Ferocious rock chick or girly pop vixen? That’s the perennial head-scratcher when it comes to P!nk, a singer who’s spent her career parading the ‘girl power’ torch lit by the Spice Girls, but – as evidenced tonight – can play the soft seductress to precision, too. It’s a conundrum further compounded tonight at The O2, as the crop-haired singer takes to the stage in a blaze of motorbike revs as AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’ announces her presence to the sold-out crowd.
But this is no rock gig; the ‘funhouse’ theme of her last album has spilled over into the set decoration, where Alecia Beth Moore and her predominantly female backing band and dancers strut their stuff around slides, hang from the rafters in Cirque du Soleil-style interludes, and indulge in pillow fights at various points of the evening.
It’s certainly an impressive stage show, but what about the music? Early crowd-pleasers include singalong favourites ‘Just Like a Pill’ and ‘Who Knew?’, while an uber-raunchy ‘I Touch Myself’ draws parallels with Madonna’s Girlie Show tour and sees one nearby mother cover her young daughter’s eyes in horror. There’s a dip in momentum with an acoustic section, though. Stripped-back versions of ‘Trouble’ and the corny ‘Dear Mr. President’ may exhibit Pink’s diversity, but it’s the uptempo, attitudal pop numbers like ‘So What?’ and ‘Stupid Girls’ that provide the most entertainment — as does a thoroughly enjoyable take on Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Madonna may not be willing to relinquish her crown just yet, but in five or 10 years, she might not have a choice.