On Kylie, Panic and Feeling the Fever

Just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation about Kylie Minogue with a friend of mine. I don’t recall how it started, but I do recall the following exchange.

“You’re a big fan of Kylie Minogue?” she asked as if that were an impossibility.

“I am. I have all her albums on my iPod if you want to see.”

“You have all two of her albums?” Again she sounded as if this were all a rouse.

“No,” I responded smugly. “I have all twelve of her albums on my iPod.”

That, as it turns out, was a lie. Kylie only has ten studio albums out in the world. Of those ten, I have six on my iPod. It may have been a lie, but the sentiment remains. I’m a Kylie Minogue fan.

My friend’s incredulous tone comes from the fact that Kylie Minogue is not much more than a flash-in-the-pan performer here in the United States. She’s had two hits, and for most Americans that about sums up her career.

For the rest of the world, however, Kylie Minogue is a pop music sensation. She’s been topping the charts since her debut in 1987 and has currently sold somewhere in the range of 60 million records.  Her last tour visited 21 countries and saw an estimated $70,000,000 in ticket sales.  She’s definitely no one to balk at.

All of this is to set the stage for what occurred yesterday morning. I was sitting at my desk reading some news online. And that’s when I saw it.

Kylie Minogue announced the first US tour of her career.

Panic erupted. I immediately sent out the call to any and every gay man I know who would die to know this information. Phones, email inboxes and Facebook pages lit up with the news. I sent it out via Twitter. I texted until my fingers bled.

This is news. This is big enormous monumental news. If you heard a squeal at any point yesterday, odds are you were near a gay man who was hearing this gospel for the first time.

Presale tickets went up this morning. A multinational ticket-buying league was set up to ensure that tickets to the Chicago show would be in my hot little hands. The network was primed and ready to go by 9:00. We had as much manpower as we could possibly muster working for the tickets.

The clock on my computer hit 10:00.

I refreshed the page in my browser one last time.

I could taste the tickets.

My fingers flew over the keys.

My mouse clicked furiously.

The page loaded.

It loaded again.

It loaded one last time

And then I saw it. I saw the magical words.

I scored tickets to see Kylie Minogue!

In October I will be seeing one of the world’s hottest pop stars. I will be seeing her on my home turf. I will be seeing her in a tiny little venue. My tickets are general admission so I may be close enough to touch her. And I will be doing it with a whole gaggle of rabid Kylie fans.

Feel the fever!