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Travel Light Years with Kylie Minogue
By Steven Battaglia
15.12.2009

Photos By Steve Jennings

Ask anyone who knows me who my favorite singer is, and the answer is unequivocally, and without hesitation, Kylie Minogue. Why? Well, for a few reasons: First, I love the Australian singer's incredibly catchy music. Her unique blend of dance, pop, and electro instantly gets me moving on the dance floor and puts a smile on my face. Second, I am always captivated by her bubbly, friendly, and loveable performance personality (she always appears to be truly enjoying herself while performing). Third, and perhaps, most importantly, I love her spectacular concerts. The stunningly well-designed live shows always leave me mesmerized and wanting more.

Minogue, who has been recording for over 20 years, has released 10 studio albums, over 50 singles, and has wowed audiences in Europe, Asia, and Australia, playing sold-out arenas. Having never before toured North America, 2009 sees Kylie playing smaller venues in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, and New York.

Responsible for creating the glossy and polished US show are show director and designer William Baker, stage designer Alan MacDonald, lighting designer Nick Whitehouse, video director and producer Tom Colbourne of BlinkTV, laser and effects designer Lorenzo Cornacchia, and musical director Steve Anderson.

The concept behind the North American tour was to present a "‘best of" Minogue's arena tours from over the last few years, "a chance to give American fans selected highlights from the shows they missed…with a few exclusive new bits thrown in as well," says Colbourne. This includes songs with new arrangements, original costumes, new choreography, and a new visual design.

The show is broken down into seven themed sections, including a futuristic opening, which sees Minogue arriving from above on a giant skull; a section inspired by the 1980s club scene; and a Hollywood glamour act, in which Minogue plays a starlet perched upon a golden sofa and surrounded by two golden panther statues. "Kylie wanted to make sure that she is seen as the Queen of Pop and not under deliver," says Whitehouse.

The musical arrangement at the top of the show includes an overture using the 20th Century Fox fanfare followed by snippets of "Over The Rainbow" and "The Sound Of Music," when the vibe morphs from classic Hollywood into more contemporary electronica. The entire show is run off timecode, according to Anderson, due to the amount of production involved. "I always write the parts for the band into the arrangements, and then anything that is impossible for them to play such as orchestras, choirs, and some electronic sequenced parts are run live in Logic for rehearsals then bounced to a Mackie system. Our drummer Matt takes the main kit sounds for the electronic songs and plays them on pads. It's so important to me that we have an incredibly tight and perfect sound that has a live feel, which is something our band achieves perfectly under the direction of [band musical director and keyboardist] Sarah deCourcy."

The stage itself is built off a 60'-wide by 40'-deep model, with some venues providing a stage area with less depth. A main band riser extends the width of the stage and rises 9" off the stage floor. Slightly stage left of center stage is a step riser for Minogue's entrances, with a further two step levels, each 9" high. The front and sides of the risers are faced in a brushed metal fascia, and the entire stage floor, including the risers, is covered in a high-gloss black Marley. PRG Scenic Technologies built the three-tiered riser.

Seven Everbrighten BR-15 video screens, of different sizes, five of which move throughout the show, pepper the stage. Three of the screens (9'6" squares) sit downstage, with a home trim position of 24' from the stage deck, and these fly in and out during the show. Two static screens—29'x16' and 14'x20'—with trim positions 2' from the stage deck, sit to the rear of the band members. A 6'x24' screen splits the middle of the stage for reveals. Each 3'-wide section of screen has an open position off stage-left and -right. On her arena tours, Minogue usually uses lifts for reveals and entrances, but due to the smaller venues on this tour, the splitting and moving screens do the job. The high-gloss flooring reflects the video screens, making it seem that the floor is itself a video object (a nod to last year's KylieX2008 tour).

Photos By Steve Jennings

The major set piece of the show is a giant, 6'-diameter silver skull that Minogue flies in on at the top of the show. Built by PRG Scenic Technologies, the skull was made from a "3D carving of a real human skull from EPS foam," says project manager Troy Atkinson. "We then coated it with a fire retardant spray rim coat. Smoothing was done by hand, and then we applied mirror panels by hand. A full aluminum armature with integral back support was added in order to allow for attachment to the chain hoists it flies on and to support [Kylie]." When starting to sing "Light Years," Minogue stands atop the skull decked in a Jean Paul Gautier silver space mini-dress and wearing a headpiece of orbiting planets. Other set pieces include a high-backed gold leaf couch, rolling shower scenes used by the male dancers, and a pommel horse.

Lighting Light Years
Whitehouse started his design process with the screens. "I added lights around them," he says. "Looking through William's treatment, I created this whole idea of what I wanted the lighting to be and went to Solotech to see if it would fit in the budget, and they did it."

A new product in Whitehouse's rig is the Philips Vari-Lite VLX Wash LED luminaire, its first use on tour. To round out the design are Vari-Lite VL2500 Spots, VL3000 Spot and Wash units, Martin Professional Atomic Strobes, ETC Source Four 19° ellipsoidals, and two-lite and four-lite DWE fixtures. Inserted into the fronts and sides of the risers are Element Labs Versa Tubes to make the risers pop out from the rest of the stage. Whitehouse uses four followspots to complete his design.

To program the show, Whitehouse used a PRG V676 console. He had previously used one when he was the first to take the console on tour with The Circus Starring Britney Spears. Connected to ESP Vision on his laptop during load-ins on the Spears' tour, Whitehouse preprogrammed looks for Kylie to preview.

Video Content
Having produced the visuals for Kylie's tours since KylieFever2002, BlinkTV was again commissioned to create the content for this tour. Colbourne was responsible for the show's dynamic content. "We believe that screens should be integrated with a show rather than dominating the stage for the sake of it," he says. "So, there are times where the screens are used as a static set piece with curtains and chandeliers and others where we fill the stage with graphics to transport the audience into a 1980s music video for the Taboo Section." Kylie premiered a new song on the US tour, "Better Than Today," for which Colbourne created new footage. "As it was created from scratch, it allowed us to really have fun with the screens configuration and have images traveling from one screen to another and cutting across different screens."

The seven video screens are used as both a giant canvas and individual screens at different points in the show, creating a visually stimulating design that leaves the audience mesmerized. "The playback is setup so we can treat all the screens as one canvas or have completely separate feeds," says Colbourne. "We approached each song individually and spent a lot of time reformatting existing content to maximize its impact within the new stage set. For example, on ‘Better The Devil You Know,' we have the image positioned on separate feeds for the verses and then switch to one canvas for the 3D arches in the choruses. I think, for set backdrops, it's really important to treat the whole stage as one canvas. At their most effective, Kylie's screen visuals can literally transport the audience from, for example, a homoerotic gym to a grand ballroom."

To control the content, BlinkTV used Virtual VTR (VVTR). "It's simple software that runs on a Mac with a Kona HD video card in it and allows the Mac to playback uncompressed HD QuickTime synched to timecode," says Colbourne. "The whole stage canvas comes from a single HD source that was designed by Richard Turner, who has worked with us on playback for pretty much all the Kylie shows. The VVTR is controlled via Medialon Manager V4 using MIDI triggering from the band's timecode. It's quite high-res content and is tightly edited to the music, so a solid, high-quality playback system is important."

Since a lot of the footage for the tour is reedited from Minogue's last few arena tours, BlinkTV had to adapt all the visuals to the different aspect ratios of the new screens, an arduous task. "We had square content and portrait content as well as the footage for KylieX2008 that was on a large backdrop of six screens and a video floor, so we had lots of fun making it work for the Kylie USA stage set."

Lasers & Effects
Lorenzo Cornacchia, vice president and director of operations of Pyrotek Special Effects Inc., designed the lasers and effects for the show. Using new diode technology, Cornacchia and laser programmer Jason McEachern programmed the opening of the show to create cages of light that surround Minogue as she descends on the giant skull. "We're involved in a nine or 10 minute opening section," says Cornacchia, "and it's all lasers. Two of the lasers travel down with her and create different diffraction and caged looks around her. The idea is for scans and sweeps, and with so many lasers, we can do symmetrical and asymmetrical looks. I love that people are allowing me to do this. With all this technology, you can get pretty creative."

On the effects side, a Minogue show is never complete without glitter or confetti, the manifesto seeming to be, "When in doubt, apply more glitter." Red rose petals fall from the sky during one of the show's ballads, and at the close of the show, confetti canons blast. Low-lying fog is another key element. "The main riser has two recessed cryogenics under that stage, and we can frame her in that cryo," says Cornacchia. A total of 13 jets add effects to "Red Blooded Woman" and accent key chorus hits.

For the full gear list, check out the November/December issue of Live Design.

Steven Battaglia is a New York-based technical director and production manager, as well as a lighting and video designer. Writing about Kylie Minogue's North American tour revealed to him all the creative input it took to fit an arena-sized show into smaller venues.

Quelle: Live Design

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Kylie Minogue’s Week Of Style
Written By: Sinead 0'Donoghue
11.12.2009

Kylie Minogue is an expert in off-duty dressing

Kylie Mingue gives Dannii a run for her money by winning our style vote for her impeccable off-duty dressing.

Kylie Minogue is always a worthy style winner, whether upping the glam at red carpet events or strutting down her street in an impressive off-duty style- this is one lady who knows how to dress appropriately for every occasion.

This week we’re applauding her expertise in off-duty dressing as she impeccably combines comfort with glamour.

Earlier this week Kylie was spotted leaving her London home wearing a white winter coat. Ms Minogue teamed her statement piece with a pair of black knee-length boots and oversized patent bag.

The next day Kylie made another impressive appearance wearing a sexy pair of leather shorts. The singer completed her look with a baggy jumper and a pair of mouth-watering boots from Giuseppe Zanotti.

Our favourite look of the week was Kylie’s fringed LBD that she was snapped wearing outside her management offices. The petite star teamed her show-stopping frock with black tights and suede back ankle boots. The effortlessly-glam look outfit confirmed Kylie’s place among the fashion elite.

Quelle: LOOK.co.uk

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Kylie Minogue shows her racy side as she steps out in a pair of leather shorts
10.12.2009

They may not be gold, or quite so tight as her famous hotpants, but Kylie Minogue is still fond of wearing shorts.

At first glance, it appeared the 41-year-old singer was dressed casually as she left her west London home this morning.

But on closer glance, her baggy cream sweater was partially covering a sexy pair of leather shorts.

Leathered up: Kylie Minogue sexed up her casual jumper with a pair of leather
shorts and Giuseppe Zanotti shoe boots

But given the chilly weather, she sensibly teamed them with a pair of black tights, peep-toe Giuseppe Zanotti shoe boots and the obligatory celebrity sunglasses.

The pint-sized singer is so fond of her $699 stretch sock and glitter mesh heels, she posted a picture of them on her Twitter micro-blogging site.

She wrote: 'Heels for the day....Zanotti!!!'

Kylie is currently recording her 11th studio album, a follow-up to 2007's X, with singer Taio Cruz.

Busy: After completing her US tour last month, Kylie is now recording her 11th studio album

Taio said: 'I’ve done a few tracks with Kylie which sound amazing and very dancey, but that’s because most things right now are – I’m making it very current.

'I have a certain style that I do in terms of songwriting, it’s there on Tinchy Styder and it’s there on ‘Break Your Heart’ and on the new Cheryl record too.

'But I’m stopping that now because too many people recognise it.'

In between studios sessions, Kylie has been watching The X Factor to support her sister Dannii.

Footwear fetish: Kylie posted a photo of her Giuseppe Zanotti heels on her Twitter page

Kylie joined Dannii in Dubai in September to help her choose her three female finalists Stacey Solomon, Rachel Adedeji and Lucie Jones.

But after Lucie and Rachel were voted off the show, Kylie has been championing the single mother from Dagenham, Essex, to win this year's competition.

She wrote on Twitter on Sunday: 'Congrats to divine Stacey on two great performances last night. If your voting today...Stacey all the way.'

Quelle: Daily Mail

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KYLIE K PAPERBACK BOOK!
07.12.2009

Due to the overwhelming demand for the strictly limited edition hard cover "Kylie by William Baker" which came out last year during the X Tour as an individually numbered and autographed collector's edition, a paperback version will now be released in time for this Christmas!

The images in the book were all photographed by Kylie's Creative Director and close friend William Baker.

The book, which contains over 200 pages, spans Kylie’s return to the stage with the 'Showgirl Homecoming' tour up to the 'KYLIEX2008' tour. As such, the book documents a pivotal and intensely emotional part of Kylie's life, when she took the first brave steps back into the limelight – and her progression from that point.

William Baker reveals that he started photographing Kylie primarily at this stage of her life: "After Kylie's illness she became quite selective of whom she wanted round her. Her level of privacy was increased and, because of this, I stepped up as photographer – almost by default. Of course Kylie then had a lot to do with my progression as a photographer. She is an amazing subject to capture – it would be very difficult to take a bad picture of her".

Kylie says simply; "Willie and I have a unique relationship; its quite symbiotic. We feed off each others talents and understand each others insecurities! Quite simply, we both love to create, and this book illustrates that."

This stunning paperback book is now available from the Kylie Store priced at £85 including postage to the UK and Europe, and £95 including postage for the rest of the world.

Quelle: kylie.com

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KYLIE LIVE IN NEW YORK
04.12.2009

And that's not all, we're extremely excited to announce that fans will be able to listen to the first half of the New York concert pre-release, exclusively on YouTube from Midnight December 12 at YouTube

You can listen to the Speakerphone Studio Remix now exclusively at EMI

The full track listing for the album is:

1. Overture (Somewhere Over The Rainbow / The Sound of Music)
2. Light Years
3. Speakerphone
4. Come Into My World
5. In Your Eyes
6. Everything Taboo Medley (Shocked / What Do I Have To Do / Spinning Around / What Kind Of Fool / Do You Dare / It's No Secret / Keep On Pumpin' it Up / I'm Over Dreaming Over You / Ride on Time / Such A Good Feeling / Finally / The Real Slim Shady / Buffalo Girls)
7. Like A Drug
8. Boombox / Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head
9. Slow
10. 2 Hearts
11. Red Blooded Woman / Where The Wild Roses Grow
12. Heartbeat Rock
13. Wow
14. White Diamond Theme
15. White Diamond
16. Confide In Me
17. I Believe In You
18. Burning Up / Vogue
19. The Locomotion
20. Kids
21. In My Arms
22. Better The Devil You Know
23. The One
24. I Should Be So Lucky
25. Love At First Sight

iTunes customers will also receive 3 bonus tracks:

Light Years (Steve Anderson studio version) Speakerphone (Steve Anderson studio version) Come Into My World (Steve Anderson studio version)

Quelle: kylie.com

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Beyoncé stiehlt allen die Show
30.11.2009

Nun ist es amtlich, zumindest wenn es nach den Briten geht. Die haben jetzt
gewählt und Beyoncé zum „größten Popstar der Welt“ ernannt.

100.000 Fans der britischen Kosmetikmarke „Rimmel“ hatten zehn Plätze zu vergeben und bedachten Beyoncé mit der Pole-Position des „Rimmel London World’s Greatest Popstars”-Contests.

Auf Platz zwei landete Britney Spears, Platz drei konnte Eminem für sich erobern. Es folgen der Reihe nach Pink, Madonna, Take That, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Justin Timberlake und Girls Aloud.

Doch Beyoncé ist nicht nur größter Popstar der Welt. Auch ihr Song „Crazy in Love“ wurde unlängst vom britischen „NME“-Magazin zum Titel des Jahrzehntes gewählt.

Quelle: TIKonline

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Beyonce Knowles is World's greatest Pop Star
30.11.2009

World's greatest Pop Star: Beyonce Knowles

Washington, (ANI): Beyonce Knowles has been named the 'World's Greatest Pop Star' by British music lovers. More than 100,000 fans voted in Rimmel London's World's Greatest Popstars contest, selecting Beyonce as the new Queen of Pop, reports Contactmusic.

Buzz up!Beyonce aced the list consisting of heavyweights like Madonna and Kylie Mionogue. The “Crazy In Love” singer was declared the winner at a live concert on the weekend at London's Earls Court, where she was given a special tribute.

The top 10 pop stars are:

1. Beyonce
2. Britney Spears
3. Eminem
4. Pink
5. Madonna
6. Take That
7. Robbie Williams
8. Kylie Minogue
9. Justin Timberlake
10. Girls Aloud.

Quelle: Oneindia

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Kylie Minogue arbeitet mit Taio Cruz zusammen
30.11.2009

Kylie Minogue geht mit Taio Cruz ins Studio.

Kylie Minogue nimmt neue Lieder mit dem britischen Produzenten Taio Cruz auf. Die Songs sollen tanzbar und außer-gewöhnlich klingen.

Kylie Minogue arbeitet wieder an neuen Tracks. Für ihre Songs hat sie sich den britischen Produzenten Taio Cruz an Bord geholt. Cruz, der mit seinem Hit „Break Your Heart“ einen ganz eigenen Wiedererkennungswert hat, möchte für Kylie nun eine andere Richtung einschlagen. Zu den Stücken für Kylie sagte der Produzent gegenüber dem „Daily Star“: “Ich habe ein paar Lieder mit Kylie gemacht, die außergewöhnlich und sehr tanzbar klingen, aber das ist nur, weil die meisten Sachen im Moment so klingen – Ich mache das sehr aktuell.“

Schon bei Aufnahmen von dem Rapper Tinchy Stryder und Cheryl Cole hatte Cruz seine Finger im Spiel. Taio Cruz sagte dazu: “Ich habe einen bestimmten Stil, wenn es ums Liederschreiben geht. Man kann ihn bei Tinchy Styder sehen und „Break Your Heart“ und auf dem neuen Cheryl-Album auch. Aber ich habe damit jetzt aufgehört, weil zu viele Leute den Stil wiedererkennen.“

Quelle: Erdbeerlounge

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Minogue goes househunting with lover in New York
30.11.2009

Kylie Minogue and her Spanish model boyfriend are believed to be on the prowl for a new home in New York.

The singer is keen on recording and pursuing her movie career in the Big Apple while Andres Velencoso hopes to pick up more modelling work there.

"Kylie and Andres are thinking about spending more time in America," an unnamed insider told The Mail on Sunday newspaper in Britain.

"They have looked at properties in midtown New York. She wants to be able to meet film producers and casting agents."

Minogue, 41, and Andres, 31, are expected to spend Christmas in Australia.

Quelle: Sydney Morning Herald

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10 Best-Selling Singles Of The Noughties Revealed
By Luke Lewis
28.11.2009

Historians of British pop will look back on the noughties as the decade a once-vital, progressive and unifying cultural force ran out of ideas, sold out to the TV industry, then shriveled into irrelevance.

Either that, or they'll just laugh with sheer derision. Here are the singles that sold the most in the last ten years:

1. Will Young - Evergreen
2. Gareth Gates - Unchained Melody
3. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me
4. Tony Christie/Peter Kay - Is This The Way To Amarillo?
5. Band Aid 20 (incl. Kylie) - Do They Know It's Christmas?
6. Hear’Say - Pure And Simple
7. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal
8. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
9. Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It
10. Atomic Kitten - Whole Again

continued...

So that's four from ITV talent shows, two charity singles (both of them cover versions), one juvenile novelty record for toddlers (two if you count 'It Wasn't Me'), and one genuinely good song (that'll be Kylie, although 'Whole Again' has a certain schmaltzy charm).

It's worth noting that 'Unchained Melody' - the Robson & Jerome version - was also the second best selling single of the '90s: dispiriting proof that Simon Cowell's dominance of the pop industry has now spanned two decades.

I don't want to sound like a tedious reactionary, clanking my chains and wailing "Pop is dead!" - but come on, this is fucking awful: a genuinely shaming roll-call of unremitting musical dreck. It it were a horror film, it'd be called The Blandening.

Compare the past decade's biggest songs with the corresponding list from the 1980s, which encompasses acts as high-minded, original and downright weird as Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Human League and Dexys Midnight Runners.

What's even more embarrassing is that this creepy hollowing-out of pop is a purely UK phenomenon. America's list features Shakira, Britney Spears and Katy Perry, with not one cover version between them. OK, it's not like Nick Cave's in there - but in terms of quality and adventurousness, it makes our Top 10 look shockingly amateurish and gaudy.

I know what the counter-argument will be: the Top 10 is not representative, there's been plenty of great British pop in the noughties, Xenomania, Girls Aloud yadda yadda. And yes, there have been occasional flares of brilliance. But these are droplets in a desert.

The fact is, the pop charts were once a window onto Britain's exuberant, eccentric, uniquely accelerated cultural life - an enthralling rogues' gallery of freaks and outsiders. Now they're a wasteland.

Quelle: NME.com

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Victoria Beckham: Flop! Kylie Minogue: Top
Die Wahl zum besten Vorbild
Autor: Saskija
27.11.2009

Victoria Beckham - Kylie Minogue

Eigentlich keine große Überraschung, aber jetzt ist es offiziell: Victoria Beckham (35) taugt nichts als Vorbild. Fitnessexperten wählten sie zum ungesundesten Vorbild der letzten 50 Jahre.

Im Gegensatz zu "natürlich dünnen" Frauen, wie zum Beispiel Kylie Minogue (41), sehe das Ex-Spice Girl ständig so aus, als esse sie viel zu wenig. Einer der Experten sagte der britischen Sun: "Sie betreibt extreme Beschränkung der Kalorien. Ihre Kleidergröße hält sie durch Verzicht auf Nährstoffe und zu viel Sport. Sie ist ein dürftiges Vorbild." Kylie Minogue hingegen wurde zum Top-Vorbild gewählt.

"Sie hat nie diesen grauen, hageren Look, den man bekommt, wenn man nicht genug isst", so ein Experte über die Australierin. Ob Frau Beckham sich diese Wahl zu Herzen nimmt und hier und da mehr zu sich nimmt? Wir sind davon nicht wirklich überzeugt!

Quelle: Promiflash.de

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Kylie awarded medal by "Protect the Polar Ice Caps Charity"
16.11.2009

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue has been given a medal by the "Protect the Polar Ice Caps Campaign" Charity. The medal was awarded for saving the biggest Iceberg in the entire world. This story comes just one week after Lyndsay Lohan joined the campaign. So far Lyndsay has just managed to save several fridge sized pieces of Iceberg by using the traditional method of taking one home to keep in your fridge. But Kylie has radically advanced the idea.

Kylie has pioneered the technique of putting an engine in her iceberg and then sailing it to a specially built 500ft long storage fridge that was specially made to the specific measurements of this mega Iceberg.

A spokesperson for the charity said "It was a pioneering technique, especially as Kylie was aiming to take her Iceberg from Antarctica to New Zealand. No one thought it could be done. But Kylie was determined. We all heard the news this morning about the sighting off the coast of Sydney and declared "That girl deserves a medal"

Katarina Frogpond (that's me) asked "Have medals ever been given before"

"No" Said the Spokesperson. "This is the very first one. No one's done anything like this before. Its close to miraculous. Well done Kylie"

The iceberg sighting in Sydney was reported by fur seal researchers who believe the Iceberg to be headed for New Zealand where Kylie has built the fridge.

Lindsay Lohan has said that this has really inspired her to try to do more for the "Save the Polar Ice Caps Campaign". She says she is going to get a job in her local supermarket to save some money to buy an engine for her Iceberg and build a bigger fridge.

Quelle: The Spoof (satire)

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