all these years, she says the hardest thing about touring is adjusting to life afterwards.

“It can be tough and I believe there’s a recognised condition of post-tour depression,” she says.

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“When you have been away on a tour where your adrenalin is going every day, it can happen.

“I have friends who say they look forward to doing nothing after tour, but I always tell them that’s the worst thing you can do.

“Your adrenal glands are screaming, ready to go, so you have to keep active.

“Whenever I get off tour, I make sure I see my friends to find out what they’ve been doing. It’s like, ‘Enough about me, what have you been doing?’ It’s easy to get out of the loop, so it’s great catching up.”

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And with all this touring Kylie is planning to take next year off – she has already confirmed she will not be returning as a judge in the next series of BBC TV talent show The Voice .

She says: “My friends laugh when I tell them I’m having 2015 off, because they know it’ll soon be filled with things, but I can’t concentrate on that now, because my focus is on the tour.”

* Kylie plays Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena on Thursday, November 13. For tickets, priced from £44, call 0114 256 5656.

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