Midway through her exhilarating The Truth About Love Tour stop at North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena Sunday night, Pink announced she was going to do something scary.
The acrobatic pop singer and songwriter had already bungee jumped during her rowdy opener “Raise Your Glass.” She had already dangled from the ceiling on cords — even upside down, by her feet — during an emotional “Try.” She had already shown off superhuman strength in a balancing act with a male partner during a cover of Chris Issak’s heartbreaker “Wicked Game.” And she had already belted “Sober” (until her mic broke) while cavorting with backup dancers in — and on — a giant round cage contraption suspended in the air. All this never losing a beat or her breath.
What could be possibly be left?
Tickling the ivories. Taking a break from the flickering lights, feisty vocals and flashy outfits, the overachiever born Alecia Moore said she was determined to pluck out a ballad on the piano (just as the novice instrumentalist tried her hand at guitar for her last tour).
“We’ll see what happens,” she told the crowd of 12,778 humbly before playing “Great Escape,” which turned out great. She was rewarded by front row fans with gifts of flowers and a stuffed bulldog, which she accepted for her 2-year-old daughter Willow, joking, “I’ll give it to her for Christmas and tell her it’s for me.”
Yes, the 34-year-old tattooed, platinum pixie is a mother now (impossible to tell by her cut midriff, but true). Which is why, she said, she’d be performing the clean version of “F****in’ Perfect.” But there was still plenty of naughty in the nearly two hour set full of fetish allusions and saucy songs like “Walk of Shame,” “Slut Like You” and “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” She ended the show, literally flipping out on cables over the crowd to “So What,” with her lyrics “I’m still a rock star, I’ve got my rock moves,” never sounding more true.
Pink’s show was hosted by a cheeky Cirque du Soleil-esque clown who entertained the audience by dancing and licking bald men’s heads, before the show and reappeared — in a diaper with angel wings and in a tuxedo jacket, garters and tube socks — during the show. Did we say he was cheeky? We meant creepy.
Not creepy at all was opening act The Kin, a trio that includes two angular, attractive Australian brothers , as well as a drummer who used no sticks, but thumps his hands on his drum set (and a guitar case, turning it into a percussion instrument). They endeared themselves by singing of their love for America and, in the same set, playing an instrument from back home — the didgeridoo.
There’s something for Pink to try next tour.