Beautiful Trauma: P!nk At The Toyota Center
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/Pink-soars-at-first-of-two-Toyota-Center-shows-in-12869594.php
The article will give you the details, but when a concert starts with the star swinging from a chandelier twenty feet above the stage and goes up from there, it is definitely something special. P!nk is something special. This was the 2018 version of her tour named after her last album, Beautiful Trauma.
This was the second time I had seen her at the Toyota Center. The last time was good. This was great.
First and foremost, her music has progressed. Her most recent album (that’s a collection of recorded music on vinyl or CD) is eclectic, danceable and has that P!nk message of inclusion and strength, particularly woman power. All of this comes out in the show, two hours of non-stop power and grace. And I do mean grace, because P!nk puts everyone else to shame when it comes to the show in show business.
She started out whirling around the ceiling to “Get This Party Started” and did not stop. She elevates her game. Literally as she twists and turns high above the floor of the Toyota Center in acrobatic moves suspended in mid air, all while not missing a note and doing it without a net and without lip syncing. I honestly have no idea how she does it, particularly as she is no spring chicken any more. Thirty-eight may not be old, but it may be for swinging high above crowds sometimes suspended only by the grip of your partner who in turn is hanging by a rubber band. This woman is amazing.
Sure, there were the costume changes and video shows and scenery as with most arena shows. The giant Eminem blow-up doll was a hoot. Her band is spectacular and includes strings as well as killer background vocalists. But it is P!nk who is the show. She interacts with the crowd, signs autographs while singing and generally revs the place to a fever pitch all with the most impish of pixie smiles on her face.
And she covers Nirvana with grand style and great videos of her band and Nirvana all together.
P!nk’s message is one of inclusion and that comes across in many of her songs, but it comes across more strongly in the audience she attracts. There were all kinds of couples at the concert, men, women, women, women and men, men. All colors are attracted to her music although this was a predominantly white crowd, even if P!nk’s dancers and band were a cross-section of America.
On the whole, this was a truly great concert by an artist who may still be reaching her peak. I cannot imagine what she will do next as she flew through the air throughout the farthest reaches of the Toyota Center to greet the whole crowd close-up, even those in the upper deck.
I am not sure what will be next for this gifted performer, She writes well and could follow Cyndi Lauper to Broadway. She is the consummate show woman and could always do three months in Vegas. Or, she could just keep selling out arenas for another ten years swinging from the rafters until, like Bette Midler, she must give up some of her acrobatics and just sing. Heck, I’ll take that any time!
