Live Review: Kim Wilde @ Palais Theatre, Melbourne

The Mother of Dance-Pop, Kim Wilde, led the way for everyone from Kylie Minogue to Charli XCX and Dua Lipa. Despite the poptimism critical enterprise, the Brit is still not always recognised as an innovator, but that could be changing. 

Auspiciously, Kim's first Australian tour in eight years has been a triumph – Naarm/Melbourne was the last stop. She delivers both the hits and the fun – and, as a live performer, is at her peak.

The genteel Palais Theatre, in seaside St Kilda, may be Kim's home away from home – the energetic star headlining the venue the past two visits with Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones, respectively.

Though this go she has no support act, the New Waver fronts a six-piece band that includes younger brother (and longtime collaborator) Ricky on guitar and niece Scarlett lending backing vocals. Especially impressive is main guitarist Neil Jones, who occasionally shreds but without shattering those glassy electro-pop classics.

Like Grace Jones, Kim is more powerful vocally live than on record, having trained for a West End production of The Who's Tommy in the '90s. Since her last run, she's celebrated a UK chart revival with 2018's concept album Here Come The Aliens, culminating in the credible Aliens Live LP. 

A Queen of Reinvention and intuiting TikTok's nostalgia-core trend, Kim is also transcending the 'heritage' descriptor. Indeed, she's ostensibly touring a "Greatest Hits" show, but the setlist reveals personalised curation with several deep cuts. Curiously, Kim favours material from 1988's blockbuster Close—the template for her next album, Closer, due in January. 

The platinum blonde, wearing a black and valentine-red costume with solid boots, bursts on stage to a cinematic prelude.

Initially compared to Blondie's Debbie Harry, Kim's early songs had a punkabilly sonic aesthetic – her '50s rock 'n' roller dad Marty Wilde, the co-writer – and tonight she launches into a swaggering Rage To Love, a UK hit from 1984's Teases & Dares. Yet the ensuing Eurobeat Never Trust A Stranger off Close feels more monumental.

The first idiosyncratic surprise is Words Fell Down, a rocking – and rhythmic – banger on Kim's stellar synth-pop-era sophomore Select. That playfulness is apparent, too, when she mashes up a funky The Second Time, Teases & Dares' lead single, and Robin "M" Scott's sole smash Pop Muzik – Ricky briefly assuming the role of frontman with some cute ad-libs and choreography by Kim and Scarlett.

Kim promoted The Singles Collection 1981-1993 with a house cover of Yvonne Elliman's If I Can't Have You (immortalised on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack) – scoring a major Australian comeback hit. Gauging by the reception at The Palais, her If I Can't Have You has similarly endured. 

Ever the transformer, Kim was exploring R&B even in the '80s – and Four Letter Word, again from Close, is slinky live with its Latin flourishes.

Kim follows the ballad Yours 'Til The End, a contemporary classic off Here Come The Aliens, with Trail Of Destruction – Closer's first single combining the brashness of '80s Tina Turner and modish pop-punk.

In another twist, Kim accentuates the balmy Californian vibes of Love Is Holy with her male bandmates providing surfie harmonies – the '90s hit originally produced in Los Angeles by Rick Nowels, famed for his work with Belinda Carlisle and, latterly, Lana Del Rey.

The singer saves her biggest songs for the end, generating a festive and almost feverish atmosphere. The Palais isn't conducive to dancing, yet the seated audience finally rises for the ghostly synth-pop of Cambodia—Kim demonstrating her chops with an acapella bridge. She then brings an unexpected archness to the darkwave View From A Bridge. 

After a rousing Chequered Love, off 1981's eponymous debut, Kim revisits that hi-NRG rendition of The Supremes' You Keep Me Hangin' On – the international chart-topper officially establishing her as a dance diva.

Chatty throughout the evening, Kim enthuses about Australia – giving a shout-out to Ian "Molly" Meldrum for championing her on Countdown – and, at one point, jokes that she's narrowly averting a wardrobe malfunction with her corset. Kim also alludes to gendered ageism in the media – something she's defying.

Kim's encore is predictable but welcome as she magically re-emerges from backstage in a camp superhero cape and glittery peaked cap for the euphoric You Came and an anthemic Kids In America – her proto-BRAT breakthrough. In fact, the crowd wouldn't protest if Kim performed Kids… multiple times, Travis Scott FE!N-style.

The concert has notable omissions – Kim leaving out the local fave Love Blonde and neglecting her most avant-garde song, Child Come Away. In future, she might return with a wholly different set, such is the extraordinary expanse of her catalogue.

Kim recently told The Music that she hopes to play her inaugural Glastonbury in 2025 – the British Daily Star tabloid picking up on the scoop. This icon is surely ready.