Radio 2 Live review: Kylie delivers pop perfection

Glorious: Kylie Minogue at Hyde Park
Sarah Jeynes/BBC/PA Wire
Elizabeth Aubrey10 September 2018

“Now I need a dance partner,” Kylie called out, mid-way through a rendition of her and Jason Donovan’s iconic duet, Especially For You. Moments later, Donovan appeared and scooped Kylie up in his arms to affectionately recreate the dance from their 1988 Top of the Pops appearance, recorded during the height of their Neighbours fame.

“Where do we go from there?” Kylie, who was headlining Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park asked, visibly emotional as the audience screams rang out long after Jason had left. It was, after all, the reunion pop dreams are made of. The answer, it turned out, was another duet — this time with her old Stock, Aitken and Waterman label mate — Rick Astley.

“Is it 1987 or something?” Kylie joked, before the two sang Never Gonna Give You Up and Kids.

“You just made my night… my year,” Astley told her before Kylie repaid the compliment by singing a snippet of Gabrielle’s Dreams back to him, telling him her dreams had come true. It was everything a gloriously silly pop moment should be.

Earlier, another such moment occurred during Boyzone’s 25th anniversary set. “We’ve decided to call it a night after 25 years,” Ronan Keating said, before a chorus of loud jeers rang out across Hyde Park.

“We appreciate that, it would be horrible if you were cheering,” Keating quipped, before they continued to play a joyous hit-filled set.

Their breakthrough 1994 hit Love Me For a Reason was bellowed back by fans, as was their cover of the Bee Gees classic, Words. An emotional tribute to late band member Steven Gately on No Matter What resonated poignantly, as did Rita Ora’s tribute earlier in the day to the late Swedish DJ Avicii on what would have been his 29th birthday.

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The Nineties revival continued elsewhere with All Saints and Lenny Kravitz. All Saints’ new material from the William Orbit-produced New Testament impressed, as did their classic numbers. Meanwhile, Kravitz kicked off the day in buoyant fashion, debuting the breezy Five More Days of Summer and taking fans back to his funk-rock beginnings with Let Love Rule.

Later, the Manic Street Preachers performed one of the day’s best sets. A glitter-faced Nicky Wire pogoed across the stage in between intermittent scissor-step kicks while James Dean Bradfield roared through old and new Manics anthems with aplomb. You Love Us was a dynamic, breathless highlight, as was stirring set opener Motorcycle Emptiness.

Early on in her set, Kylie had to cope coolly after a technical failure meant she was forced to improvise.

Taking requests from the audience, Kylie performed acoustic snippets of favourites including Step Back in Time and Got to Be Certain. Like much of her set, it was a masterclass in pop-perfection.

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