P!nk, The Rubens @ Entertainment Centre, Adelaide 10/7/2018

Pink is back in Adelaide and has redefined incredible. What a show! Amazing! Pink is back in the city of churches for the first of four shows at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Aussie openers The Rubens were fantastic and what an opportunity to be playing in front of such big crowds every night of the tour. It was a terrific set and The Rubens have really stepped up their performance more than proving they are worthy of some big stage action. It was a killer forty minutes of the best of The Rubens including some new tunes off their new album LO LA RU. Opening with The Best We Got and My Gun to more recent tunes Hallelugah and set closer Hoops. Favourites for me was the infectious Million Man and Never Ever featuring Geneva (mark my words this will be a hit).

There definitely was the feeling of anticipation building up to Pink’s first show in Adelaide in five years. Pink (aka Alecia Beth Moore) is an incredibly performer, singer, dancer, mother, partner and a campaigner for positivity and encouraging people to live their truth and find the good in things. It seemed anthemic that Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again was the last house tune to be before Pink came out. Definitely set the tone for what was about to unfold.

As soon as the lights went down the excitement was fever pitched and as soon as the curtains fell Pink came flying in on a chandelier high above the stage complete with light show and effects heralding the start of Get The Party Started. Incredible! It takes an immense amount of skill to do that aerial display but to be able to single as well and upside down! Wow! It was a sheer delight watching this show with my daughter who was mesmerised by the performance and seeing lots of happy people. Beautiful Trauma and Just Like A Pill were great with Pink thanking the crowd for having them back and that it had only been five years. Who Knew was a great sing-along moment and the “Revenge Land” footage was a hoot.

Revenge saw a massive inflatable Eminem appear on the stage copping a swift kick in the guts from Pink. The fun continued with Funhouse which morphed in to No Doubt’s Just A Girl. The real surprise was the Nirvana cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit to which Pink looked like she was having fun rocking out but this one may have been lost on a few.  The hits keep coming and there were so many good ones with Try, Just Give Me A Reason and Just Like Fire. The pace slowed down with Barbies prompting Pink to ask who still had a Barbie and that they are way cooler now. Even funnier was Pink saying that she was hungry and telling the story about how much she loves cheese but not when it’s been in someone’s pocket all day before the show. She also asked if people up the back still loved her or whether it was just closer to the beer.

I Am Here and F***in’ Perfect were pop-tastic and there was a really important message inspired by Pink’s daughter after a conversation about her appearance prompting her to prepare a PowerPoint presentation about how she’s not but serving as important message to others to live your truth with a nod and a wink to such artists as Michael Jackson and David Bowie. To quote Pink “We don’t change, we take the gravel and the shell and make it a pearl”. Not only did Raise Your Glass lifted the roof off the Entertainment Centre is took on so much more meaning after that and was a celebration of inclusion and diversity. It was hard to believe that the end of the show was coming with Blow Me (One More Kiss).

Returning for an encore which included the big song So What which saw Pink go the harness and put on one hell of an aerial display taking to the upper lofts of the Entertainment Centre. Oh my god! It had to be seen to be believed. Glitter In The Air closed what was a memorable night and no doubt fans will be backing up and going again tomorrow night. If there is going to be a show that you’re going to go this year make sure you catch Pink while you still can. Incredible! Amazing! Brilliant!

Live Review by Rob Lyon

Be sure to catch Pink on her remaining Adelaide dates:

Weds 11 July – Entertainment Centre
Fri 13 July – Entertainment Centre
Sat 14 July – Entertainment Centre

Tickets from Ticketek