Nonetheless, many say it was worth the wait.
"I waited in line since 2 in the morning," screamed one fan to Minogue at the Sunday October 11th show.
"I can't believe she's finally here," said Joe Bossler of Long Island, NY.
Minogue opened her Big Apple performance atop a giant silver skull, dressed in an array of rainbow colors. She slowly descended to the stage from above, and opened with a song and monologue as though she were a flight attendant.
"Hi, my name is Kylie," she said. "The exits are to the front and rear. Enjoy the ride, and thanks for flying KMA."
Kylie's Greatest Hits
The concert was, as expected, a fine yet randomly scattered mix of nearly two dozen of her best works. Once on stage she opened with a rather animated performance of Speakerphone, found on her 2007 album X. It was the first of many performances in which she was carried around and assisted by costumed stage dancers.
Later came other favorites off of X, like Two Hearts and Heartbeat Rock. She also worked her way a few years back with mesmerizing electro performances of Come Into My World, Slow, and Can't Get You Out Of My Head. Each contained shortened elements of other songs of hers.
Red Blooded Woman did not cater to many of the heterosexual men at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Some of her male stage dancers appeared in nothing but spandex britches, and made like they were showering, all while misty steam shot up on stage.
"I didn't mind that," claimed Bossler. "I liked the song portion of that performance."
Kylie 1988 - 92
Minogue's years as a super-youthful popstar were a bit underrepresented, considering that's what first garnered her stateside success in the fall of 1988. Not to mention, this was her first ever U.S. tour!
Segments of Shocked, What Do I Have To Do, and (though it was later), Spinning Around were all glued together in a continuous medley complete with flashy, colorful, 80's graphics. She did Loco-Motion, but in a peculiar, sassy, Broadway-ish manner, as though she was Breathless Mahoney from Dick Tracy.
Oh! Speaking of Madonna, when Kylie sang Burning Up, it included a special excerpt from Madge's Vogue. The crowd erupted with applause, as they did commonly throughout the evening.
Kylie 1994 - Present
With the exception of 1994's Confide In Me, Minogue's mid- and late-90's hits were left out of the show entirely. Plenty came from 2000, like Kids (Robbie Williams wasn't there though), and from her '02 album Fever, such as In Your Eyes and some tracks mentioned earlier.
The show's last half hour included her most upbeat tracks of the last 20 years. She returned to X to sing Wow, which got everyone in the crowd jumping up and down, "wow-ing," and screaming the lyrics with her. The same effect came when she belted out 1990's Better The Devil You Know.
Her encore was different each of the three nights, yet at each show, 2002's Love At First Sight was last, and concluded what was a blast from the recent and distant past, as well as the present. Fans also got excited about the future, having heard an unreleased track called Better Than Today from her scheduled 2010 release.
Will Kylie do another U.S. tour in the near future? Only time will tell, but the enthusiasm is already high for one.
"I sure hope so!" claims Ronnie Scatini of Brooklyn. "I'd like to see her again three nights in a row!"
