AUSTRALIA: Australia's pop princess Kylie returns to stage after her battle against cancer

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue returned to stage on Saturday (November 11) for the first time since recovering from breast cancer, energetically belting out her trademark hits in front of a cheering, screaming crowd of thousands. Tickets for the Sydney concert and others Down Under were sold out weeks ahead of the date and fans across the country were eagerly awaiting to finally see their icon, who has been commended for the way she handled herself during the illness. Loyal fans were on hand to lend their support. "We are her fanatical fans, we are very excited that we are going to see Kylie, I actually went to the last show in London that she did and I go to the first show after her illness, that is exciting," said Neil just before the start of the concert. Dressed in feathers from head to toe, with an Australian cockatoo's plume on her head, she began her concert at the Sydney Entertainment Centre with an overture of her best-known songs before whipping into the single "Better the Devil You Know". The near sell-out crowd of 10,000 included parents with their children, teenyboppers, bohemians in black berets as well as a large contingent of gay men in pink hot pants and pink boa feathers who over the years have adopted Minogue as an icon. Many of the women in the audience were blonde-haired, but few had adopted Minogue's post-chemotherapy short-crop. After the bout with cancer, the diminutive singer has renamed her concert tour the "Showgirl Homecoming Tour", and has been forced to scale back on her previously lavish, high-octane musical spectaculars. Minogue told reporters in Sydney that she can't do the same things earlier in the week at a launch of her own perfume called "Darling". She said she could not wear the same costumes when she was not the same person as she had been a year and a half before. The 38-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer only days before she was to perform in Australia last year. She immediately cancelled her "Showgirl" world tour and underwent successful surgery in Melbourne in May, 2005. Minogue, a darling of the paparazzi, then underwent a course of chemotherapy in Paris where her boyfriend, French actor Olivier Martinez, has a home. During her recovery she penned a children's book, "The Showgirl Princess". In recent months, the former soap opera actress turned international celebrity has made occasional appearances in public, including a television interview, a book signing in London and Dolce & Gabbana's catwalk show in Milan. She also appeared on the cover of the Australian edition of fashion bible Vogue with her new short hairstyle. Before Saturday's comeback concert, Minogue said she was excited about performing after the long lay-off. And the 152 cm (5-ft) tall showgirl did not let her fans down, performing on a huge art-deco stage with 13 dancers, half a truck of feathers imported from the Lido theatre in Paris, and a 10 million Australian dollar video and laser show. It was well worth it. Screaming fans danced and sang their way out of the concert, professing their love and admiration for their pop princess. "It's amazing! She's so beautiful!" screamed one fan. "Kylie is my princess!" screamed another. "Everything was better. And the costumes were better and I loved it! Thank you! It was amazing. Thank you very much!" said another fan. For one fan, it was more than just a concert. "My mum had breast cancer. She had breast cancer just before my wedding. And so it's a bit sad. It kinda like made my wedding quite hard because everything that she ever wanted for me just sort of crushed it and so she came to my wedding and it was like what it's going to be about. And I was like really sad. And we found out that Kylie had breast cancer. I just sort of thought that was brilliant. It's just real. Everybody's real. And the pain is the same," said an unidentified fan. Minogue is to perform 20 concerts in Australia, six in her hometown of Melbourne, before taking her tour overseas. She is due to perform in Britain on January 2. But the encounter with cancer has seen the dynamic Minogue contemplating a slower life when she finally decides to give up show business. She told reporters that she sometimes dreamt of releasing the "Aussie chick" and taking up camping and learning to surf. But for now the performer once ridiculed in her home country as a singing budgerigar, is back on stage to tumultuous applause.

ITN Source | November 12, 2006

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