Kylie Minogue ready for Melbourne homecoming in blockbuster AFL grand final show

Australian icon Kylie Minogue is ready to light up the MCG this weekend in what she promises will be a ‘wild’ homecoming show for the homegrown star.

The Princess of Pop will headline this year’s grand final entertainment with a 20-minute set starting around 11:30 AWST, though exact timings are still unknown.

She won’t be the first act up, however, with Australian singer-songwriter G Flip as her opener, having previously been the halftime act at the 2022 grand final.

Minogue is expected to perform between eight to 10 of her greatest hits and will be joined by around 100 backup dancers, with early pictures from Wednesday rehearsals suggesting a rotating stage at the centrepiece.

Given her slew of smash hits, her exact set list is unconfirmed, but you can surely lock in recent banger Padam Padam along with Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

“I can’t give much away … but I tried to choose songs that people know,” Minogue said on Thursday.

Minogue’s act breaks a run of four straight international headliners, as part of an All-Aussie line-up with Michael Paynter to perform the national anthem, while Mike Brady will perform Up There Cazaly during the retirement motorcade.

After Snoop Dogg proved to be a divisive choice last year, AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said everyone is behind Minogue.

“Kylie is going to be amazing. The grand final act is something that has a lot of interest in it and (it’s) often met with varying views,” Dillon told AAP.

“But with Kylie, that’s been an all-time, 100 per cent, everyone behind it.

“She’s an unbelievable performer, but the production around it and the attention to detail is amazing.”

While Minogue has not shown public support for any particular AFL team, she does have a connection to Brisbane.

In 1986, a then 18-year-old Kylie Minogue was part of a benefit concert for the struggling Fitzroy Football Club, which helped launch her musical career after her cover of The Loco-Motion, another top candidate for Saturday’s setlist, was spotted by a music producer in the crowd.

Minogue would go on to superstardom while Fitzroy would merge with the Brisbane Bears to become the Lions.