Review: There’s only one reason Pink’s St. Paul concert wasn’t perfect

While buzzy Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan have been defining pop music in 2024, what about Pink?

What about the Gen X pop star who showed us how to get the party started, who merged derring-do acrobatics with soaring pop vocals and who sang “What About Us” with her teen daughter at this summer’s Democratic National Convention?

Fans haven’t forgotten about Pink. She kicked off a sold-out, two-night stand Thursday at Xcel Energy Center with another thrilling, bravura performance, balancing high-value entertainment with powerful messaging. There were pink flamingo scooters, pink shopping carts, endless pink outfits, along with 10 dancers, five musicians and three backup vocalists and the one and only Pink, urging 15,000 fans of various ages to be confident and resilient.

The mostly female fans — even the young girls with their moms (or dads) — got into the spirit, wearing something pink. Faux-fur coats, feathered jackets, leather jackets, shredded jeans, plaid shirts, sequined tops, running shoes, cowgirl hats, T-shirts, hoodies, overalls, eyeglasses, earrings, headbands, necklaces, hair. Did we miss anything?

Thursday’s Pink Live Tour, which is visiting both arenas and stadiums this fall, offered pretty much the same show, promoting her 2023 album “Trustfall,” that she gave last year on the Summer Carnival Tour at Target Field, just scaled down to an arena. In other words, her awe-inspiring, end-of-the-night fly over the entire crowd somersaulting on a harness while singing upside down didn’t cover quite as much territory. No one’s complaining, especially those in the nosebleeds who got to see her up-close for a fleeting, tumbling moment. And, frankly, it’s such a spectacular and satisfying show that it’s worth seeing again.

Moreover, in the hockey arena instead of a baseball stadium, it was easier to appreciate the lighting, special effects (including the Cirque du Soleil-evoking aerial dancing/gymnastics), the nuances and most of all, the singing.

In the arena, Pink’s vocal range was as impressive as her athletic feats, from the warmth balladry of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” (with Pink playing grand piano) to the vocal tour de force of “Just Give Me a Reason” (with duet partner Nate Ruess appearing on the video screen). She is as versatile as she is hard to pigeonhole.

The Philadelphia native, 45, is a complicated, well-rounded personality, both pop superstar and the mother next door, party starter and outspoken protester, a brash, unburnished blue-collar force as well as an aggressive advocate for self-esteem and self-analysis. In concert, she was as comfortable barefoot as she was in rhinestone platform boots.

This time, Pink avoided the politics of “Irrelevant,” her protest piece about women’s rights that she delivered last summer at Target Field. That’s probably an easy move in an election year, but she didn’t stray from her messages of self-affirmation, notably on “[Expletive] Perfect.”

Even with all the aerial acrobatics, pink-hued pageantry and sing-along pop hits, what truly sets Pink apart from Taylor, Beyoncé and the aforementioned new crop of pop stars is her approachability and realness.

“Is your hair blue?” Pink asked a young fan near the stage early in the evening. “That’s spectacular. Did you do your hair? Can you do mine?”

Later, she talked about going to the Mall of America the day before to do some Christmas shopping. She admitted locals don’t think that mall is a big deal, but she thinks it’s “a real treat.” She joked with her husband, Carey Hart, about asking a woman at the mall if she could hold the woman’s baby for a moment.

“Instead, we rescued a puppy,” she announced. “Graham Cracker. He’s currently peeing in the dressing room.”

Her best line, whether spontaneous or planned, came when she sauntered onstage in a pink feathered jacket and blue miniskirt and proclaimed: “I feel like Olivia Rodrigo’s drunk aunt.” The crowd roared.

Other things had the fans roaring, including the exquisite five-part vocal harmonies on the Afrobeat “I Am Here,” Pink’s 13-year-old daughter Willow joining her on “Cover Me in Sunshine” and the jaw-dropping finale of “So What” with her flying like a tumbling Peter Pan over the arena while singing upside down. It’s an ending so extraordinarily extravagant that the confetti seemed superfluous.

The only thing that kept this 1¾-hour show from being perfect was the fact that it started after 9 p.m. and ended a tick before 11. On a school night! Unlike Pink’s two children, not all the kiddos at Xcel Center are homeschooled and can sleep in.