Intimate and Live (concert tour)

Intimate and Live was the fourth concert tour by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue in support of her sixth studio album Impossible Princess (1997). Minogue confirmed going on tour in Australia when both Minogue's creative directors William Baker and Steve Anderson had talked to her about plans of a tour. Both Baker and Anderson, who were inexperienced in touring, decided to direct and promote the tour after Minogue left Deconstruction Records and Sony BMG. The set list consisted of mainly songs from the supporting studio album and rehearsals started during January 1998.

The concert tour are divided into four parts; Impossible Princess, Showgirl, Cowgirl and Devil Girl. The first featured Minogue appearing inside a multi-colored cone, the second was inspired by Showgirl props and costumes, the third incorporated cowboy-influenced props and a K symbol, and the forth and final is an encore performance for "Better the Devil You Know". The tour garnered positive appreciation from music critics and commercial success. Tickets were completely sold as soon as dates and venues for the tour were announced, prompting the organizers to add more dates. Despite negotiations on not touring the UK, Minogue decided to visit the country and also achieved positive reviews and commercial success.

A CD and DVD version of the concert tour was released in November 1998 and July 2003 respectively. Despite success, the aftermath of the tour took a toll on both Minogue and Baker, who were suffering from depression. They traveled to South America and the US in order to recover from the Impossible Princess era and begin work on Minogue's 2000 album Light Years.

Background

Despite lackluster reception in the United Kingdom, her sixth studio album Impossible Princess was largely successful in Australia. The album reached number four and was certified platinum by ARIA for shipments of 70,000 units.^[1][2][3] Minogue returned to Australia in early 1998 to prepare for her Australian tour.^[4] Minogue's creative director and longtime friend William Baker was in Dubai with Steve Anderson, guitarist Carl Mann and percussionist James Mark. They were discussing about the tour that they had booked in May 1998, wanting to hire more musicians and dancers but later scrapped the idea.

Minogue embarked a promotional tour in the Oceanic region in October 1997. Minogue performed in Singapore and then followed with Australian state capitals Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. Next was Auckland and she finished off in Hong Kong. After the albums European release, she went on to promote the album with concert gigs in Norway, Denmark and Holland.^[5] Both Baker and Anderson, who to this day are Minogue's creative directors, were inexperienced to touring.^[5] Anderson appeared with Minogue for the first time at the 1998 Sydney Mardi Gras but Baker was absent. Baker was anxious on touring for the first time and "did not know what to expect."^[5]

Development and production

Minogue's first rehearsals was in Fitzroy, a town outside of Melbourne, Australia.^[5] Minogue and Baker had started drawing stage concepts of how the tour would look like and wanted it to reflect onto the album's personal meaning.^[5] Objects in the album's content, including the "K" symbol and the multi-coloured cone had been featured on the tour.^[5] Baker was discussing about the concepts and production of the tour, and felt that "there was something special and unique about Intimate and Live, a coming-of-age Kylie and her team." Baker felt Minogue's innovation with the crew of the tour would "enabled" her to "shine on stage like a true star."^[6] The stage was largely based on Impossible Princess but Baker and Minogue wanted to create something that would "take the audience on a journey and tease them with the unexpected, playing with their preconceptions."^[7]

Minogue felt she needed to "lighten up" and have fun on tour, rid from all the criticism and what the public said about her.^[7] Anderson, Minogue and Baker originally confirmed that they would not tour in the United Kingdom, but Baker commented that they were "so liberated by the British commercial failure, feeling that now we had nothing to lose."^[7] They decided to extend it into UK only due to high demand.^[8] Before the tour started in June 1998, Minogue and Baker had collaborated with several photographers (including Baker) and commenced promotional shooting.^[9] Deconstruction Records and Sony BMG were not in control of the tour, so Baker and Anderson took control of bookings and organisation.^[9]

For venues, Baker and Minogue intended to perform at small theaters in order to create a personal atmosphere between Minogue, the crew and the audience.^[9] This idea was to thank the audience for their support through the Impossible Princess era, hence the titling of "Intimate".^[9] Despite the venues having small capacities of approximately two thousand, Minogue was still "worried about filling" the smaller venues after the backlash.^[9]

Costumes and listing

Baker and Minogue had both designed the outfits for the tour, with the showgirl design being the first costume. The tour costumes were inspired by "princess" outfits and Minogue wanted to have several props to incorporate different influences while performing.^[10] Minogue wanted to take "risks" with the outfits and appearances on tour, so she decided to keep her longer hair that was not present on the promotion shoots of Impossible Princess. Baker felt that her public image had "endured" and evolved severely from her "gritty black-and-white" "Some Kind of Bliss" days.^[6]

The track list made by Baker, Anderson and Minogue.^[9] From the supporting album, Minogue performed "Too Far", "Some Kind of Bliss", "Breathe", "Cowboy Style", "Say Hey", "Drunk", "Did It Again", "Limbo" and two unreleased tracks; "Take Me With You" and "Free".^[9] A cover version of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash was added to the track list after Minogue had performed the track live on The Jonathan Ross Show.^[9]

Concert synopsis

Minogue performing "Dancing Queen" in Melbourne.

The concert opens with a multi-coloured opened cone, similar to the artwork of Impossible Princess.^[9] For that, she performed the first act of songs with "Too Far" being the opener.^[9] Minogue was dressed in a black shirt and black trousers, and walked through a temple-like staircase during the set.^[11] The outfit was derived from the video of "Did it Again", but Minogue decided to re-design the outfit.^[12] The backdrop projections of "Take Me With You" featured a rolling storm.^[12] During the second act, Minogue opens with "I Should be So Lucky" in a pink and glitter showgirl outfit in front of a giant glittery "K", decorated with white fairy lights.^[11] The torch version of the song was then led into "Dancing Queen", a cover version originally performed by Swedish group ABBA and "Dangerous Game".^[11]

The third act opens with "Cowboy Style", showing Minogue in a black dress, pink belt and a pink cowboy hat.^[11] The next song was "Step Back in Time" and Minogue removed her cowboy hat for the rest of the segment. She performed the tracks "Say Hey", "Drunk" and "Free". The projection for "Free" was an ongoing open road.^[11] For the fourth segment, Minogue arrived in crop top and black pants for "Did it Again", and performed "Limbo" and "Shocked" for this segment.^[12] Minogue "reclined" from the staircase for "Confide in Me" in the fifth segment, wanting to "graceful" for the opening of that segment.^[11] After performing the tracks "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?", Minogue returned for an encore to perform "Better the Devil You Know" in a showgirl-devil costume, complete with devil horns.^[12]

Reception

Despite favorable reviews in Australia,^[13] Minogue and Baker were worried about the reception in the UK. Minogue and Baker had suffered from depression during the time, and feeling that they would turn up to the concerts in "emptiness."^[13] Performing at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, the tour received rave reviews from most music critics and Baker commented that "perhaps slightly altering London's perception that Kylie was over."^[13] Baker viewed felt that Minogue's fans were loyal due to her "pop songs" which he exemplified "Better the Devil You Know" and "Dancing Queen".^[13]

The Intimate and Live concert was sold out in all of Australia in under ten minutes.^[14] Minogue did not plan to tour England, but due to public pressure, she staged three small shows in London.^[14]

Broadcasts and recordings

The concert in the Capitol Theatre, Sydney was recorded and released as a live album on 30 November 1998 in both Australia and New Zealand.^[15] The album was released by Minogue's Australian label Mushroom Records. The concert was released onto DVD on 23 July 2002 by Mushroom in Australia and New Zealand.

Set list

Act 1

1. "Too Far"
2. "What Do I Have to Do?"
3. "Some Kind of Bliss"
4. "Put Yourself in My Place"
5. "Breathe"
6. "Take Me with You"

Act 2

7. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Torch Version)
8. "Dancing Queen"
9. "Dangerous Game"

Act 3

10. "Cowboy Style"
11. "Step Back in Time"
12. "Say Hey"
13. "Free"
14. "Drunk"

Act 4

15. "Did It Again"
16. "Limbo"
17. "Shocked"

Act 5

18. "Confide in Me"
19. "The Loco-Motion"
20. "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Encore

21. "Better the Devil You Know"

Tour dates

Personnel

Producer: Tarcoola Touring Company Pty.Ltd.
Management: Terry Blamey Management Pty. Ltd.
Executive Producer: Terry Blamey
Music Production: Steve Anderson
Musical Director: Chong Lim
Set Design: Brian Thompson
Lighting Design: Steven Swift
Creative Design: William Baker and Kylie Minogue
Tour Manager: Nick Pitts
Assistant Tour Manager: Warren Anderson
Assistant: Natalie Stevenson
Hair & Make up: Kevin Murphy
Wardrobe: Carol Minogue
Choreography: William Forsythe

Band

Keyboards: Chong Lim
Bass/Vocals: Joe Creighton
Guitar: Stuart Fraser and Carl Mann
Drums: Angus Burchall
Percussion: James Mack
Backing Vocals: Lisa Edwards and Natalie Miller
Dancers: David Scotchford and Ashley Wallen

References

External links

• "1998 Intimate and Live Tour"
• Kylie Minogue notable Tours-Part 3-Intimate & Live
• Intimate & Live 1998