Kylie Minogue has spoken to Music Week about preparations for her long-awaited debut Las Vegas concert residency, which opens on November 3.
The Australian pop icon will be the first headliner of the new 1,000-seat Voltaire at The Venetian Resort, performing her More Than Just A Residency show over 20 nights up to May 4, 2024.
Three-and-a-half decades into her career, there is a sense of inevitability about her Sin City bow for Minogue and her team.
“We would joke that I was definitely going to end up in Vegas,” laughed Minogue, speaking in the October issue of Music Week. “Many years ago - on the Showgirl tour in 2005 - we were saying, ‘This should be in Vegas.’ And then Aphrodite in 2011 should absolutely have been in Vegas. It would’ve made way more sense to be there as opposed to packing up precision water fountains in a truck and schlepping them to the next location.”
The singer's army of fans snapped up tickets for the original 10 dates in four-and-a-half hours in August, leading to the confirmation of an additional 10 concerts, which sold out in just 30 minutes.
"It has been overwhelming," she said. "My ticket anxiety is real. I have a lot of shows where I have ticket anxiety and particularly this one. It’s such an intimate venue and I’m hoping people can get their tickets. But overall, it’s super-exciting."
Vegas seemed to be more for the twilight of one’s career, but in the interim it has had this rejuvenation
Kylie Minogue
The vision of producer Michael Gruber, Voltaire is billed as "blurring the lines between an intimate club, concert, and non-stop entertainment venue".
"It feels like the right time," added Minogue. "It’s something a bit different for me and it’s something different for Vegas, so I’ve got quite a bit of work in the next couple of months to get ready for that.”
Once synonymous with ageing legends, a spell in Sin City is a much more palatable proposition for contemporary superstars, post Britney Spears’ 2013-17 Piece Of Me run, with everyone from Lady Gaga to U2 trying their luck in the Entertainment Capital Of The World.
“Vegas seemed to be more for the twilight of one’s career, but in the interim it has had this rejuvenation,” observed Minogue. “That is not taking away from what that was, because it has worked so well for people historically. But it’s true that it’s pretty happening right now, so I thought it was a good time.”
Minogue's manager Polly Bhowmik of A&P Artist Management told Music Week the residency had been a long time coming.
"It has been something that has been talked about for some time, but as Kylie has said, it felt like the right time now," she said. "The demand was fantastic and following the first on-sale, we made some changes to try and improve the user experience for the second on-sale.
"Seeing the response has been great and it puts Kylie in Vegas at a really exciting time for the city with some of the best artists in the world performing there. Also, this is the first year the F1 Grand Prix is being held there. There is a buzz around Vegas right now."
Kylie has always been at the forefront, so it will be great to see her on the Vegas stage whilst having one of the biggest hits of her career
Polly Bhowmik
Minogue will perform many of her greatest hits alongside tracks from her chart-topping new LP Tension during her Vegas stint, with the album track Vegas High a late inclusion once the residency was confirmed.
"When I started Tension, Vegas was an idea," she revealed. "And it really got locked down fully in the last year, so I can't say I started Tension knowing Vegas would definitely happen."
Minogue's 16th solo record, Tension opened at No.1 in the UK in September with first-week sales of 53,237, according to the Official Charts Company. Minogue also saw singles chart success for the viral hit Padam Padam - the record's lead single and her first Top 10 solo single since 2010 - and Top 20 follow-up Tension.
In the US, Padam Padam peaked at No.7 on the Hot Dance/Electronic chart, while Tension made No.1 on the US Top Dance/Electronic Albums rundown.
"Kylie has always been at the forefront, so it will be great to see her on the Vegas stage whilst having one of the biggest hits of her career with Padam Padam - and biggest hit in the US for some time - and the dates starting pretty much straight off the back of the release of Tension," added Bhowmik.
Also in September, Minogue headlined BBC Radio 2 In The Park in Leicester, as well as performing at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire as part of the O2 Priority gig series. Her live agent, Emma Banks of CAA, hinted that further live activity was in the offing.
"Obviously the Vegas residency is on sale and going incredibly well which is such good news," said Banks. "We have lots of plans for more shows around the world which will announce soon. I am really excited to see the next iteration of Kylie live."
Emma Banks went on to praise Minogue and her team as "consummate professionals".
"Kylie has such an incredible history with multiple No.1 albums, massive sellout tours and owns the hearts of most of the nation - that doesn’t come without attention to detail and hard work," she said. "Her performances are known to be spectacular, everyone has a good time at a Kylie show and I think the evolution of the show and how Kylie presents her music is a fascinating thing to watch.
"The vibe on tour is always positive - no massive egos or problem people - with Kylie very much leading from the front in that respect."
Subscribers can read the full interview with Kylie Minogue and her team at BMG, CAA and A&P Artist Management.
