Pop Playlist: Kylie Minogue: In Your Eyes (Live in New York)
As some of you may already know, Kylie Minogue brings a smile to my face, and if my ears could smile, they'd beam too. One of the best songs from the iconic Fever album is “In Your Eyes.” She’s performed this signature track on many tours, but the one recorded in 2009 at the Hammerstein Ballroom during her For You, For Me tour, and for the subsequent audio release, Kylie: Live in New York, is a fave. Let’s take a look (and listen) back to this live track:
Pop royalty in most other parts of the globe, the legendary Australian performer never before launched a tour specifically through North America. After her Kylie X 2008 tour, she felt it was (finally) time to alleviate the longing that filled millions of fans (including her devoted gay following) who, up until that point, were only able to see the dynamic dynamo on DVD.
In a thoughtful gesture, Kylie and her team, led by her creative director William Baker, launched For You, For Me with the “mashup” in mind—part X tour (complete with X-tour musicians, backing vocalists and most of the dancers), part Showgirl 2005 and 2006 tours. This provided the chance to see a version, albeit a smaller-scale version, of the large concert spectacle, for which she is known. I had the pleasure of seeing Kylie for the first time on this tour, during a stop at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA in Sept. 2009.*
This X-tour arrangement of “In Your Eyes” is heavy on bass-synth and bass guitar, and it sounds amazing. The New-York recording captures the crowd’s command of the lyrics (which was also displayed opening night in Oakland and probably every stop thereafter), proving her visit to the U.S. was not a waste, and that for the previous 8 years, copies of Fever were definitely being played in America. Kylie finishes big by confidently holding a high note at the end of the lyric, “I don’t feel like coming down.” As you can hear in the clip below, everyone in the audience seems to concur.
*Both photos courtesy of Rob Miller.
Pop Playlist: Kylie Minogue: “I Should Be So Lucky” (Live in New York)
In 2009, Kylie Minogue launched her For You, For Me tour, exclusively visiting parts of North America as a labor of love and appreciation for loyal fans. An audio recording of the Hammerstein Ballroom stop in New York was released, and featured the torch-inspired version of 1987’s “I Should Be So Lucky.” This ballad incarnation first appeared during her Intimate and Live tour in 1998, and allows the Stock, Aitken and Waterman-penned hit to showcase the heartbreak of unrequited love, and the versatility of Minogue as pop star and jazz chanteuse.