Photos by Sue McKay, Kick It To Me
On Tuesday the 11th of July, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre saw world-renowned star, P!NK, hit the stage, supported by The Rubens and KIDCUTUP. Her first time here in five years, she’s in Adelaide for four nights for the Beautiful Trauma World Tour.
The show was opened by The Rubens, who had the audience buzzing with anticipation for the queen herself— the one and only, P!NK. The Rubens’ youthful attitude and playful stage manner had the crowd dancing from start to finish. They played some tracks from their new album ‘LO LA RU’ and finished with hit single ‘Hoops‘.
By the interval, the Entertainment Centre was absolutely packed with avid fans, most decorated with pink wigs, scarves, and accessories. During the break, the crowd was entertained by a DJ called KIDCUTUP who spun all types of music, from ACDC and Midnight Oil (in an attempt to appeal to the Australian crowd) to Usher and Gwen Stefani in a seamless and effortless performance. He had everyone dancing, even the more mature members of the audience, who were standing in the aisles showing off their best ‘nanna’ dance moves.
The crowd was buzzing with excitement as the interval was coming to a close, yearning to see the beautiful and inspiring P!NK. KIDCUTUP exited with a thunderous round of applause, and the audience was practically exploding as the music and lights dropped. They were jumping at every rustle of the curtain, they refused to wait any longer as they screamed for the lady in question.
The floor vibrated, and a single man in a suit came out with a recorder and played the Universal Studios Theme song (you know the one) quite terribly and hilariously. He exited the stage, and the curtain dropped.
‘Get The Party Started’, an old school banger, kicked off the show as P!NK descended from the ceiling on a giant chandelier donning her first outfit for the night—a glimmering black bodysuit. She somersaulted through the air over the stage, suspended from the ceiling, and as always, her vocals didn’t waver as she flipped over and over. She was backed by a large group of backup dancers, wearing glittery pink outfits. She knows how to make an entrance, that’s for sure!
The dancers scurried into the background as the lights dropped further and a spotlight fell onto P!NK as she began to sing her hit single ‘Beautiful Trauma’.
She was supported by two backup singers and a band including drums, bass guitar, keyboard, synth, violin, and guitar, who were standing right up the front of the stage, about five metres in front of the rest of the band.
P!NK rode along a conveyer belt into the audience and waved to her fans, beaming a huge smile. She playfully hopped from side to side on the conveyer belt, nearly losing balance at one point as she performed ‘Just Like a Pill’. She hyped up the guitarist and bassist, dressed in her second outfit for the night—a spectacular black and purple trench coat. She then kicked into the old classic ‘Who Knew’ with heart-wrenching nostalgia. Contemporary dancers popped up through the stage, danced around her, then dropped down into trap doors in the stage behind her in a clever disappearing act.
A short animation about ‘revenge land’ played on the screens as P!NK left the stage momentarily. The video listed several horrific ways to get revenge on your partner when they’re doing something annoying. You know, all those little things that pop into your head for a second that would never actually do.
In a yellow plaid coat and sparkly purple pants, P!NK entered the stage between hip-hop dancers as she played ‘Revenge’. She aced the vocals, rap and all.
One hour into her set and she barely showed signs of fatigue. She let out a single huff of exhaustion, then went straight into the rocky classic, ‘Funhouse’. Halfway through the song, she launched into ‘I’m Just a Girl’ by No Doubt, and continued to bounce between the two.
After introducing the band to everyone, the Nirvana classic ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ began to blast through the speakers as she danced around the stage and interacted with the audience. As she launched into her cover, the hype level dropped and there was an air of slight disappointment. I’m not sure how I felt about the cover, but the crowd came to her show to hear her play her own songs. They enjoyed it because she sounded great, but I can’t help but feel that they just wanted more of her music.
She launched into ‘Secrets‘ and sailed across the stage without a harness, held up only by a burly man. I applaud her for her complete trust in him, as he didn’t have a harness either. She continued to deliver the song without a hiccup as he carried her through the air. She wore a sparkly leotard (outfit number four? Five? I’m not sure at this point). Also, how the hell can she pull out a wedgie while still looking graceful? That woman has superpowers.
Eerie noises filled the air, smoke filled the stage and confetti fluttered from the ceiling. The backup dancers wore creep masks of ravens, wolves, foxes hares and deer. They were surreal, nightmarish outfits. P!NK rose from the stage dressed in a red velvet cloak and launched into ‘Try‘. It was a beautifully theatrical performance. The contemporary dance represented both love and hate, and the conflict of minds. Dramatic piano music introduced the next song, ‘Just Give Me A Reason’. Nate Ruess (who features in the song) sung his part from an old TV screen. P!NK ascended to the sky on a four-post bed. It looks like she has a fun job.
She continued by playing hits such as ‘I’m Not Dead’ and ‘Just Like Fire’, which had some awesome pyro-technics. The heat of the flames could be felt throughout the whole theatre!
Old footage from her previous DVD’s and various TV interviews played on the screen. The video contained some very powerful and inspiring words, but the main message of the video was, “We’re all pink on the inside.”
The performance continued with ‘What About Us?’, ‘Barbie’, ‘Perfect’, ‘I Am Here’, and many others. She interacted with the crowd, accepting gifts and notes, and making jokes about how hungry she was, which is fair enough, considering how long she played for (a little over two hours) and how active she was on stage the whole time. Overall it was an absolutely breathtaking and inspiring performance, with strong, heartfelt vocals and exceptional dancing and acrobatics—everything one could hope a P!NK concert would be.
If you haven’t got tickets to her show yet, I highly recommend it. Catch her before she sails away!
Review by Jonathan Matthews
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