Kylie Minogue announces 2025 Australian tour and new album ...

Care for an evening with certified Australian pop royalty?

Kylie Minogue has announced a highly anticipated Australian tour, which will see the global icon perform in capital cities early 2025.

Billed as her biggest global trek since 2011, the Tension Tour will kick off on February 15 in Perth, before making stops in Adelaide (Feb 18), Melbourne (Feb 20-21), Brisbane (Feb 26) and Sydney (March 1-2). The worldwide tour then heads into Asia and reaches the UK in May.

"I can't wait to share beautiful and wild moments with fans all over the world, celebrating the Tension era and more," Minogue said in a statement of her first proper Australian tour since 2019.

"… and there will be a whole lot of Padaming!"

If a triumphant victory lap from one of our nation's most celebrated music figures wasn't exciting enough, Minogue has confirmed the release of a new collection of music.

Minogue's next release will be Tension II, described as a "high octane, high energy" sequel to her chart-topping 16th studio album, Tension, released last year.

Tension II will be released on October 18, preceded by a lead single titled Lights, Camera, Action on September 27.

The collection spans 13 songs, comprising nine new studio tracks alongside a series of recently released collaborations.

That includes Edge of Saturday Night with American dance producer The Blessed Madonna; Dance Alone with fellow Aussie pop star Sia; Midnight Ride with masked country music sensation Orville Peck, and the flirty My Oh My featuring America's Bebe Rexha and Sweden's Tove Lo.

The artwork for Tension II, which is billed as the partner to last year's chart-topping album Tension. (Supplied: Mushroom Music)

Tension II promises to "head further into the electronic space" opened up on Tension, which was Minogue's fourth consecutive number one Australian album, and preceded by the runaway global success of mega-hit Padam Padam.

Embraced by younger fans on TikTok and adopted as a Pride anthem, the sleek, sexy single instantly joined the upper ranks of Kylie classics and spearheaded a successful resurgence for the 55-year-old artist.

In November, Padam Padam garnered Minogue's 18th ARIA Award – her first in 20 years. 

Then in February, the song scored her first Grammy victory in 20 years (and second Grammy ever), taking out Best Pop/Dance Record at the US ceremony.

The song also returned Kylie to triple j's Hottest 100 in January for the first time in 27 years, breaking the record for longest time between appearances in the annual countdown.

As well as attending the Met Gala and completing her inaugural Las Vegas Residency, this past 12 months saw 'our Kylie' receiving the Global Icon Award at the BRIT Awards.

"There's a part of me that's still the 14-year-old girl dreaming in her room of making music and being in this industry," she said in her acceptance speech. 

The award recognised Minogue becoming the only female artist to score a UK #1 album in five consecutive decades, and marked as the second woman ever to claim the honour (following Taylor Swift in 2021).

Kylie Minogue was scheduled as one of the three headliners for this year's Splendour In The Grass, before the long-running North Byron region festival was cancelled entirely.

You can imagine that whatever plans were being drafted for that once-exclusive performance would have drawn from her recent Las Vegas Residency or her flashy medley at the 2024 BRIT Awards. 

Minogue also spent the European summer on the festival circuit and playing headline shows, sticking closely to a career-spanning set list that stretched all the way back to 1987, when she successfully made the leap from TV soap star (as tomboy Charlene on Neighbours) to The Loco-Motion pop sensation.

Besides performing Padam Padam (obviously) and a number of Tension selections, many of Minogue's historic hits are represented, with critics praising the strength of her back catalogue.

"A glorious celebration of 35-plus years of pop perfection," The Guardian wrote of her Hyde Park, London concert in July, adding that "new arrangements keep things sounding fresh."

It's guaranteed Australians will experience the kind of arena-filling spectacle that's made Minogue so famous: costume changes, elaborate choreography, and a show boasting singalongs to the some of the must fun, frothy, infernally catchy choruses to ever hit the charts.

As Double J's album review of Tension emphasised, Minogue can still pack surprises that "show she can mix it up with pop stars half her age, and even if she's more keeping abreast of the trends rather than setting them, the 55-year-old remains a master of the craft."

Kylie Minogue plays the following Australian dates on the 2025 world Tension Tour.

Saturday, February 15 — RAC Arena | Perth, WA

Tuesday, February 18 — Adelaide Entertainment Centre | Adelaide, SA

Thursday, February 20 — Rod Laver Arena | Melbourne, VIC

Friday, February 21 — Rod Laver Arena | Melbourne, VIC

Wednesday, February 26 — Brisbane Entertainment Centre | Brisbane, QLD

Saturday, March 1 — Qudos Bank Arena | Sydney, NSW

Sunday, March 2 — Qudos Bank Arena | Sydney, NSW

Tickets are available from Thursday, September 26.