When I was nineteen, my friends and I had been known to crash a Hollywood party or two. At one party in particular, there was a beautiful young woman who looked about our age. She had spiky, cool hair dyed a shocking pink, oozed sexy confidence, and could sing like nobody’s business. I became a fan instantly. In the twenty-five years since, my love for Pink has only grown exponentially, not just because I think she has the best voice in the business, but because who she is as a person is someone I truly admire. Suffice it to say, I do everything I can not to miss her when she comes to town. This past weekend, that meant getting myself to Chase Center on Saturday night to catch her Trustfall tour.The night began with KidCutUp playing a non-stop stream of party hits to warm up the crowd. I admit, my first thought was that he was playing a bunch of random, tired hits, but as I waited for the opener to take the stage, I realized how smooth his transitions were. Despite the fact that several of the songs he had chosen (or that had been chosen for him?) were indeed older hits, the crowd was eating it up, dancing, and singing along, so ultimately, I chose to shut my snark up and enjoy.
Later, it was time for Grouplove. I’ve seen this band here and there over the years (opening for other bands), and what always strikes me as the best part about them is that they seem to be having a great time. Lead singers Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi are married and managed to share a few sweet smooches on stage without missing a beat or a lyric. When not cozying up to her hubby, Hooper spent a lot of her time bopping around the stage, singing and flipping around her gorgeous long red hair, which turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. All in all, I think Grouplove did a good job warming up the crowd, and their set was just the right length for the fans to have some fun while not getting impatient waiting for the main event.
Just before 9 o’clock, it was time. The lights went out, and the giant neon mouth over the stage lit up. A video of Pink channeling Max Headroom had appeared on the screens, and then the giant neon mouth opened, revealing Pink above the stage, harnessed and ready to show off her impressive aerial skills. Naturally, her set kicked off with “Get the Party Started,” followed by “Raise Your Glass.” This is one of the things I really love about Pink – she’s all about the fun: she wants to have fun herself, but she also clearly wants everyone in attendance to have as much fun as possible.
Later, at the top of the second act, Pink sang one of my favorite songs from Trustfall, “Turbulence,” while once again dazzling the crowd with her aerial talents. Once back safely on the stage, the singer lounged near the piano and played a game with her pianist, winning Sour Patch Kids when she successfully guessed the song he was playing. (Apparently, he’s allowed to pick absolutely any song she’s ever written, and if she gets it right, she gets candy that she doesn’t have to share with her children.) In addition to the sour candy, she also mentioned having Twizzlers, which apparently she loves. She noted that she knows that candy is a bit controversial on the West Coast (Editor’s Note: This is a Bay Area-based site, which means we are a Red Vines blog), but as she’s originally an East Coast girl, she still loves them.
Now seated at the piano herself, Pink admitted that she doesn’t really write love songs, but that there were plenty of great love songs in the world, so it’s ok. She mentioned India.Arie, “Landslide,” and even “Baby Shark” as just a few of the many (and then smiled like an imp while humming the tune to the latter, knowing full well that it would be stuck in many heads later). Noting that it was Adele’s cover of the Bob Dylan classic “Make You Feel My Love” that she loved most (“her voice is so beautiful!”), Pink treated the crowd to her own rendition, and though she got a bit tripped up on the lyrics partway through, it was still wonderful. In fact, as I write this now, I realize that one of the best things about seeing Pink live is the covers she chooses.
A few songs later, she started “Just Like Fire,” which went into Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker.” Benatar even toured with Pink on this very tour, as a supporting act – I would have loved to see that! In her absence, though, Pink absolutely crushed the song, and I imagine Benatar would have been proud. After another quick costume change, the singer emerged clad in shocking neon colors (green, orange, and of course, pink), explaining that she had had to change: “I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to see me!”
After admitting that she would like just to tell dad jokes, Pink conceded that she would continue to sing, but she couldn’t help herself: she had to tell one joke: “I grilled this chicken for two hours, and it still wouldn’t tell me why it crossed the road!” Ooof. Fortunately, she kept her word and went back to singing, starting with an acoustic version of “Please Don’t Leave Me” before introducing one of her favorite songs because she had a “very special someone” who would be singing with her. She began “Cover Me in Sunshine,” and even though I knew that her daughter, Willow Sage Hart, 11, was touring with her and would likely join her mama for their duet, it still brought tears to my eyes when it happened. If you’re a fan of Pink and you listen to lyrics, you probably know she hasn’t necessarily had the easiest life, so it’s nice to see her settled and happy. I hadn’t had the chance to see her wearing her “Mama” hat in person before, and it was a great treat to witness. And Ms. Willow, by the way, was just the cutest thing in her sweet sequined dress.
After her own child had exited the stage again, Pink noticed a sleeping baby near the front of the stage, complimenting its mother and saying that she wanted to “put Willow back in my belly!” She went on to talk about Willow being “smarter than me,” adding that Willow likes Red Vines (West Coast child that she is) instead of Twizzlers. She explained what a strange experience it had been for her for Willow to come home with a report card boasting all A’s: “Do I buy you pizza? What’s that like?”
As Pink walked to the end of the catwalk where she would sit on stools with long-time guitarist Justin Derrico, she noticed someone had thrown a bra on stage. “Did I get a bra?! Let’s see if it fits!” She held the item in question up to herself, untwisting it to see if it might be her size. “Nope. Not ever… Willow was like, ‘Mom, when did you get boobs?’ I didn’t.” Her next song was “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” and when she got to the line “tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears,” I smiled to hear that she had changed it to “sweet Britney Spears” in the years since the song was first recorded.
Pink took a moment to set up the next song, telling a quick story about her visit to her father’s grave site. It took her two years after he passed to visit his headstone, she explained, because she wasn’t ready. When she did eventually go visit, she was pleased to see that he was laid to rest in a beautiful cemetery next to a man named Fred Krueger. “That tracks, if you knew him,” Pink explained while the crowd laughed. The next song was “When I Get There,” which she had written about what she imagines (or hopes?) the afterlife might be like and what she pictures him doing there.
Next was another cover, one that few singers can do justice: Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee.” (I remember when she was in talks to play the late singer in a biopic, and I’m sad it never happened, as I can’t imagine anyone better to play the late great Joplin than Pink herself.) Her cover was perfect, once again. After this song, Pink unceremoniously plopped herself onto her butt on the stage so she could take off her shoes and socks, returning to singing barefoot as she often does. While doing this, she mentioned that it was a new moon and that “today we’re letting go… every once in a while, we have to lose our marbles and let it go. That’s today.” She followed this with “I Am Here,” after which came another cover (with which Pink fans who love rose ave. as much as I do are already quite familiar), this time of Sade’s “No Ordinary Love.”
“Are you gonna fall? Is someone gonna catch you? Or are you gonna catch yourself?” came the spoken intro to the title track of the album (and tour), “Trustfall.” After this came “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” and then Pink took time to introduce each of her band members . After “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” she introduced each and every one of her dancers, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artist do. I appreciate that in addition to just naming them, their names were even featured on the screens, giving them the kudos they truly deserve.
Finally, it was time for the last song of the night, and as Pink harnessed up again for one last aerial spin all around the venue, the opening notes of “So What” began. I know it’s unusual for artists not to have encores these days, but given that Pink had been singing, dancing, laughing, and having fun for just about two hours straight, I was happy to let the evening end there. I left the show feeling lighter than I have in a long time and loving Pink even more than I did when the night began (if indeed that’s possible)…
(Pssst… you can find the entire set list here.)
