combined classic hits and sexually charged new hits

The world has a lot to thank Australia for: cute koalas; Crocodile Dundee; a faraway new home for 19th-century British criminals. And, of course, Kylie Minogue, the crowned Princess of Pop who has been lighting up dance floors with her infectious hits – and radiant personality – for nearly forty years. Last night, Minogue, 56, took to the stage in London’s Hyde Park with dozens of backing dancers, five costume changes and four decades of irresistible pop bangers. She got the party started with the very first number: the title track from Tension, last year’s pulsating electronic album that is widely considered to have revitalized her career.

Dressed in skintight, primary-coloured latex, Minogue and her dancers looked like a cross between a Durex advert and the Teletubbies – a fitting aesthetic, considering their catalogue includes both lusty club tracks and kids’ party stuff. With its synth-driven chorus, ‘Things We Do For Love’ – also by Tension and never played live – recalled the Eighties excesses that put Minogue on the map as a singer after she left the Neighbours line-up in 1988. The inevitable highlight, however, was Tension’s unstoppable, Grammy-winning anthem ‘Padam Padam’. Her most confident track in years, it blithely blends European-flavoured house and electronic dance music with the bubblegum pop that made her famous. She also performed “My Oh My,” a stirring new piece of electronica produced by Steve Mac – the mastermind behind chart-topping hits by Calvin Harris, Little Mix and One Direction – where she was joined onstage by Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo.