‘So lucky’: Kylie lights up rain-soaked AFL grand final
Callum Godde |
Kylie Minogue has lived up to her billing as the princess of pop, with the skies parting for a magical AFL grand final pre-game show.
The Melbourne-born icon had the MCG crowd spellbound before Saturday’s premiership decider between the Fremantle Dockers and the Brisbane Lions.
After hours of rain, dark clouds abated just in time for the pre-game showpiece.
“A homecoming like this, I should be so lucky,” she said as “K” and “M” flashed in the venue’s floodlights.
The 58-year-old broke out a selection of her biggest hits across a 20-minute set, including Love at First Sight, In Your Eyes, On a Night Like This, Spinning Around, Slow, Padam Padam and Locomotion.
The Grammy winner’s show included several wardrobe changes and no shortage of backup dancers or pyrotechnics.
The performance culminated in Kylie soaring through the air above a giant football emblazoned with her name as she belted out Can’t Get You Out of My Head.
Sections of the 100,000-strong crowd gave the hometown hero a standing ovation.
Minogue topped a line-up that included G-Flip, Michael Paynter and Up There Cazaly singer Mike Brady, who marked his 48th grand final performance.
It comes after the NRL ditched its pre-match headline act after a fallout with singer Tones and I over her set list.
The award-winning Victorian performer reportedly refused to commit to singing her biggest hit Dance Monkey, which topped the charts in more than 30 countries in 2019.
Rather than look to attract another big star to perform before the grand final at Accor Stadium on October 4, the NRL will direct the $1 million payment to junior rugby league.
Ahead of 2025’s title deciders, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys mocked the AFL’s choice of Snoop Dogg as grand final entertainment, calling the veteran rapper a “dog act” while promoting the NRL’s booking of US performer Teddy Swims.
AAP