Regarding the Kylie Minogue concert in Ft. Lauderdale

[Editor's note] Let me begin with a conclusion: Kylie Minogue's show at the BankAtlantic Center in Ft. Lauderdale was the best I’ve ever seen—ever.

Sorry, Miss Turner. Get out of here, Bette. Maybe next year, Cher.

Kylie’s Aphrodite: Les Folies tour is a fun, fabulous and free-wheeling celebration of pop music’s most underappreciated diva. Impressively exciting from beginning to end, this show boasted a spectacular set of Corinthian columns, a Pegasus horse, a marble bust of Kylie, and a men-drawn chariot-- all backed by a huge LCD screen that was as pretty as it was hypnotic.

The show also included a litany of Greek warriors, shirtless Adonises, and beautiful black men in little black shorts. If Kylie knows anything, she knows that scantily clad boys are the way to the hearts of her audience. And feathers, there were lots and lots of feathers.

The music was a rapturous collection of new tunes and classic Kylie. The set list was littered with songs from every Minogue era: from the music of her early pop ingénue days to the club-oriented dance-pop beats of her new album, Aphrodite. As you may recall, I loved Aphrodite. And listening live to songs like “Cupid Boy” and “Get Out of My Way” only made that love grow by gay leaps and bounds.

Admittedly, Kylie Minogue has never been one of my Divas. I liked her and I own a lot of her albums but I’ve always felt that her voice was too… breathey. Often I've thought that her voice lacked the conviction of the empowering lyrics she was singing. She was just too nice. Well, all that went to Hell at the concert.

Just as beautiful as Aphrodite on the shell in Sandro Botticelli’s iconic painting The Birth Of Venus, so too was Kylie as she emerged from a golden shell on stage that night. From that point on, I became a confirmed Minoguite. She was fierce, and funny, and totally on point with the Greek theme. Perhaps what won me over was how genuinely appreciative and taken aback by she was by the faithful fans who flocked to her in droves. This was most evident during “If You Don’t Love Me”, when a solitary Kylie sat atop a staircase and sang a song her adoring fans obviously disagreed with. So overcome was Kylie, that she stopped several times to catch herself. It was a genuine moment of connectivity between two bodies that needed each other.

That moment is indicative of the overall theme of the Aphrodite tour: a theme of unadulterated fan appreciation. She made this show for and about her fans. So much so that she even brought a hysterical little queen on stage to thank him. This rather embarrassing moment aside, the show brought out the best of an artist that has rarely had the opportunity to show America her goods. And show them she did—for over 2 hours on Saturday night Kylie Minogue put on a concert for her people.