Kylie Minogue
Main Stage
★★★★☆
When you book Kylie Minogue as the final headliner on Electric Picnic’s Main Stage you can rest assured that she’s going to deliver a rejuvenating pop performance for those with waning energy after a weekend of partying.
The Australian, who received the Global Icon award at this year’s Brits, struts on to the stage wearing knee-high leather boots, fishnet tights and a glittering black caped dress as if she owns this Stradbally field and all of us mere mortals in it.
Artistic lighting, a crew of fantastic backing dancers and Kylie’s undeniable charisma provide a joyful last hurrah for the revellers who have stuck the festival out to its end.
Kylie’s radio-friendly hits have been ever present since the late 1980s, and the sheer volume of her back catalogue is impressive. She tells the crowd that she’s “having an absolute moment” as she takes in the vista and recalls the last time she played at a festival in Ireland, which was in the 1990s. That she still draws a crowd in 2024 says it all.
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For her latest single, Kylie tells the crowd the Blessed Madonna will be joining her on stage, which causes a moment of confusion, as some think she’s referring to the Material Girl Madonna rather than the US DJ whom Kylie has collaborated with on the upbeat Edge of Saturday Night.
The best thing about Kylie’s performance is that she delivers her 1987 hit The Loco-Motion with the same conviction as her more recent TikTok-famous Padam Padam. She jokes that some of the crowd may even have been around when she released the holiday-camp staple.
She changes into a glitzy red fringed ensemble to perform hits such as Wow, Spinning Around and I Believe in You as well as facilitating a wholesome singalong to Better the Devil You Know. Later in the set she slips into a stunning fuchsia bolero to deliver All the Lovers.
Kylie’s energy never wavers as she delivers an immaculately polished pop performance. As an almost-full moon hangs in the Stradbally sky, nobody returning to their tent will be able to get Kylie or her la-la-la-la-la-la-la-las out of their head.
