Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour

Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour
Promotional poster for 2006 tour
Tour by Kylie Minogue
Associated album	Ultimate Kylie
Start date	11 November 2006
End date	23 January 2007
Legs	2
Shows	20 in Australia 14 in Europe 34 in Total
Kylie Minogue tour chronology
Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour (2005) Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour (2006–07) KylieX2008 (2008–09)

Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour was the eighth concert tour by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. Minogue was originally scheduled to perform in Australia and Asia during Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour in 2005, but she was forced to cancel the tour when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.^[1]

Minogue resumed the tour on 11 November 2006, performing at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, with a new set list and costumes. The dance routines from Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour were reworked to accommodate her medical condition and longer breaks were also introduced between sections of the show to conserve her strength.^[2]

Concert Synopsis

Like Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour, the tour was divided up into seven acts: Homecoming, Everything Taboo, Samsara, Athletica, Dreams, Pop Paradiso and Dance of the Cybermen, with the addition of a half an hour intermission and an encore. The set was exactly the same as the last tour only this time there were longer breaks between acts and reworked dance routines to accommodate Minogue's medical condition, and a new set list was introduced.

Homecoming opens the show with 'The Showgirl Theme', with the same opening as the previous tour. This time however, there is a 30 second period when the crowd are cheering and Kylie is smiling and waving. She is wearing a pink showgirl hat, a pink corset, a long pink, feathery bussel and a shoulder attachment made of the same thing. She sings Better the Devil You Know then In Your Eyes. She then receives a glass of water on stage before talking to the audience and smiling and laughing with them. On one occasion, a technical difficulty, regarding the metronome that keeps everyone in time, occurred, so Minogue had to fill for 15 minutes. She sang Your Disco Needs You and spoke to the audience about things that infuriated her. She left the stage for 15 minutes before the problem was fixed and she returned to the stage to sing again. She sang White Diamond, a song wrote with the Scissor Sisters. She then sang On a Night Like This and exited the stage facing away from the audience on the same lift which she entered the stage on.

Everything Taboo is a Medley Act. It begins with flashing lights and has excerpts of Do You Dare? before it turns to the piano and Minogue rising out of the middle of the stage. She sings Shocked up until the rap part and it changes to excerpts of It's No Secret (the title once), Give Me Just a Little More Time, (brrr 3 times), Keep on Pumpin' It, (title 3 times) and What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before). She then sings What Do I Have to Do and asks if the crowd knew it. She sings one verse and one chorus and returns to center stage. An excerpt of I'm Over Dreaming (Over You), and goes into Spinning Around. She sings up to "Baby baby baby, you know you like it like this" and it breaks up into excerpts of Step Back in Time. "Spinning Around" plays with excerpts of "Step Back in Time" and "Such a Good Feeling" plays over the top. Kylie points to the audience and walks through the door at the back of the stage while the dancers carry on dancing until the end of the song where the lifts either side of the stage take them down.

Samsara begins with the dancers rising out of the stage and performing a dance. This was dubbed as "The Temple Prequel" on the album. Kylie then rises out of the floor whilst lying similar to how the Sphynx lies. There's a short period where the crowd are cheering and then Confide in Me plays and the dancers treat Kylie like she's a puppet. She then goes onto sing Cowboy Style performing another dance before sitting and singing. It then breaks up and the backing dancers sing a chorus of Finer Feelings before the music ends. Too Far then plays and Kylie acts as though she's trying to escape from her dancers. She goes to the end of the catwalk before singing a bit and turning and sitting where she stands. The lights extinguish on her and she is taken under the stage on a lift. The dancers continue dancing and the backing singers singing. The dancers go beneath the stage.

Athletica begins with a dance interlude by acrobat Terry Kvasnik dancing around the stage and getting the audience pumped up. He dances to the Sandstorm Dub Mix of Butterfly. He strips to his briefs and jumps to below stage. This performance was omitted from the CD. The same version of Red Blooded Woman from the previous tour is played and Kylie rises seated on a pommel horse in a jaguar onsie with a hood and ears and boxing gloves. She sings a chorus of Where the Wild Roses Grow and goes back to red Blooded Woman. It then goes into Slow. She gets the male dancers to do a press-up line down the catwalk. After they have made their bodies say "SLOW", Kylie goes onto sing Kids. on various occasions, she performed the song with Bono, Dannii Minogue and simply with her backing vocalists. She then descends a lift and the intermission begins.

Dreams begins the second half with a video interlude dubbed "Rainbow Prequel". Like in The Greatest Hits Tour, Kylie rises from behind the set seated on a moon in a red Chanel dress. She sings Over the Rainbow. She then performs the ballad version of Come into My World being lowered to the stage. Chocolate is then performed but the second verse is omitted. The "cake lift" then moves into place and Kylie performs I Believe in You. The lift remains in this was until Minogue performs a chorus from When You Wish upon a Star. Dreams (Impossible Princess) plays and the set returns to normal. The dancers leave the stage and Minogue descends the catwalk and the lights extinguish.

Pop Paradiso begins with the mashup of Minogue's song "Burning Up" and Madonna's song Vogue. Minogue is wearing a short navy dress, big navy heels, a navy mo-hawk wig and navy gloves. She then sings the jazz version of The Locomotion. After this, she sings I Should Be So Lucky with an excerpt of The Only Way Is Up. She finishes the act with a performance of Hand on Your Heart.

Dance of the Cybermen begins with an instrumental interlude dubbed "Space Prequel". Minogue rises out of the floor dressed in a sleeveless onsie, with wings attached and a silver wig. She sings her worldwide hit single Can't Get You Out Of My Head with excerpts of Rise of the Cybermen. She finishes the song which leads straight into the countdown that begins "Light Years". She descends the catwalk with the dancers at the halfway point of the second chorus. The "cake lift" then moves up and Minogue begins a mashup verse and a chorus of Turn It into Love. She then returns to Light Years and the set returns to normal at the start of the final chorus. The middle lift then descends with Minogue and the dancers on it.

The Encore section begins with Minogue entering from the left. She invites the audience to sing Jason Donovan's part of Especially for You. She then sings Love at First Sight and thanks everyone and exits the stage through the door in the back.

Set list

Act 1: Homecoming

• "Showgirl Theme" (Instrumental Introduction)
• "Better the Devil You Know"
• "In Your Eyes"
• "White Diamond"
• "On a Night Like This"

Act 2: Everything Taboo

• Medley:
  • "Shocked" (contains excerpts from: "Do You Dare?", "It's No Secret", "Give Me Just a Little More Time", "Keep on Pumpin' It" and "What Kind of Fool (Heard All That Before)")
  • "What Do I Have to Do?" (contains excerpt from "I'm Over Dreaming (Over You)")
  • "Spinning Around" (contains excerpts from "Step Back in Time" along with elements of "Finally", and

Act 3: Samsara

• "Temple Prequel" (Video and Dance Interlude)
• "Confide in Me"
• "Cowboy Style"
• "Finer Feelings" (performed by backing vocalists)
• "Too Far"

Act 4: Athletica

• "Butterfly" (Sandstorm Dub Interlude) (Dance Interlude)
• "Red Blooded Woman" (contains excerpts from "Where the Wild Roses Grow")
• "Slow"
• "Kids"

Act 5: Dreams

• "Rainbow Prequel" (Video Interlude)
• "Over the Rainbow"
• "Come into My World"
• "Chocolate"
• "I Believe in You"
• "Dreams" (contains excerpts from "When You Wish upon a Star")

Act 6: Pop Paradiso

• "Burning Up" (contains excerpts from "Vogue")
• "The Loco-Motion"
• "I Should Be So Lucky" (contains excerpts from "The Only Way Is Up")
• "Hand on Your Heart"

Act 7: Dance of the Cybermen

• "Space Prequel" (Instrumental Interlude)
• "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (contains excerpts from "Rise of the Cybermen" along with elements of the "Doctor Who Theme")
• "Light Years"(contains excerpts from "Turn It Into Love" along with elements of the TARDIS dematerializing)

Encore

• "Especially for You"
• "Love at First Sight"

Tour dates

Box office score data

Show cancellations

On 13 January 2007 at the Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England, Minogue was forced to end her concert after performing for an hour due to illness. Minogue's spokesman later confirmed that she had been diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection.^[3] Two additional scheduled performances at the Manchester Evening News Arena were postponed and rescheduled at the end of January 2007.^[4]

Critical reception

Showgirl – The Homecoming Tour received positive reviews from critics. Christine Sams in a review for The Sydney Morning Herald described the show as an "extravaganza" and wrote that it was "nothing less than a triumph".^[2] The Age's Patrick Donovan wrote that Minogue "looked fit and healthy and was in good voice". He also wrote that she was "at her best prowling the stage in a catsuit, playing up to the crowd".^[5] CBBC Newsround described the tour as the "perfect comeback" due to its "range of songs, excellent dancers, stage lighting and Kylie's love of performing".^[6]

Broadcasts and recordings

Minogue performance in Melbourne, Australia on 11 December 2006 was filmed for television and DVD release. The concert premiered on 13 January 2007 in the United Kingdom on Channel 4.^[7] On 4 March 2007, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast the performance without commercial interruptions.^[8] The concert was released to DVD on 10 December 2007 as a double disc set with Minogue's documentary film White Diamond.^[9]

Minogue's second Australian concert in Sydney on 12 November 2006 was recorded and released as a live album in January 2007. Showgirl Homecoming Live featured a guest appearance by U2 lead singer Bono on the song "Kids". The album reached number seven on the UK Albums Chart and was certified silver.^[10][11]

Personnel

Executive Producer: Kylie Minogue and Terry Blamey
Creative Director and Designer: William Baker
Musical Producer: Steve Anderson
Production Manager: Kevin Hopgood
Production Design: Alan MacDonald
Costumes designed by: John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Dolce & Gabbana, Addae Gaskin, Gareth Pugh and Matthew Williamson for Emilio Pucci
Jewellery by: Bvlgari
Shoes by: Manolo Blahnik
Millinery: Stephen Jones
Choreography: Rafael Bonachela, Akram Khan and Michael Rooney
Tour Manager: Sean Fitzpatrick

References

External links

• Kylie's Official Site
• "2006/2007 Showgirl – Homecoming Tour"