P!nk!

I was very fortunate last night to go and see Pink in concert with a couple of friends.

I am not really sure why but Pink really seems to have an affinity with Australian audiences. Her songs regularly reach number 1 here, and there are huge album sales. Last time she toured there were all sorts of attendance records broken, and this time those records have been broken as well. I think she is performing something like 58 concerts in Australia, with about 18 of those in Melbourne alone. I think it is partly to do with the fact that she doesn't seem to take herself too seriously which is something that Aussies tend to like a lot.

The support band was an Australian band called Faker, who I would say have had one mainstream hit and probably a few more alternative hits. I think we missed the one hit, which is called This Heart Attack but they weren't bad. Between Faker and Pink there was a DJ who played a really interesting mix of music, but it was obvious from the crowd that there was only one person who they were there to see! Here's Faker singing This Heart Attack from TV:



Starting with a short video set to Pink singing a cover version of Highway to Hell, an Australian classic by AC/DC, the show was an interesting mix of high energy songs, more mellow tunes and a fair sprinkling of cover versions. And make no mistake, this was a show. A lot of musicians go and play music and maybe have some lighting effects and video behind them to add visual interest but there was a more musical theatre feeling to a lot of what was done, with outlandish costumes, a really interesting set and a few acrobat style tricks.

For me the highlights were a really, really hot version of another Australian classic, I Touch Myself originally sung by The Divinyls, a totally awesome version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. For the high energy songs it is hard to go against So What? which had the whole crowd going crazy and there were plenty of quieter moments as well, including a spine tingling rendition of Family Portrait. I must confess I was pleasantly surprised by how strong her voice was.

One weird thing was that we weren't allowed to take any water bottles into the stadium, not even the ones that were bought inside. If you bought a drink the servers had to pour the drink into cups before they could give it to us! The other things I learnt were how to use the zoom on my phone camera and that the flash is really, really bright! I really needed the zoom because we were sitting up the very back, so none of the photos are all that good, but it doesn't matter because we had a totally awesome time!

By the time we got out of the car park and I dropped my friend off, I didn't get home until well after 12.30 which is a bit late on a work night, and I am feeling it quite a bit today! Oh well, it's not like it happens often, and it definitely won't stop me from trying to go to see her again when she comes back again.

In the meantime, I am trying to find at least one of my friends who I can give some Keith Urban CDs too so I can go and see him if he tours here! I am almost tempted to go by myself but it would definitely be better to have someone to go with!