After a nearly 40-year music career, Kylie Minogue is set to make her AFL Grand Final debut.
The pop star has been named headliner of the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment, set for Saturday, September 26th. It marks her first-ever AFL Grand Final appearance, and promises to deliver “one of the biggest and most unforgettable” pre-game shows in history.
“The Toyota AFL Grand Final is the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar – and this year, we welcome home an Australian icon.” AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said. “Kylie has been on our wish list for a long time, and there is no better artist for headline the performance prior to our biggest game of the season.”
Minogue will be the first Australian since 2021 to headline the event. Recent years have seen international stars including Robbie Williams, Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, and KISS perform. In 2021, due to Covid restrictions, the Grand Final was played in Perth with a medley of Australian artists taking on the performance, including Baker Boy and Eskimo Joe.
She said of the announcement: “The AFL Grand Final at Melbourne’s one and only, forever iconic MCG? Yes please! As a Melburnian, I’m so excited to be coming home for the biggest day in the Aussie sporting calendar. I’ll not only be performing, but I’ll be one of 100,000 fans at the ‘G, watching the wonder that is footy.”
Minogue’s career has seen her amass over 80 million record sales internationally, five billion streams, and nine No. 1 Australian albums. She has won 18 ARIA Awards, four BRITs, two MTV Awards, and two Grammys.
Last year, her 2001 hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” came in at second in our Best Australian and New Zealand Songs of the 21st Century So Far list. The track, off Fever, also landed Minogue her first-ever No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart. It was the first of fourteen No. 1s she would go on to achieve on that chart, a run which saw her eventually tie in tenth place for most No. 1s.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
“It signalled yet another shift in Kylie’s musical direction. Here she was serving sharpened club beats that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a German electro cut from the ’80s, a style so ahead of its time it still seems futuristic now,” we wrote of it.
The show will be produced by Mushroom Group’s CEO Matt Gudinksi, who said they’ve tried “for some time” to make this a reality. “Mushroom is so excited to welcome Kylie home to perform at Australia’s biggest day in sport at the MCG. We’re working closely with Kylie’s team to create and produce what will be one of the most memorable Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment shows yet.”
More entertainment announcements regarding the Toyota AFL Grand Final Day will be made later this year.
