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Monday, March 18, 2013
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Pink, Time Warner Cable Arena (3/16/2013)
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Pink, The City and Colour
Time Warner Cable Arena
March 16, 2013
In a way, Pink had prepared the Time Warner Cable Arena audience for her encore all night long. She had already bounced and flipped from bungee cords, twisted and turned on the end of a rope and walked on the outside and inside of a spinning ball of gothic metal. Proving there was yet another acrobatic trick up her sleeve, the 5-foot-4-inch tall pop singer (with her "make you want to go to the gym" abs) performed "So What" from, well, just about everywhere inside the arena.
With a metal ring encircling her waist and hooked up to four cables like a football stadium Skycam, Pink took to the air and soared over the crowd. Lifted toward the upper deck, she spun and flipped her way over the heads of the lower tiers and found moments to perch on small platforms as she sung her 2008 hit song.
Cirque du Soleil's got nothing on this multi-talented performer.
Much of the Charlotte crowd stood in awe of the entire performance on Saturday night, amazed at the depth of Pink's abilities. Sure, there were moments when her backup singers did a lot of the heavy lifting, but we didn't see or hear any lip-synching. And Pink wasn't afraid to admit when she was out of breath, either. After all, it's her brutal honesty that has won over the hearts of so many of her fans - who are older than you might expect.
There were no signs of children present as the mostly 18-45 crowd sang and danced along to hit after hit about bad breakups, broken home life and fist-clenching girl power. Sure, the mother of a 2-year-old warned the crowd that she wouldn't be dropping the f-bomb for her song "Fuckin' Perfect," but the enthusiastic audience did it for her.
Pink's current "The Truth About Love Tour" focuses strongly on the album of the same name, but she also mixed in plenty of hits and variety. "Are We All We Are" showed off her inner rock goddess, while "Family Portrait" gave her a chance to display her vocal prowess alongside a piano while "Who Knew" was performed acoustically. She slowed things down from the usually upbeat pace with a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game."
The theme of the entire performance is one of a game show, but that's merely a way to provide brief costume-change interludes as Pink donned a variety of form-fitting clothes and bodysuits. She also found time to bring out some black-and-white MC Hammer pants for a medley of her debut album, Can't Take Me Home, hits. An array of video screens - including a large heart-shaped one - kept the entire concert feeling more like a captivating video shoot.
Sure, Pink choreographs much of her performance - she's lifted by muscular men, she has an entourage of backup dancers, she carefully scripts her aerial moves. But she also found time to shake hands, connect with the crowd and enjoy every moment she was on stage with an "I'm one of you" vibe instead of anything "holier than thou."
She asked where all the sluts in the audience were, let the crowd know that music from the opening band, The City and Colour, was playing when she gave birth and told everyone that she apologized to her father when she told him she was pregnant. When the show was over, a video played clips of her tour rehearsal with plenty of outtakes and moments with her daughter.
Yep, it's the honesty that makes Pink a refreshing pop star in a galaxy of tabloid fodder and lip-synched flavor-of-the-weeks.
Setlist
Raise your Glass
Walk of Shame
Pill
U and Ur hand
Leave Me Alone I'm Lonely
Try
Wicked Game
Just Give me a Reason
Trouble
Are We All We Are
How Come You're not here
Sober
Chaos & Piss Interlude
Family Portrait
Who Knew
Fuckin' Perfect
Can't Take Me Home Medley
Slut Like You
Blow Me
Encore
So What
Glitter in the Air
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