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Pop

Kylie Minogue Reflects On Tension Tour’s ‘Incredible’ U.S. & Canada Run at Hits-Filled L.A. Show

The May 2 show at Crypto.com Arena wrapped the pop superstar's first arena tour of the U.S. and Canada.

Kylie Minogue performs at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2025 in New York City.

Kylie Minogue performs at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2025 in New York City.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Pop superstar Kylie Minogue capped her first arena tour of the United States and Canada on Friday night (May 2) as her Tension Tour touched down in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena.

“Good evening, Los Angeles! We are here!” the ever-gracious performer exclaimed to the packed house early in the evening. “Thank you so much each and every one of you for coming out tonight, and welcome to the Tension Tour.”


While the two-hour show took fans on a journey through four decades of Minogue’s hits, it also highlighted eight songs from her two most recent studio albums, Tension II (released in 2024) and Tension (2023). Among those choice cuts were Tension’s Grammy Award-winning “Padam Padam,” which was also a top 10-charting hit on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2023, and the show-opening “Lights, Camera, Action” from Tension II.

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The Tension Tour is just the third traveling show Minogue has brought to the U.S. and Canada, having previously visited the country with Aphrodite Live in 2011 and the KYLIE trek 2009, with both staged before more intimate crowds as compared to the arena-sized audiences of the Tension Tour. Separate from her three tours, Minogue also mounted her first Las Vegas residency in 2023-24, with 20 dates at the 1,000-seat capacity Voltaire at The Venetian Las Vegas.

The Tension Tour kicked off on Feb. 15 in Perth, in Minogue’s home country of Australia, moved to Asia for a trio of dates (March 10-15) and then reached North America on March 29 in Canada. For the U.S. and Canada run, the Tension Tour played 16 shows between March 29-May 2, including a pair of nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden (April 4-5). The trek now moves to Europe on May 16, then to South America on Aug. 7, and then back to North America for its three final dates in Mexico (Aug. 22-26). By the close of the Tension Tour, Minogue will have played nearly 70 shows in more than 25 countries on five continents.

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At one point during the Los Angeles show on Friday, Minogue paused and reflected, “Here we are in 2025 and I get to be on a world tour with these beautiful humans, beautiful intelligent humans — the ones you can see on the stage and off stage. And I get very emotional thinking about this, this… that I’ve… it’s been a lifetime and sometimes it just amazes me. So very, very grateful. Thank you so much for being here.”

That “lifetime” of a musical career was on display through the show, with Minogue offering up a bevy of hits like her first single, the 1987 cover of “The Loco-Motion,” along with “Better the Devil You Know” (1990), “Spinning Around” (2000, and joined onstage by the show’s opening act Rita Ora), “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (2001), “All the Lovers” (2010) and many more.

Before the final song of the night (“Love at First Sight”), a joyful Minogue shared a message with the crowd: “You’ve been beyond tonight. You’ve been here, present, ready, going — thank you so much for being here, for your beautiful energy, for being here for me in all different times of my career. For being there for each other! I just want to give a real shout-out to our entire crew because this has been an incredible run. We’ve loved it, so thank you.” After a moment of applause from the crowd, she then humorously added, “I’ve got some old friends here tonight. Look at me now!”

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This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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Blue Rodeo
Dustin Rabin

Blue Rodeo

FYI

Music News Digest: Blue Rodeo Celebrates Turning 40 With A Free Hometown Show in Toronto

In this week's industry digest: Music Managers Forum Canada opens applications for BESPOKE Mentorship Program, Music BC names its ARC Mentors and more.

40 years together as a band is a milestone worth celebrating, and Toronto roots-rock heroes Blue Rodeo are certainly doing that. As part of their anniversary year festivities, a stripped down version of the group (co-founders Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy plus guitarists Colin Cripps and Jimmy Bowskill) played a free acoustic show in Toronto's Distillery District on Monday afternoon. The well-attended gig also served as promotion for a just-launched signature beer, Blue Rodeo Ontario Lager, produced by Mill Street Brewery.

Earlier this year, a full-length documentary on Blue Rodeo, Lost Together, was released to much acclaim, and it is currently  available on CBC Gem. The band also got its own Canada Post stamp back in April, one depicting its current lineup of Keelor, Cuddy, Cripps, Bowskill, Bazil Donovan, Glenn Milchem and Mike Boguski. Blue Rodeo continue to play across the country this summer, fall and into 2026, closing out with two nights at Massey Hall, Jan. 23 and 24. Check their itinerary here.

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