As the  BST’s schedule of summer gigs was drawing to a close, there was just one name on everyone’s lips, so iconic she is only known by her first name – Kylie. The Australian pop princess served up a sensational set that had the crowd dancing from start to finish. 

“Hyde Park just gives”, the songstress declared – and she was absolutely correct. The energy was palpable both from Kylie and her fabulous dancers as well as the crowd itself.

When it comes to giving, Kylie gave a sensual and sparkling performance that incorporated songs from the five decades she has been in the music business. Incorporating every single era, from indie Kylie where she duetted with Nick Cave on ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’ in 1995 and the Middle Eastern imbued ‘Confide in Me’ from 1994 to the pure pop of the eighties under the tutelage of Stock Aitken Waterman, Kylie is the epitome of a sonic shapeshifter, but she is perhaps most beloved for her disco-drenched hits.

Her musical prowess is evident as she effortlessly navigates from a jubilant rendition of her breakout hit ‘The Locomotion’, to one of her most recent hits that also became a sensation on Tiktok, the Grammy Award-winning ‘Padam Padam’.

Without a doubt, this was a dizzying celebration of pop perfection, she kicked things off with the titular track from her most recent album ‘Tension’, resplendent in a red latex jumpsuit (the first of many wardrobe changes – well, it is Kylie!) purring and frolicing around the stage in a sex kittenesque manner serving up evocative lines like ‘Oh my god / Touch me right there’ as over 60,000 audience members danced along.

“I never thought I’d be in front of thousands of people singing, ‘Touch me right there’, ” she laughed, following “Tension”. “Don’t make me cry, don’t make me cry – we only just started… there’s so many of you. Hyde Park, are you ready to have some fun?”

It was closely followed by  ‘In Your Eyes/Get Outta My Way’ saw the crowd dancing along with ‘Get Outta My Way’ having a new more trance-like arrangement which kept things fresh. ‘Come Into My World’ is a classic Kylie continued the dance-pop sound that she is synonymous with.

Always a fan favourite, the intoxicating ‘Confide In Me’ took on a whole new level with a slightly re-imagined arrangement. ‘Slow’ ironically is a slightly fast-paced version of the original and feels sexually-charged and hypnotic with the impossibly contagious synth-pop beats casting a spell over the crowd. 

Segueing straight into ‘Better The Devil You Know’, this again was a reminder of the many different genres Kylie has embraced and saw a seismic shift in all the crowd dancing to her 1990 classic track. 

She didn’t save her most iconic track ‘Spinning Around’ for the encore, astutely incorporating it in mid show, before she took us all back into the eighties for a delicious nostalgic trip in a retro-tastic megamix of a selection of ‘eighties’ Kylie classics – ‘I Should Be So Lucky’  ‘Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi’, ‘Step Back In Time’ and ‘Got To Be Certain’, all sung acapella upon the request of the excited fans.

The medley magic  continued with ‘One More Time’, ‘Wow’ and ‘Shocked’ all being given the Kylie treatment followed by the sultry ‘I Believe In You’. As well as the nostalgic nods, Kylie’s most recent track ‘My Oh My’ which saw appearances from her fellow singing superstars Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo saw her joyfully exclaiming ‘I’ve been waiting for this moment all night… It’s my dream, I’m finally in a girl band!’.

Kylie closed her set with the brilliant ‘Love At First Sight’ where she declared she was on ‘cloud nine’, the crowd wanted more, but alas, it was curfew. Kylie has the hits to take us all through to midnight thanks to her expansive and career-spanning back catalogue. 

From the effervescent ‘All the Lovers’ to the euphoric ‘Padam Padam’, this was a dazzling and spellbinding set that showed why Kylie is such a special performer. 

‘You still take my breath away’, she told the sold out crowd at Hyde Park – and so did she. It is a rare and splendid thing to still sell out top-notch festivals after five decades in the music business, but that’s the magic and power of Kylie!