One simple fact we’re all forgetting amid Pink backlash

THE people angry with Pink for cancelling her shows are missing one simple fact about her mammoth Australian tours that puts her actions in a whole new light.

AUSTRALIA’S favourite pop star Pink has so far postponed three dates on her mammoth national tour due to illness, and this afternoon broke her silence to confirm that she’ll miss tomorrow night’s show too.

As the 35-date Australian leg of her Beautiful Trauma tour hangs in the balance, tens of thousands of ticketholders faced a nervous wait to find out when the dates will be rescheduled, and whether or not they’ll be able to make it. With the capacity at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena approaching 21,000 for concerts, that’s around 80,000 punters waiting to hear when they’ll get a rescheduled date with the singer.

Pink’s local touring company Live Nation today announced the rescheduled dates for her tour are as follows:

Friday, August 3 will now be on Friday, August 24

Monday, August 6 will now be on Monday, September 17

Tuesday, August 7 will now be on Tuesday, September 18

Thursday, August 9 will now be on Wednesday, September 19

The Brisbane performance scheduled for Thursday, August 23 will now be on Wednesday, August 22 to allow for the rescheduled Sydney dates.

Ticketholders will not receive new tickets — simply present your current ticket for entry to the new date. If you can’t make the new date, you can exchange your ticket for an earlier Sydney date while availability permits. Refunds can be obtained by submitting a request via Ticketek.

LATEST UPDATE: Pink reschedules another show, announces return to the stage

The good news is, Pink is on the mend — she was yesterday released from Sydney’s St Vincent’s hospital, having had two stints there in recent days. On Sunday night she was admitted suffering dehydration, and after her release was then readmitted on Monday and diagnosed with a gastric virus. In today’s statement, she confirms that she’ll be back on stage for this Saturday’s Sydney show.

Amid the health crisis, there’s been a surprising amount of bile directed at this working mum of two as she’s been laid up at hospital thousands of miles away from home.

But so-called fans who’ve fumed at the singer for daring to require hospitalisation during her Australian tour should remember that the star chose to stick to gruelling, lengthy arena tours for her Aussie visits when she could play far fewer concerts if she made the jump to stadiums.

A stadium tour can accommodate tens of thousands more ticketholders per show, but generally makes for a much more impersonal concert experience as fans squint to get a glimpse of their idols from seats that can be literally hundreds of metres away from the stage.

Pink on stage on the first night of her Australian tour, in Perth on July 3. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

Australia is far and away Pink’s biggest touring market per capita, and the demand among concert goers means she plays far more concerts on our shore than many other performers of her stature who stick to stadiums. Last time she was here, in 2013, she played 46 shows across the country.

Let’s look at her contemporaries: During her 2017 Australian visit, superstar Adele played just eight stadium shows nationwide across 20 days.

Earlier this year, Ed Sheeran played 12 stadium shows across Australia, performing to a record-breaking 243,000 fans across his three Sydney shows alone.

By comparison, on this tour, Pink has already played, in one 12-day stretch, nine shows at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena alone. She’ll return there for an additional two shows later this month, health issues notwithstanding.

Fans queue outside Qudos Bank Arena on Monday night — the evening’s concert was cancelled with only hours to spare. Picture: AAP

And she’s playing venues as small as the Adelaide Entertainment Centre — with its 11,300 maximum capacity, it’s literally one-tenth the size of the stadiums her contemporaries perform in.

She knows her shows — and her beloved aerial work — translates better in a relatively intimate setting, so she stays put in the same arenas she played for each Australian tour dating back to 2004. The people who buy her records get to see her up close and personal, but it means a lot more shows for Pink, a lot more work — and a higher chance of illness.

Fans should rest easy in the knowledge that the famously hardworking star is not known for cancelling concerts: Pink completed her 142-date Truth About Love world tour from 2013-14 with only a single concert worldwide cancelled due to sickness, while her 2009 Funhouse tour saw her drop out of a Brisbane date due to laryngitis — then reschedule it to a week later.

This leg of Pink’s World Tour is set to finish in Auckland on September 11, and then there’s a six-month break until she resumes her concert commitments with a string of dates across the US.

Adele’s Australian tour: Way less shows, WAY more people at each gig.

So can we expect to see Pink’s rescheduled Sydney dates tacked on to the end of this leg of her tour, after her New Zealand commitments? Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has several talks booked at Qudos Bank Arena from September 13-16, which presents a potential clash, but there is then a four-day gap before Asian rock group Mayday are set to perform. With four shows needing to be rescheduled, it appears a perfect — if tight — fit.

Based on Pink’s track record, if there’s a way to make it work — she will.