A sea of pink flooded into Vancouver’s Rogers arena on Monday night. Fans of all ages were suited up for the occasion: pink pants, pink shoes, pink ties, pink tees, pink onesies, and undies, hats, wigs, eyelashes, and facial hair freshly dyed hot pink to honour the return of their queen, the one and only pop diva, Alecia Moore, a.k.a. P!NK. For the first time in eleven years, Pink graced us with her charismatic presence here in Vancouver, and she brought a lot to the stage.
Before seeing Pink live, I probably would have gone so far as to call her the current queen of pop, or even the king (because Pink’s profound musical talent knows no gendered limits, obviously) what with her majestic, powerful vocals, catchy tunes and pop hits on every album stretching back to the year 2000! But after seeing her in concert for the Vancouver portion of her world tour The Truth About Love, I now know Pink as the God of pop and of performance.
Pink has been known to put on quite a show, but this time, she delivered beyond any of our wildest dreams and expectations. She brought it all, from hip hop to acrobatics, acoustic to full rock-band sound, grooving, flipping, aerial upside-down singing, and even some sexy skilled pole-dancing for her song “Slut Like You”, which is a song from her current album that is not only catchy, but is critical and political and takes on the subject of subtle gender inequalities and slut shaming. Throughout Pink’s career she has done a handful of songs that are not only awesome to dance to, but have powerful, liberating messages for young women and girls and also for other oppressed groups, minorities and ‘underdogs’ which she so poignantly addresses in her song “Raise Your Glass”. To my excitement, this was the song she chose to open her set.
As expected, most of the show consisted of the songs off her latest album, but she also gave us a few of her classics and a couple cover song classics too. She made the show feel original and intimate by giving us little stories and personal anecdotes before her songs.
Pink introduced “F**kin’ Perfect” with a story about how her two-year old daughter noticed there are a lot of “bomb” words in in the song, letting out a little laugh before delivering the most angelic, breathtaking performance of the 2010 hit.
Pink’s onstage accompaniment, her musicians, her back-up singers, and her back-up dancers were all incredible and performed flawlessly which made for an all-round spectacular performance. And, although the clown-like MC was a little creepy from the get-go, he succeeded in making Pink’s set and costume changes breeze by. In his own variety of comical joker-esque costumes, some of the MC’s numbers were actually quite entertaining too. As a fashionable devil he performed some sweet and sinful S&M poetry, and as a topless middle-aged hairy angel he fluttered and danced slow motion amidst the planets of our solar system.
Every other number Pink came back to the stage wearing yet another sexy, sparkly, and stunning outfit, usually showing off her exceptionally muscular body, chiseled abs, and distinct rockstar tattoos.
As Pink bounced, bungee jumped, and flew through the air Cirque du Soleil-style throughout her entire set, it became evident, Pink is so much more than an awesome singer with a killer set of pipes, she’s a multi-talented artist and musician. She played the piano for us, and the drums too! She impressed us with her dance moves, wowed us with gymnastics, and showed us that she is a one-of-a-kind performer who puts her heart and soul into delivering the best live show around.
Every word, dance-move, flip, trick and song was unforgettable; Pink’s live concert really was: F**kin’ Perfect.
