| Promotional tour byKylie Minogue | |
 Minogue performing "Slow" during the show | |
| Venue |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | Body Language |
| Date | 15 November 2003 |
| Duration | 75 minutes |
Money Can't Buy was a one-off, 75-minute concert show held on 15 November 2003 at theCarling Apollo inLondon to promote Australian singerKylie Minogue's ninth studio albumBody Language (2003). Its title alludes to the fact that tickets were not for sale and limited to invited guests and competition winners. The total cost of staging the concert was £1 million.William Baker andAlan MacDonald served as creative and art directors, respectively, whileMichael Rooney andSteve Anderson worked on the choreography and musical arrangements.
Minogue primarily performed tracks fromBody Language during the show, although previously released singles were also included in the setlist. The concert was streamed live onAOL.com and broadcast on television channelsITV1 andNetwork Ten a few days later. It was released as a DVD, entitledBody Language Live, on 12 July 2004.
Following the global success of her eighth studio albumFever, Minogue began working on her ninth studio albumBody Language.[1] Aiming to create a dance-pop album inspired byelectronic music from the 1980s,[2] Minogue enlisted collaborators such asCathy Dennis,Dan Carey,Emiliana Torrini,Johnny Douglas andMantronix.[3] To promoteBody Language, a one-off concert show was organised to be held at entertainment venueCarling Apollo, London, on 15 November 2003 – two days before the release of the album.[4]
For the show, Minogue collaborated with creative directorWilliam Baker and art directorAlan MacDonald. Baker and MacDonald had previously worked with the singer on herKylieFever2002 tour.[4] The musical arrangements were handled bySteve Anderson, while the dance routines were choreographed byMichael Rooney.[5] Display hardware manufacturerBarco was hired to provide 100 square metres largeLED displays, which were set up on the stage behind Minogue. They were used to show animations andhigh resolution graphics.[6] Minogue wore five different costumes during the 75-minute-long show.[4][6] Fashion houses likeBalenciaga,Chanel, andHelmut Lang designed these costumes.[6] Minogue was backed by 12 dancers and a full-piece band.[7] The seating capacity of the show was restricted to 4000 spectators and the entire staging of the show cost £1 million.[4][6]
The concert was entitled "Money Can't Buy" as no tickets were made available for purchase publicly; only competition winners and guests with invitations were allowed to attend the show.[6] Additionally, Minogue donated two tickets to theNational Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). These tickets were auctioned at a charity ball for the society's "Full Stop" campaign.[8] TheSydney Morning Herald found it surprising that Minogue chose to perform in an "intimate" setting as she had chiefly embarked on large arena tours in the past. The newspaper felt it was similar toMadonna's decision to perform at asmall show atBrixton Academy, London, in 2000.[4] Before the show, Minogue held a media press conference and discussed the development of Money Can't Buy, saying: "It's been pretty intense. I'm trying to look pretty calm but it has been an intense few weeks leading up to this. There's going to be a few old [songs in the set list], but they're not-very-oldies. We're stepping marginally back in time. It's always difficult choosing which songs to play from the new album and then what's going to work. There's a couple of surprises in store and there's a couple of real 'train spotter' surprises."[7]
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The concert was divided into four segments (in chronological order): "Paris By Night", "Bardello", "Electro", and "On Yer Bike."[9] "Paris By Night" opened with theBody Language-track "Still Standing", which Minogue sang from atop an eight-metre long black beam suspended in the air. She continued singing as the beam slowly descended to the stage.[6][10] The performance of "Still Standing" was followed by "Red Blooded Woman", another track fromBody Language, and "On a Night Like This". The latter's performance was inspired by the 1952 musicalSingin' in the Rain and featured "dancers spinning iridescent red umbrellas against LCD displays of digital drizzle."[9] During this segment, Minogue donned aBrigitte Bardot-inspired look and was dressed in a black and white striped jersey, blackcorset and trousers.[6][10] Images of theEiffel Tower andNotre Dame de Paris were displayed on the LED screens as backdrops to the segment.[10][11]
The "Bardello" act commenced with a mashup of Minogue's 1998 single "Breathe" and "Je t'aime... moi non-plus", a 1969 French duet betweenSerge Gainsbourg andJane Birkin.[5] Craig MacLean from theDaily Telegraph described the backup dancers during this segment as "Tour de France cyclists moonlighting asMoulin Rouge hostesses."[11] Performances of "After Dark" and "Chocolate", two songs fromBody Language, followed.[5]
"Quasi-Japanese symbols", illuminated on the LED displays, served as backdrops for the performance of "Can't Get You Out of My Head", which was the first song of the "Electro" segment.[9] Back-up dancers dressed inbondage-inspired costumes performed "robotic push-ups" as part of the dance routine.[9] Minogue then again performed twoBody Language-tracks, "Slow" (the lead single) and "Obsession", before closing the segment with "In Your Eyes".[5]
As the "On Yer Bike" act commenced, Minogue appeared reclining on a motorbike wearing a complete white ensemble. She proceeded to sing "Secret (Take You Home)" and "Spinning Around".[5] After a final costume-change, Minogue closed the set with the "cheery disco stomper" "Love at First Sight".[11][12]
In their review of the show,The Age commented that Minogue was able to emulate Bardot's appearance well and wrote: "[Minogue] looked the spitting image of Brigitte Bardot as she turned a corner of west London into Paris for the evening."[10] Andy Battaglia from theA.V. Club complimented the staging and performances as "sharp and kinetic", although he also felt that the "little bits of stage banter deflate[d] an aesthetic otherwise set on air-lock."[9]Billboard critic Keith Caulfield praised the concert show as "extravagant" and opined that it should have been a part of a "mammoth" arena tour.[13] Writing for theSydney Morning Herald, Greg Hassall gave a favourable review of Money Can't Buy and summarised it as "lots of '80s-influenced electro-pop, with a few oldies thrown in for good measure."[14]People magazine complimented the visuals but felt Minogue's vocals were "electronically enhanced."[15] Craig MacLean from theDaily Telegraph called Money Can't Buy a "realtour de force" and noticed that the tracks fromBody Language were more low-key than songs from her previous albums, describing them as "sedate and immaculate dancefloor rhythm" and "All very stylish and considerably more affecting than the similarly nostalgicSophie Ellis-Bextor."[11] Mclean praised the incorporation of the past songs as they provided "the huge choruses for which the nation loves her so", and concluded of the show: "No slinky back-arching or pristine choreography here: just the giddy joy of pop music at play."[11]
| Body Language Live | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Video by | ||||
| Released | 12 July 2004 | |||
| Recorded | 15 November 2003 | |||
| Venue |
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| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 110 minutes | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Kylie Minogue chronology | ||||
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The show was streamed live onAOL on 15 November 2003. On 22 November, it was broadcast onITV1, in the United Kingdom.[7] In Australia, it was aired onNetwork Ten on 24 November.[14]
The concert show was filmed and released as a DVD, titledBody Language Live: Album Launch Live at the London Apollo, on 12 July 2004 in the United Kingdom.[16] In the United States, the DVD was released on 7 September.[13] In addition to videos of the live performances, the DVD contains behind-the-scenes footage, music videos of "Slow", "Red Blooded Woman", and "Chocolate", screen visuals for the performances of "Chocolate" and "Slow", wallpapers, and a picture gallery.[16]
In Australia,Body Language Live achieved shipments of 15,000 units and was certifiedplatinum by theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[17] In the United Kingdom, it was certified gold by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) in March 2005 for completing shipments of 25,000 units.[18] The DVD also charted on theGerman Albums Chart, peaking at number 64.[19]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Still Standing" | |
| 2. | "Red Blooded Woman" | |
| 3. | "On a Night Like This" | |
| 4. | "Breathe" / "Je t'aime" | |
| 5. | "After Dark" | |
| 6. | "Chocolate" | |
| 7. | "Can't Get You Out of My Head" | |
| 8. | "Slow" | |
| 9. | "Obsession" | |
| 10. | "In Your Eyes" | |
| 11. | "Secret (Take You Home)" | |
| 12. | "Spinning Around" | |
| 13. | "Love at First Sight" | |
| 14. | "Behind the scenes: Body Language live documentary" | |
| 15. | "Slow" (promo video) | |
| 16. | "Red Blooded Woman" (promo video) | |
| 17. | "Chocolate" (promo video) | |
| 18. | "Photo Gallery" |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[17] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[18] | Gold | 25,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Source:[5]
Act 1: Paris By Night
Act 2: Bardello
Act 3: Electro
Act 4: On Yer Bike
Encore
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Compilation albums | |
| Remix albums | |
| Live albums | |
| Concerts |
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| Video | |
| Acting roles | |
| Books | |
| Fragrances | |
| Related articles | |
