Pink review: her secret weapon isn't her music, it's her gravity-defying energy

Tottenham's stadium became a modern-day Circus Maximus this weekend as American pop-rock queen Pink played back-to-back dates on her spectacular Summer Carnival tour in front of more than 100,000 people. The 44-year-old Grammy winner, born Alecia Moore, is renowned for her maximalist showmanship, and from the opening fanfare, this performance was never knowingly understated. After a video introduction showing the singer channeling 1980s cyber-kitsch TV host Max Headroom, the scene became a near-constant audiovisual riot of props and stunts, flame cannons and fireworks, dance routines and costume changes.

Moore's aerial athleticism (she was a teenage gymnast before turning to music) was once again an important element of this show. She arrived suspended above the stage for a Let the festivities beginand ended the evening with a superbly staged aerobatic flight during So what. In between, there were trapeze duets, upside-down cage dances and other dazzling feats.

It was hard to criticize all this daring and high-level technical skill, but relentless stage production couldn't entirely make up for Moore's often innocuous and underwhelming music.

Heavily reliant on soft-rock power ballads, bratty stompers and occasional bursts of frictionless rave-pop, she is one of the few million-selling stadium divas to resist the full embrace of R&B and music. electro in recent years. Her low-key set at Tottenham certainly lacked the ambitious eclecticism and avant-garde songwriting that defines Beyoncé, Taylor Swift or Billie Eilish.

Even its handful of real bangers, Just like a pill to the recent disco-infused single I will never dance again, sounded clunky and colorless. The blonde leads the bland.

Tellingly, the musical touchstone of Moore's adolescence was the awful What's new? by 4 Non Blondes, which she performed to enthusiastic cheers. His piano version of the famous Bob Dylan song Make you feel My Love was also modeled on Adele's syrupy remake rather than Dylan's raucous, deeply ruffled original.

In all honesty, there was a lot to enjoy and admire here. Moore exuded disarming warmth and humor, speaking directly to her young fans, sharing messages of queer solidarity and female empowerment. During the softer acoustic section of the show, she also performed Cover me with sunshine, a sweet duet with his 13-year-old daughter Willow Sage Hart, and paid a tender tribute to his late father Jim in When I arrive.

Pink's infectious, noisy, gravity-defying energy ultimately proved to be her secret weapon, helping her rise above strangely flavorless conservative music.
★★★☆☆
On tour in the UK until June 29 pinkspage.com

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