P!nk Covers Charlotte In Sunshine
Trustfall Tour Brings Some Magic To Spectrum Center
It’s hard to believe but it’s been well over 20 years since P!nk helped us all “Get The Party Started” and guess what? She’s still doing it! Yes, P!nk is still bringing all the party jams along with a solid dose of maturity and life lessons as the singer, songwriter, actress, wife, and mother stopped in Charlotte to bring the Trustfall Tour to a capacity crowd at Spectrum Center.
What can we say about P!nk’s live show? We all expected her to bring an epic production and carnival atmosphere to town. After all, her Summer Carnival stadium tour was a whopping success. But, it was the subtler things that really made P!nk stand out not only as an artist but as a human being.
More on that later. First, I want to talk about the party! The anticipation builds as the venue lights dim and a video screen displays an electronic version of P!nk who chats for a bit, pumping the crowd up as if we needed any further encouragement. Then it was show time and P!nk definitely comes out swinging, quite literally, as the show opens with her jumping out of a giant mouth high over the stage. Strapped in a harness, P!nk shows off her awesome athleticism and channels her inner Simone Biles for a decent part of the show. She somersaults, does splits, and flies high along with two male gymnasts. It is a visual spectacle for the ages as P!nk throws up the devil horns singing and points at the crowd from high above all the while belting out one of her biggest and most well-known songs “Get The Party Started” to kick off the evening.
Descending down to the main stage, P!nk is accompanied by an array of dancers along with flashing lights, and a host of props including dancers on giant swans for “Raise Your Glass” and even fireworks. Wow! Not only is the show amazing, but P!nk sounds terrific. The fact that she can sing while tumbling, twirling, dancing, jumping, and running is no easy feat, but she makes it look effortless.
The production is broken up into four main acts with set changes, costume changes, and a whole host of all the bells and whistles one comes to expect from a performer of P!nk’s caliber. It truly felt like a carnival and the crowd loved every minute of it. But for all the rockstar action, it was the quieter moments of the show that impressed me the most because that is where we see and engage with P!nk the person, not P!nk the superstar.
You see, P!nk is probably one of the most down-to-earth stars on the planet. Maybe it’s the mom in her or maybe it’s just the fact that she’s an incredible human. Either way, she comes across as genuine, just one of us and it makes her fans love her all the more. During the middle part of the show, the crowd was treated to playing “Name That Tune” at the piano with P!nk passing some Raisinettes candy to the crowd at the front of the stage, applauding them for being great sharers. Her vocal performance on the Bob Dylan song “Make You Feel My Love” was stellar and goosebump raising to say the least. Her realness continued as she grabbed a frog hat from an audience matter, not hesitating for a moment as she placed it on her head and even put it on her guitar player’s head for a few moments. She also took a second to give her guitarist’s brother a shout-out as he happened to be in the audience that night, joking that she hoped he was enjoying his first beer.
Her vulnerability and emotions were on full display for Act III of the evening as she brought her daughter, Willow Sage Hart, out on the stage to help her sing “Cover Me In Sunshine.” Willow did amazingly well as P!nk explained how she wrote the song during Covid, unsure of what would happen in the world and in her own life with music and touring, before joking that she didn’t even care that Willow got the loudest applause every night. She brought it all home and the tears began to freeflow down my face when she perched herself on a stool at the end of the catwalk, accepting a gift of Twizzler candy from a fan, before telling us about the loss of her father and gifting us with the beauty of “When I Get There” as the audience lit up Spectrum Center with their phone lights.
The final segment of the evening began with a high-energy performance of “Trustfall” complete with dancers and gymnasts jumping and flying on trampolines as P!nk entertained the crowd as only she could. The evening came to a conclusion with two epic dance numbers as P!nk introduced her dancers before taking to the sky once more for the encore of “So What.”
Opening the evening was alternative rock outfit Grouplove who warmed up the audience with a short but solid set led by vocalist Hannah Hooper. The band has recently released their sixth full-length studio album I Want I All Right Now available on Glassnote Records.
The Trustfall Tour was everything I dreamed it would be and so much more. It was about as perfect as it gets. In fact, I guess you could say it was “Fuckin’ Perfect.”
Click Here for the Full Gallery of the Evening!
If you happened to capture any shots of the night, feel free to tag us on social media at Shutter 16 Magazine and throw in #Shutter16 and #TwitFromThePit for the world to see.
https://www.grouplovemusic.com/
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