While buzzy Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan have been defining pop music in 2024, what about Pink?
What about the Gen X pop star who showed us how to get the party started, who merged derring-do acrobatics with soaring pop vocals and who sang “What About Us” with her teenage daughter at this summer’s Democratic National Convention?
Fans haven’t forgotten about Pink. She kicked off a sold-out, two-night stand Thursday at Xcel Energy Center with another thrilling, bravura performance, balancing high-value entertainment with powerful messaging. There were pink flamingo scooters, pink shopping carts, endless pink outfits, along with 10 dancers, five musicians and three backup vocalists and the one and only Pink, urging 15,000 fans of various ages to be confident and resilient.
The mostly female fans — even the young girls with their moms (or dads) — got into the spirit, wearing something pink. Faux-fur coats, feathered jackets, leather jackets, shredded jeans, plaid shirts, sequined tops, running shoes, cowgirl hats, T-shirts, hoodies, overalls, eyeglasses, earrings, headbands, necklaces, hair. Did we miss anything?
Thursday’s Pink Live Tour, which is visiting both arenas and stadiums this fall, offered pretty much the same show, promoting her 2023 album “Trustfall,” that she gave last year on the Summer Carnival Tour at Target Field, just scaled down to an arena. In other words, her awe-inspiring, end-of-the-night fly over the entire crowd, somersaulting on a harness while singing upside down, didn’t cover quite as much territory. No one’s complaining, especially those in the nosebleeds who got to see her up-close for a fleeting, tumbling moment. And, frankly, it’s such a spectacular and satisfying show that it’s worth seeing again.
Moreover, in the hockey arena instead of a baseball stadium, it was easier to appreciate the lighting, special effects (including the Cirque du Soleil-evoking aerial dancing/gymnastics), the nuances and most of all, the singing.
In the arena, Pink’s vocal range was as impressive as her athletic feats, from the warmth balladry of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” (with Pink playing grand piano) to the vocal tour de force of “Just Give Me a Reason” (with duet partner Nate Ruess appearing on the video screen). She is as versatile as she is hard to pigeonhole.
The Philadelphia native, 45, is a complicated, well-rounded personality, both pop superstar and the mother next door, party starter and outspoken protester, a brash, unburnished blue-collar force as well as an aggressive advocate for self-esteem and self-analysis. In concert, she was as comfortable barefoot as she was in rhinestone platform boots.