Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie Review

Will this release have you spinning around?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 3, 2015

Australian-born Pop sensation Kylie Minogue has long dominated the charts and performed some of the most upbeat and sensuous tunes of the past couple of decades, juicing up dance halls and pushing sound systems with hits like The Loco-Motion, Spinning Around, Fever, and Can't Get You Out of My Head. And she doesn't seem to be slowing down with age. Now in her mid-40s, Kylie continues to entertain and release new, impressive albums on a regular basis (though, in this reviewer's opinion, she peaked with 2001's Fever), including 2014's Kiss Me Once, her twelfth album and one that spawned hits like Into the Blue, Sexercize, and I Was Gonna Cancel all embodying her trademark blend of sultry sass and dance-worthy pop. The release took Kylie on tour across Europe and Australia with a quick stop in Dubai mixed in for good measure. This live recorded Blu-ray release captures her performance from a November 12, 2014 stop in Glasgow at the SSE Hydro Arena, singing songs from her new album as well as a number of old favorites (not to mention a cover of INXS's Need You Tonight) performed to a frenzied crowd.

Kylie's Glasgow stop impresses across the board. It's a fun, energetic show, suggestive to be sure but tastefully so, particularly compared to some of today's more risqué performers. There's a good rhythm, an excellent playlist (Fever is notably absent), strong crowd representation and involvement, and a sense of intimacy between audience and performer that's attributable to several factors, including Minogue's charisma and interaction with her fans, the spartan and relatively small but visually effective stage, and the physical closeness of star and fans. The show sees plenty of variety not only in music but costume, props, lighting effects, and support performers, all of which enjoy a strong, positive harmony with the music that only accentuates every song, not dominates the show. Minogue powers through a number of new hits and old favorites and does so with a nice spice and variety, foregoing simple studio album regurgitation and mixing things up with a little added juice and audience interaction. It's a feel-good show, one that, for Kylie fans in particular, will send positive energies into the home theater through the sheer power of the toe-tapping, body-spinning beats that won't be so easy to get out of the head hours after it's over and sent out into the blue.

Below is the track listing for the concert.

• Intro/Breathe.
• Les Sex.
• In My Arms.
• Timebomb.
• Wow.
• Step back in Time.
• Spinning Around.
• Your Disco Needs You.
• On a Night Like This.
• Slow.
• Enjoy Yourself.
• Hand on Your Heart.
• Never Too Late.
• Got to Be Certain.
• I Should Be So Lucky.
• Skirt.
• Need You Tonight.
• Sexercize.
• Can't Get You Out of My Head.
• Kids.
• Beautiful.
• Kiss Me Once.
• Get Outta My Way.
• Love at First Sight.
• Tears on My Pillow.
• Locomotion.
• All the Lovers.
• Into the Blue.

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro features a 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's neither perfect nor refined but that is nevertheless very favorable and watchable. The presentation offers a nice contrast between the well-lit stage and the inky-deep black backgrounds that rarely push too bright or appear with more than trace amounts of noise or micro blocking. The image is clean and nicely detailed, not razor-sharp even in any number of performer and stage close-ups but revealing satisfactory costume and clothing lines, particularly evident on some of the more involved attire Kylie and her dancers wear through the course of the show. Colors are suitably vibrant, but the show favors a predominantly industrial bright gray sort of shading with splashes of bold, exciting shades littered throughout in costumes, props, and lights. One set, for example, goes heavy on pink, but that flat grayscale and bits of purple and blue generally dominate.

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro offers three audio options: A DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, a PCM 2.0 track, and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Most listeners will likely choose between the lossless 5.1 or the 2.0. The 5.1 track, obviously, delivers a healthy, robust, full stage in which the surrounds carry a well proportioned load of crowd ambience that helps place listeners in the middle of the arena. The rear channels also support a rainfall effect heard at show's start. Music is still the focus, obviously, and it plays with a good, healthy front end balance that's loud at reference level but maintains tight, intimate instrumental and vocal clarity throughout the entire range and the show's full playlist. There's nice separation and a healthy prioritization of Kylie's vocals in the center, always in balance with the music and never rising above or sinking below it. The subwoofer is active but balanced and never over pumped, offering a nice, easy pulse at the beginning of Slow and delivering steady, workmanlike support weight to any number of songs. The LPCM two-channel track is a little more intimate with the music, staying up front, obviously, but still maintaining a mildly more reserved crowd presence. Both tracks are detailed enough to pick out some of the more clearly vocalized crowd noises, picking up individual fans throwing their appreciation at the star. Both tracks are vibrant, alive, and very well defined in both instrumental and vocal details. There's no muddiness, no unbalance, just a good, hearty, straightforward presentation that should satisfy longtime fans.

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro contains several bonus features on the Blu-ray disc. Two audio CDs are included with purchase which is the concert reproduced in audio only format. Included in the Blu-ray case is a full-color booklet with track listings for all three discs as well as a number of photos from the show.

• Sleepwalker (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 8:43): A short film/extended music video featuring Glow, Wait, and Break This Heartache.
• Chasing Ghosts (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 1:37): An interlude shown prior to the 80's Medley.
• Sexercize (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 3:43): A screen projection/music video for the song.
• Skirt (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 2:18): A screen projection/music video for the song.
• Can't Get You Out of My Head (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 4:47): A screen projection/music video for the song.
• In My Arms (1080i, LPCM 2.0, 3:31): A screen projection/music video for the song.

Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kylie Minogue may be creeping up in years (has it really been 27 years since The Loco-Motion?), but she's still got it. Her live show at the SSE Hydro is terrific, a treat for fans and a nice introduction for newcomers in search of some of the best purely fun and spicy Pop songs of the past couple of decades. It's a quality production, simple in many ways and relatively tasteful even with songs and dances that are somewhat suggestive and sexy. Kylie sings with infectious enthusiasm and shares an excellent rapport with her dancers. This Blu-ray release of Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once - Live at the SSE Hydro features good video and strong audio. Several extras, including two bonus CDs which recreate the show in audio-only form, are included. Highly recommended.