KYLIE

GOLDEN TOUR, BIC

HYSTERIA filled the Windsor Hall when Kylie first appeared, ascending to a centre stage while perched on a pile of suitcases singing Golden, the title track from her most recent album.

In the lyrics is the line "With a voice sayin' 'I'll never give in, get knocked down, back up again'" - it's a sentiment that couldn't have been truer as we all know that over 30 years of being in the public eye Kylie has had her fair share of heartache and personal battles.

But at the BIC she proved to a sold-out venue that, at 50, she's an Antipodean fine wine that gets better with age.

The UK's adopted pop princess, once referred to by a heartless hack as a 'singing budgie', now sings live superbly.

Smoothly switching from her new country sound to those hit factory days with I Wouldn't Change a Thing and Better the Devil You Know, Kylie showed how far she's come vocally. The dancing has been scaled back and she possesses the voice and more confident poise of a pop legend who knows she's at the top of her game.

Who'd have thought Locomotion could have sounded so good? Little Eva would have loved it.

Kylie upped the sophistication factor with each new look. She first appeared in a pink dress then switched it up to a boardroom-worthy white jacket and pussy bow sleeveless blouse followed by a biker girl look, a black slinky dress with a checked shirt tied around it and followed up with a gold dress showing off those pins with a daring slit up to the thigh.

The gig had nice personal touches too with Kylie appearing wearing a jacket emblazoned with 'Bournemouth Golden' as she descended the stage. The singer's sweet nature shone through as she interacted with fans, speaking Spanish to a Peruvian fan and giving her endearingly petite leather gloves from an impressive mass motorbike scene to another adoring fan.

Given the size of the other venues on her Golden tour she rather charmingly described the BIC's main hall as 'intimate' and, 100 per cent sincere or not, had the audience eating out of the palm of hands when she appeared completely overwhelmed by this audience, yes, this particular audience, who had obviously screamed, whooped, hollered and applauded louder than any other audience she had ever encountered.

The night contained a broad cross-section of Kylie's hits over the years, giving the crowd, who seem to have aged with their idol, exactly what they came for. But what they got out of the night that no-one was expecting was a vocal performance to rival any of her contemporaries.

JOANNA DAVIS