Wednesday, August 27, 2008

It's official! Kylie is taking X2008 to Australia and NZ!



From Kylie.com

KYLIE CONFIRMED TO TOUR SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE!
AND FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME AUCKLAND!

After wowing audiences and critics across the UK and Europe in what has been hailed as her most flamboyant show yet! (Manchester Evening News), Kylie's confirmed tour dates in Sydney and Melbourne...and for the first time ever Auckland!

Kylie said she can't wait to bring X2008 to Australia and New Zealand this December:

"It's been such a joy to take this show to so many countries that I've never been to before, but it's a real thrill to be bringing it home to Australia and to be able to share it with you all, Kylie said.

Notably this will be the first time one of Kylie's tours has included New Zealand.

"I'm so excited to finally be able to bring my show to New Zealand. This will be my second visit but my first concert performance and I can't wait to see you all there, Kylie said.

Kylie's X2008 is an enormous A$20m (NZ$24m) production that has already traveled to 21 countries across Europe. More than half a million people have seen the show and been wowed by Kylie's performance, her first class production and her dazzling Jean Paul Gaultier wardrobe.

Australian pre-sale tickets are available from Thursday 4 September and for New Zealand from Friday 5 September. Visit frontiertouring.com for details.

Australian tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday 8 September at 9am local time.

New Zealand tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 9 September at 9am local time.

December 8th - Auckland, NZ, Vector Arena
December 14th - Sydney, Australia, Acer Arena
December 19th - Melbourne, Australia, Rod Laver Arena

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Slow live at the 2003 European Music Awards

South American dates for X2008 and rumoured North American dates!

Along with Asia and Australia getting X2008 it is looking more than likely that dates for South America will be officially announced also. A tour promoter in Argentina has already announced a date for X2008 in November. I suppose they are trying to decide what dates she will be performing and how many cities she will do.

There are also whispers that she will be doing a few shows across North America. My guess would be that she would do Mexico City, NYC, LA, Toronto, and Montreal. I'm not going to hold my breath about it though. It probably won't happen in North America. :/

X2008 heading to Oz this Decemeber!



From the Sunday Herald Sun

Kylie Minogue will hold a week-long series of shows at Rod Laver Arena in December.

"The reason I hadn't confirmed dates in Australia is I really didn't know what I was getting into," Kylie told the Sunday Herald Sun.
"But now I know.
"I have a show that breathes and changes and is dependent on people's moods and environment.
"I can't wait to bring it home."

Her critically acclaimed KylieX2008 show will visit Melbourne and Sydney. Kylie's tour promoter, Michael Gudinski, will announce dates this week with the venue already booked for the first week of December. Kylie, who battled breast cancer two years ago, will hold a limited number of shows before enjoying Christmas with family in Melbourne.

"As far as my health goes, I do two shows in a row, then have a day off," she said.
"Sometimes after two shows I think, 'Well, I could (do) one tomorrow . . .' But, I'll quit while I'm ahead."

The show is minimalist chic, but her stage converts into a football field, dancefloor, ballroom and garden.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Interview with the director of 'The One' video

Digital Arts a website dedicated to digital creations interviewed Ben Ib, the director for Kylie's video 'The One.' The interview contains some info on how the video came to be and other aspects of shooting and creating the special effects fo it. The full interview is below! :D




The promo for Kylie's new single, The One, is a sexy, glamorous piece in black-and-white with flashes of primary colour and the pint-sized diva at her most sultry. To direct the promo, she turned to Ben Ib, who had also created her tour visuals. We caught up with him to talk about how the piece was created.

DA: What was the brief for the project?
BI: Kylie sent me a really detailed brief with loads of amazing images, from Man Ray to Rodchenko, through Donna Summer and The Jackson 5. We had worked together on her tour visuals, so she was familiar with the type of work I do. I came up with a treatment inspired by some of her references, heavily based on the era of the 1940s.

DA: What were your conceptual ideas and influences?
BI: Initially the idea was very Rodchenko. But the storyboard included various images of Carol Lombard and Veronika Lake, and it seemed to grow organically from this look that Kylie pretty much devised. So the whole Art Deco thing stemmed from this. We wanted the look to be 1940s Hollywood, but not retro -- like a 1940s vision of the future. Personally my inspiration came from a wide range of places: Bauhaus graphic design, Art Deco architecture, Marcel Duchamp short films, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, The Wizard of Oz, Saul Bass' title sequences. Basically all the things I like!

DA: How did you turn this into the final promo?
BI: We shot the video against greenscreen in Manchester, where Kylie had a day off in the middle of her X tour dates. The shoot was fairly simple with a few props and various costume changes. We also filmed two dancers, Jason and Nikki. Kylie's performance was impeccable. Not one mistake!

DA: What was the biggest challenge you faced, and how did you overcome this?
BI: The post deadline was extremely tight -- initially about a week. I tend to be pretty hands-on with my videos and do a great deal of the post myself, as my background is in 3D and motion graphics. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment! But luckily I had a very talented gang of motion-graphics artists and compositors to help out this time. But it was still a serious amount of late nights and strong coffee.

DA: What software did you use to create the piece, particularly the motion graphics?
BI: The backgrounds were created in Maya using Mental Ray and the 2d work was done in After Effects. The keying and finishing was done in Flame.

DA: At times it looks very much like elaborate stage lighting, with characters appearing in front of these vivid, changing backdrops. Was the promo influenced by your stage design work?
BI: The influence was definitely on stage lighting, but really the film stages of the 1940s rather than the live stage. The look of real stages, such as those used by Busby Berkeley, Hitchcock (eg Spellbound), Fritz Lang etc I think have a beautiful sense of depth. The fact that they are constructed rather than built on a computer gives them something which is more imaginary and organic. The sense of scale is beautifully imperfect. So the inspiration was definitely from constructed stage sets -- but of course, built on a Mac!

Monday, August 18, 2008

X2008 live at the O2 in London - Audio

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Thanks to Kane for ripping the audio!

Speakerphone
BoomBox / Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Ruffle My Feathers
Heart Beat Rock
Wow
Like A Drug
Slow
2 Hearts
Come Into My World
Nu-Di-Ty
Sensitized
Flower
I Believe In You
On A Night Like This
Your Disco Needs You
Kids
Step Back In Time
In My Arms
No More Rain
The One
Love At First Sight
I Should Be So Lucky
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

X2008 preview for 4Music



The show airs this Friday in the UK on 4Music (formerly known as 'The Hits'). I'm hoping someone caps the show and uploads it and if they do I shall be posting it on here. Kane from sayhey has said he will be ripping the audio for us so I shall definitely be posting that. Keep an eye out this weekend!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

European leg of X2008 Tour comes to an end



Kylie played her last show of the European leg of X2008 Live this past Monday at the O2 Arena in London. Just with the European leg of the tour it has already been her longest and most successful tour to date and there are more dates to be announced soon for Asia and Australia.

X2008 will be broadcast in the UK on August 15th on the new music channel 4Music (formerly known as The Hits). It will also include backstage footage and interviews. Hopefully someone will record it and upload it onto the net.

Be sure to keep an eye out for more news concerning X2008! News about the DVD release should be leaking out soon. :D

Friday, August 1, 2008

The One out now!

Sorry for the severe lack of updates the past few days!





The final single from X was out this past Monday in the UK and other European countries, the track has already reached the top 40 on the UK singles chart on downloads alone. The single is only receiving a digital release and a video has been shot but still hasn't appeared online yet. It's available to download in several digital bundles and they are each listed below.

iTunes Bundle 1
1. The One - Album Edit

iTunes Bundle 2
1. The One - Album Version
2. The One - Freemasons Vocal Club Mix

Kylie.com exclusive (7Digital)
1. The One - Freemasons Vocal Club Edit


The rumour is that Kylie's label in the US (Capitol) is looking to release the track digitaly but nothing is for certain yet. It wouldn't hurt considering all they would have to do is put it up on iTunes. How much would that cost them? It's not like they have to press any physical copies of the single.