Kylie Headlines A Dazzling Display At BST Hyde Park

Every year, Hyde Park opens its gates to the British Summertime Festivals and with that joy it brings an esteem of artists and a whole lot of rain, mud and binge drinking crowds. The difference is… this was the pre-Pride party, so you can imagine a whole lot of colour was brought to the park and with headliners Kylie, Grace Jones, Years & Years and MIKA, can you be surprised at the day ahead?

We arrived just in time for the end of Years & Years set and heard the bombastic vocals of “King” roaring through the park, and having seen the band perform at their sell-out Shepherds Bush Empire show a week ago, the memories of the colourful and bold set (and plenty of embellishments through their hit single “King”) stayed in our minds and we quickly had ourselves placed amongst the crowd for MIKA, drinks in hand.

When MIKA hit the stage, there was no elaborate interlude or introduction. He simply walked onto the stage and began a slowed down version of hit single “Grace Kelly” before thrusting into the full uptempo version. And as he continued through his set, the format remained… piano intro and then thrust into the full version. He had an oddly, charismatic stage presence with the theatrics of Adam Lambert or Freddie Mercury but with such a mystery about himself.

Newer fans would have been disappointed as he performed every hit from his debut album “Life in Cartoon Motion” and a few selected numbers from his discography afterwards. Highlights did come in the form of “Happy Ending”, “Big Girls (You Are Beautiful)”, “Relax Take It Easy” and “The Origin of Love”. He gave “Lollipop” a much needed dance remix and ended on a high note with the ever so campy “Love Today”, with full piano introduction.

After MIKA’s set, this gave us ample opportunity to explore the park and it’s various stages’ (and bars). We found ourselves lost in the Bullmers Karaoke hut, lounging out on their surprisingly comfy deck chairs and having a photo booth session dressed as members of a hoedown and the great part was, it was right next to the Barclaycard Stage where Foxes made her debut.

She assembled onto the stage in a white, free flowing top and bare foot. She twirled and swirled around the stage, giving her best Kate Bush impression possible and with the free flowing romps “Youth”, “Holding Onto Heaven” and new single “Body Talk”. She impressed the stage heavily. Highlights came in the form of “Clarity” and “Let’s Go For Tonight”, which are notably her most known tracks.

Grace Jones was already on the stage as Foxes finished and as her set assembled, she found herself in an array of unusual outfits… painted on white strips with more than a breast slip, unusual tribal masks and poorly executed wigs. Her stage show came off as nothing more than bizarre, but isn’t that Grace Jones? Highlights came in the form of “Pull Up To The Bumper” and “Slave To The Rhythm” where she had a gigantic hoola hoop around her waist throughout the entire song.

With enough time for a toilet and bar visit, we found ourselves pushing our way through the crowd as Kylie’s introductory video began. With disco balls and backing singers dressed in bows we knew it was going to be camp! And when the opening bars of “Better The Devil You Know” began. Everything went into technicolor. Kylie assembled onto the stage dressed with as a Queen, with a red robe on and crown on her head and as she assembled through her hits, there was now doubt that that Queen title was deserved to Miss Minogue.

She strutted about to “In Your Eyes” and “In My Arms”, flirted with the audience about how attractive they looked with “Wow” and reminisced with us with early 00s gay banger “Your Disco Needs You”. And if that wasn’t enough, she gave herself three costume changes and through her just-under 2 hour set-list there wasn’t a stalled moment. The throwback moments of her career with tracks like “The Loco-Motion” and “Step Back In Time” integrated with disco diva “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” and “Spinning Around” (sans those golden hot pants) and then throw in current Kylie “Get Outta My Way” and voila! You have a great mixture and an impressive body of work. The show ended on the beautiful “Into The Blue” and gave us all a reminder of the struggle of leaving the Park and it’s magic behind for another day.

To find out more about British Summer Time In Hyde Park shows click here.

Main photo Rex Shutterstock

Words by Daniel Sado

COMMENTS

• Daniel Sado
  Still in awe at what a great show this was! A true performer!