Return of the Showgirl...

IT's official - she's back.

After an 18 month absence, Kylie Minogue made a welcome return to the stage last night, and was overwhelmed by the response.

Speaking at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney, Minogue - looking fitter and stronger than ever - was visibly moved by the standing ovation she received as she took to the stage.

Apologising to fans for the delay in the show - rescheduled following her breast cancer battle - Minogue said:
"I'm a ten minutes late kind of person. Not two hours - just ten minutes.
"But a year an a half... well that's fashionably late. Just as well I'm fashionable"

Kicking off her first concert in the Kylie Showgirl - Homecoming tour with Better the Devil you Know, Minogue delved into her 18 year back-catalogue of hits to deliver old favourites, and new twists on classics, in particular a Big Band style Locomotion, and an audience-participation karioke version of Especially for You as well as montages of earlier hits.

The show itself was split into two halves - each with four seperate segments. From space travel, to mystic chanting and the showers of a gym, Kylie wowed the crowd with her energy and her sheer happiness at being back on stage.

"I've imagined this moment for so long," she told the crowd, "and now it's here I don't know what to say".

Borrowing heavily from Madonna's stage extravaganzas of years gone by, Minogue paid homage to the star by covering the the middle-rap from Vogue.

With eight constume changes - including a Catwoman-inspired lepord print number, complete with cat ears, dozens of dancers, some in the most revealing of budgie smugglers, the Showgirl- Homecoming tour is a spectacle on a mammoth scale.

The Kylie faithful, who've waited 18 months to welcome their pop princess home, clearly adore her as much as ever.
And she couldn't be happier to be home.