Preview: Pink roars and soars on tour hitting Australia this month
HERE’S a look at some of the moments of flying and crying on Pink’s Beautiful Trauma tour, which opens in Australia this month.
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SPOILER ALERT
IT’S no great spoiler to say that on Pink’s latest tour she defies gravity. Several times. And all while she’s singing live.
Pink’s Beautiful Trauma tour, which kicks off in Australia on Tuesday in Perth, is literally everything you want from a Pink concert on stage and above stage.
The 38-year-old probably spends a good 30 minutes of the tour closer to the roof than the floor.
There’s still the iconic So What moment where Pink darts above the crowd because why wouldn’t you want to fly if you could?
Plus, there’s been a few artists well, let’s just say, heavy influenced by Pink’s acrobatics so why not remind people how it’s done properly.
It’s not just an Instagram moment it’s a genuine moment where the people up the back get to see Pink (in a glitter ball catsuit) literally just above their heads and you’re reminded the woman who just broke your heart with a ballad is now being a superhero because she can.
Pink shows are all about joy and the Beautiful Trauma tour delivers that in spades, from lyrical connection to being showered with gifts and love.
Without giving too much away it’s arguably her best setlist in years — mixing just enough songs from a new album with a healthy dose of songs from her past. And not just her songs — she was covering Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit on the US leg, although the singer isn’t sure if that will make it down under. The way her longtime guitarist Justin Derrico clearly enjoys playing it suggests you may well get to hear it.
How Pink scored an Eminem duet
Another cover, No Doubt’s Just a Girl merged into her own Funhouse, was recently blessed with Gwen Stefani joining Pink on stage last month in Los Angeles.
You’ll see Pink singing while swinging from chandeliers and this tour’s props include hotel luggage carts, street lights, a floating bed and what looks like a gothic forest.
Indeed the dancing has been taken to the next level, and unlike other performers, Pink’s a part of it all, the show has been choreographed with her, not around her.
There’s even a relatively deep cut for fans (I’m Not Dead’s title track) and smart cherry picking from Beautiful Trauma including latest single Secrets which has one of the night’s most stunning aerial performances with dancer Khasan Brailsford.
Last year’s single What About Us is particularly epic and emotional. There’s also a showcase of the new album’s stronger ballads, including the standout Barbies and the rollicking I Am Here.
Pink stripped bare with Kathy McCabe
Performing duets when your duet partner isn’t there is always tricky. Some artists just get a band member to sub in, most use a video recording (which Pink does for Nate Ruess on Just Give Me a Reason).
However while it’s not the best song in her repertoire thanks to Eminem’s problematic lyrics, in this tour Pink finds the perfect way to deal with the rapper not being there by having a huge inflatable Slim Shady.
And how do you sing face-to-face with a mammoth blow-up guest dissing you? Pink and a harness take their own revenge.
The video screen framing her stage is the most impressive and hi-tech in any Pink show to date, and she uses it to make her own statements on the #metoo movement and replays what she told her daughter Willow (who makes appearances on some shows — both her kids are on tour with her) asking if she was ugly, as first seen on the MTV VMAs last year.
Pink’s moving speech on the MTV VMAs
As ever Pink manages to make an arena show both highly spectacular and highly intimate. The way the concert ends will make anyone not covered in goosebumps in need of checking their pulse.
Are there any people left in Australia who haven’t seen a Pink show? Maybe the ones too young to go in the past. Or some really late bloomers. Either way they’re in for a treat and Pink regulars know what to expect which is precisely why they snapped up their tickets so fast.
Pink, Perth Arena July 3, 4, 6, 7. Adelaide Entertainment Centre July 10, 11, 13, 14. Rod Laver Arena July 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, August 28, 29. Qudos Bank Arena Sydney August 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 25, 26. Brisbane Entertainment Centre, August 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23. Tickets from livenation.com.au
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