"You Could Do Some Damage! You Sound Like A Wild Animal!" - Second Kylie Concert, November 20th








Took the Ferny Grove train to Bowen Hills. On board, a tall blond teenage girl with a school jacket and a very long skirt instructed another girl on the fine art of of rolling rubber balls (slightly larger than billiard balls) from the forearm, over the fingertips, to the back arm, and back again. They sat together and waved their arms in synchrony, with surflike rhythm. When they dropped the balls due to the train's motion, they fished the balls out from under the seats with a large, Q-Tip-like baton that seemed more suitable for martial arts. The baton apparently had a collapsible rod, so it could be changed in length. They also twirled a second baton. Cheerleading skills of some sort!

At Bowen Hills, someone on the train platform was smoking pot, and I saw a conductor wrinkle his nose in disgust. Despite clear warnings of a $150 fine, a teenage boy jumped down upon the tracks and ran across to the other platform, rather than using the elevated stairways across. Fortunately, there is no third rail: the lines are all above.

The Shorncliffe train took long to come, so we last several hundred Kylie stragglers barely made it to BEC in time. I quickly took my seat.

This time, I was seated directly in front of the stage, but towards the back of the arena. The seats were fine - the sound and the lights were directed along the axis of the arena, so the concert seemed louder and brighter than Saturday's had felt.

Excellent show - I thought better than the first.

















Kylie, as with Madonna, is experimenting with Arab themes - Madonna with her Yemenite influence, and Kylie with a Whirling Dervish motif. Madonna's is superior - nothing beats Yemenite music! Still, Madonna was also too repetitive. Kylie, in contrast, mixed scat singing with her song, in an excellent interpretation, better than Madonna's. So, Madonna has the better theme, but Kylie the better execution.

Various songs were excellent: 'Shocked,' for example, and the crowd went nuts over the classic, original Kylie hits: 'I Should Be So Lucky,' 'Put Your Hand On Your Heart,' etc.

At intermission, I talked to two teenage boys, one of whom was a longtime Kylie fan. They wondered whether I was one of these folks who follow their favorite pop star all around the world. I said no, and explained how Kylie doesn't perform in the U.S. (Andrew says the correct answer was 'yes, but I am just starting'). I raved about Australian wildlife and one boy said 'yes, but we are used to it.' I said that was human nature - they'd have a similar reaction if they went to the States. I also talked to the woman next to me, and a mom with daughter and friends in front (all wearing specially-made 'Team Kylie' T-Shirts).

unlike Madonna, Kylie places a section of her concert where she schmoozes with the audience. Her statements were mostly mundane this concert: she asked the audience to applaud two girls in particular (why is unclear - perhaps they had endeared themselves to her, or had serious life challenges of some sort). She welcomed (*) Martin from 'Coldplay,' and sang 'Happy Birthday' to her uncle Michael. Someone apparently barked at her from stageside so she said, "You Could Do Some Damage! You Sound Like A Wild Animal!"

After the show, I walked around behind BEC to waylay the star, but the guards there said she had left immediately after leaving the stage. The guards struck me as insincere, but perhaps they were right - after all, if you don't leave immediately, you have to deal with the traffic jam. I talked to a woman wearing a pink halo - I said it said something about herself.

On the train back to Bowen Hills, I talked to a very nice couple about the concert. She was wearing pink hair laced with stars just for the occasion. We both agreed that 'I Can't Get You Out Of My Head' was the strongest song of the evening.

After Ferny Grove, I filled up Andrew's vehicle with gas and drove back to Mt. Glorious, getting back at 1 a.m., earlier than I had on Saturday (1:40 a.m.).