Dear Kylie,

I finally have some pictures to go with my thoughts about the spectacular concert I attended recently, so here it goes...

I bought my ticket a month ago, for fear I might not find any later. I wanted to be right in front of the stage, to see everything: your smile, your pulsing neck veins, your wrinkles – if any.

And now, here I was… me my cousin actually… walking towards the entrance on the stadium. Right in front of us, a pair of long legs, with high heels at one end and a long silky blonde hair at the other.

Near this luscious figure, a short skinny boyish silhouette, with long black hair. A guy with long hair, big deal. He turns aside a little and I notice he has female traits. And he talks like a girl. At that point I realize that’s the first transvestite I have ever seen. I speed up and I look at the tall blonde. She has glossy expanded lips, and a ton of foundation. Hard as she may try, she can’t hide the trace of testosterone. Yup…so it’s true what they say… you really are a gay icon… even in Romania.

The guards. We’re not allowed to go in with bottles or cameras. I hide Raluca’s camera deep in my jeans’ pocket, hoping I’ll be searched superficially, just like everybody else. I feel like a criminal, living the excitement of getting caught. I get in unsearched actually, but with the price of a bottle of water I voluntarily let at the gate.

We’re in! I feel like I stepped back in time at a psychedelic gathering: people standing on the ground, with their legs crossed together, smoking and drinking beer. We enter the A sector, and we take a “seat” as well. It’s only 7:30. Raluca notices the stage is smaller, I notice the screens are smaller. We both notice it’s impossible for a huge skull to be hidden behind the scene. I guess we just have to wait and see.

8:30. My feet really start hurting, after standing up all day, playing basketball. I dread the pain I would feel in the next hours. The stadium is full. It was impossible not to.

The show finally starts. The screen does the trick; the projections make the crowd become alive. Everything seems to be working fine, the images are hypnotizing. We start thinking all those ideas about a smaller stage or something going wrong were all nonsense. Although we still had no idea how a skull could be hidden behind that scene.

Oh, here you are! Has anyone told you before gold really suits you? And in combination with lavender it’s even better. I like this more mature Kylie, with long, vaporous dresses. Less revealing, but as sexy and attractive as ever. Even more intriguing, I’d say.

I found the first half of the show a bit rugged. The sound had flaws, was strangled, uptight, constrained. I really can’t put my finger on it, but it didn’t seem too accurate. And you could have smiled more. The crowd would have been even more ecstatic than it already was, charmed by your simple presence. Two young guys near us gloat over you. One of them has a Kylie X T-shirt, the other one still has pimples. From their earlier talk I find out they’re fans. They are deeply impressed by your dress and can’t help noticing how beautiful you look in it.

You’re edging out. Not very subtle. I would have expected a remarkable, magical, and completely unpredictable disappearance. Instead you are tiptoeing towards the backstage. The hunky (and – bugger!- basically gay) dancers with huge… everythings make me forget all about it. And then you came and cheered me up even more, like a respectful cheerleader as you were. Now that was cute. I loved the Cheer Squad. I loved the energy that suddenly invaded the stage. I loved the hunky fellows, though I may be repeating myself. Oh well… hubba hubba…I loved you started to smile more. And, unbelievably, I even loved the way “Wow” sounded. Which was…wow. When you perform on stage, every song sounds better for some reason. You have that I’m-so-cute-you-won’t-even-realize-how-crappy-this-song-is. But I’m over that. I don’t have crappy Kylie songs on my list anymore. I even surprised myself these past few days searching for “Kylie Minogue” on Youtube and listening to anything I have at hand. What have you done to me???

My favorite song on your new album (not to say the only song I really enjoyed) ~ “2 Hearts”. It lacked something. Some more sensuality maybe? And I guess this is the part where you should have waved yourself on that charming skull. One of the reasons I could hardly wait for this concert was to see you on the skull. So I could have something to bitch about. You took this away from me. Now I’m bitching about for not giving me the opportunity to bitch about. There! I’m bitching about!

Love Boat, Copacabana… Now that’s another story… Your voice and the entire atmosphere were all warmed up. The stage was on fire. Congratulate your dancers. They were all remarkable. They put in the greatest effort in this entire little gig. And yet, they always seemed full of energy, always with a smile on their face, always professional. Chapeau!

The moment of my surprise. You singing a beautiful slow song. And then the ballad version of “I Believe in You”. And you sounded great! The performance was flawless and… felt. And you really looked amazing. You radiated in that dress, with that beautiful blue color that goes so well with your eyes.

Black Vs. White. No way! You look good in white pants and long black boots too. Go figure! Stripping Kylie… Tanananaaam… Playful Kylie. You’ve still got it! Men are drooling all around us. Thanks for singing “Kids”. It made me miss Robbie even more. Brilliant guy! However, I would have liked his part of the video on the screen. It would have made everything more…real. And the backing vocals didn’t sing loud enough, hence an unpleasant discrepancy between you and them. And I’m beginning to like “In My Arms” more and more. It’s catchy!

And the end… The Romanian public wouldn’t have forgiven you if you hadn’t sang “I Should Be so Lucky”. And by now… we felt you there with us. We felt connected.

All in all, the concert was great, so great that I completely forgot about the smaller stage, the missing prop, etc. It was spectacular enough as it was. Everybody left happy and satisfied. I eavesdropped. Later on I asked some friends who also came at the concert. They made positive remarks on the sound system, the performance in general, but they would have loved to hear more of your hits. A special request – I fully support it- was “Where the Wild Roses Grow”. I was also hoping for “Jump”. Oh well… maybe next time. There will be a next time in Bucharest, right?