I wrote this up for a couple of other forums with some huge P!nk fans there, so apologies for this being details-laden. If you don't want to wade through it all, the long and short of it is she was really down-to-earth and performed a sensational show. Catch her on tour if you have the chance.


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It was my 20th birthday a couple of weeks ago. One of my best friends Mark, who I've known since I was 15 (he's a little older), wanted me to celebrate P!nk style by getting tix for us to go see her 'secret' gig at the Metro Theatre here in Sydney on Wednesday night. He sprung another surprise for me today by scamming a quick meet and greet with P!nk at the radio station where he works.

We got there at about 3PM and it was pretty quiet as most of the activity happens in the morning. P!nk was due at 3.30PM and arrived dead on time with an entourage of about 7 people, including her PA and Australian label reps who were organising the day's promotion. Mark and I were in a production booth just sitting and watching her in the next room being interviewed. I caught snippets of the interview and she's such a good sport. The DJ asked her about her sex life and was flirting quite outrageously with her - he's 21, cute and cocky... go figure. She seemed to be enjoying herself though. I'd never noticed what a filthy laugh she has. She was asked about her lesbian fanbase and said she loves it. I think she attributed it to her being a strong female figure but I can't remember exactly what she said. Throughout the interview she also mentioned that 'Who Knew' started out being written for a friend who had overdosed on drugs, claimed her attitude in general could be summed as 'couldn't give a shit' (haha) and was mortified to hear the 21-year-old DJ had flown 15 hours to LA for an interview with Lindsay Lohan only to be turned down. She had apparently cracked the shits with the interviewer beforehand and cancelled all subsequent press for that day, despite the guy in question having flown over from Australia just for a 20 minute interview with her. P!nk was very diplomatic when it came to discussing 'stupid girls' but did seem shocked that Lindsay could do that to a journalist who was, in effect, just trying to give her some good radio exposure.

The interview wrapped up and Mark and I made our way outside to catch her on her way out of the room. A couple of other people went in to meet her with their 'I'm Not Dead' CD sleeves to be signed. She seemed very nice and was quite tickled by the guy's request to autograph his bicep. He walked out grinning like a gibbon and said he was going to get it tattooed, haha. She came out of the room, Mark introduced himself and got her to sign a guitar for a colleague and his 'I'm Not Dead'. He said 'this is my friend Chris...' and I think I shook her hand, but I can't remember. I said 'hi Alecia, my name's Chris and I'm a big fan'. I passed her a few CD sleeves and asked 'would you mind signing a couple of these for me please?' She said ‘of course I can’, made sure she had the spelling of my name right ('C-H?') and started signing. I told P!nk her performance at the Logies (think Australian Emmy's / Golden Globes) the night before was great and said they broadcast her reaction to Joan Rivers' spot and it was priceless. I should explain... Joan Rivers was a guest presenter and she was an absolute riot - 'I don't know who the fuck any of you are', 'WHY THE FUCK AM I HERE?' When given a pink Logie (they're usually given out in silver and gold) as a joke, she said it was 'the ugliest fucking award I've ever seen' and threw it across the stage. P!nk cracked up when I mentioned Joan, clearly she found it was amusing too. She signed 'I'm Not Dead' and 'M!ssundaztood' and then kept going onto the other two albums without saying a word which I thought was sweet. One of her entourage said 'wow, you've got all of them' and I replied 'yeah, like I said, I'm a big fan'.

I said to P!nk that I'd promised myself if I ever met her, I'd tell her how great it is to have someone in the mainsteam popular conscience who was willing to stand up for what she believes in. (Speaking of which, go to P!nk's official site to sign her petition to stop KFC using chickens that were killed inhumanely). I told her that 'it really means a lot to fans', which didn't really articulate what I meant but she seemed to get it. I'm not good with my words under pressure, haha. She said 'thanks' and after a pause added 'I can't help it' which everyone giggled at. Mark and I asked if we could take some photos. I went first and after our pic P!nk rubbed my back a few times. It was a really nice gesture and is the one thing I remember most about meeting her. Then Mark, being Mark, wanted a 'swearing' photo so I snapped one of him and P!nk flipping the bird, complete with an attitude-laden lip curl from her. It's awesome, haha. The Aussie rep butted in and said 'sorry guys, but we really have to hurry' so we thanked P!nk again and off she went down the corridor!

P!nk was really accommodating and very down-to-earth. There was no celebrity pretense about her and despite a strange Australian tour schedule she never made the promo or meeting fans seem like a chore. She strikes me as a very genuine person and I imagine she treats everyone in the same way. I was most impressed and she confirmed all my preconceptions of what she'd be like.




x

Now, the Metro last Wednesday night... It's a pretty small venue, I'd say it held about 800 people tops. It was great because even if you were right at the back of the floor as we were initially, you still felt like you were incredibly close. It's been a while since I've attended an intimate gig like this so it was fun to not be sitting in a huge entertainment centre for a change.

The set consisted of a backdrop with 'I'm Not Dead' printed like it is on the album and a 3D row of roses above it. Simple but effective. At about 9.20pm, the band walked out followed by two female dancers dressed in black with large black sunglasses. P!nk came on last, sporting a hot pink dress (which judging by other 'secret gigs' around the world, she owns in orange and red too) with a black jacket over the top and the same black sunnies as her dancers. She was also carrying a cane / whip. Rowr. She opened with ''Cuz I Can' with some robotic choreography. Kylie, eat your heart out.

After saying hi to the crowd, P!nk launched into 'Trouble'. I don't remember it being a mammoth hit here (although it did reach Top 10) but the audience which was mainly diehards anyway lapped it up. Lots of fist-punching and rock posturing. Bless. She followed it up with 'Just Like A Pill' which probably got the best reaction of the night. Obviously a huge fan favourite, P!nk went all out for the adlibs at the end to huge applause. She took the black jacket off after this song and after thanking the audience put on her Marilyn Monroe breathless voice to preface her performance of 'Stupid Girls'. P!nk began by sitting at the back of the stage flicking through a magazine whilst her two dancers, one as Paris Hilton complete with miniature dog and one with an afro, booty shorts and a propensity to break-it-down, returned to the stage. Like ''Cuz I Can', this one had some choreography too (the same routine she's been performing everywhere). 'Stupid Girls' really took the roof off. The dancehall vibe kicks serious ass live and I could feel the bass pulse through me on this one more than any other song that night.

After remaining relatively sedate for the first four songs, P!nk threw all subtlety to the wind...

'Who's had sex today? *semi-loud cheer with half the audience putting up their hands* Even if it's with yourself? *louder cheer with more of the audience putting up their hands, as well as most of her band* Lucky fuckers'.

Hilarious. She introduced her new single and did a great version of 'Who Knew'. I hope that song is huge because you can tell when she sings it what an important song it is to her. P!nk then asked 'wanna go back in time?' and launched into a few songs from 'M!ssundaztood'. She started off with 'My Vietnam' ('she liked to push myyyy mmmBUTTONNNNS!'), 'Lonely Girl' (with her keyboardist doing Linda Perry's vocals) and 'Family Portrait' which got a huge reaction. The drums were awesome on that song live and you could just sense within the audience that there were a lot of fans there who related to the lyrics. It was quite bizarre but there was a tangible connectedness that I think everyone in the theatre felt. I don't think I've ever experienced that before.

Much to Mark's excitement, P!nk then sang 'Don't Let Me Get Me'. When she came back into the second verse from the chorus she completely blanked on the lyrics. She turned to the front row of fans and said 'what are the words?' and mouthed along with them until she picked it up at '... to change, is everything you are' before saying 'thanks' quickly into the mic. haha. P!nk asked if she could slow it down and did a very controlled performance of 'Nobody Knows'. Her focus on that one was pretty intense.

After this song, about 10 fans threw stuffed frogs (a mini-obsession she seems to have) at her. She picked one up and smelled it, then with a look of disgust said into the mic 'which one of you fuckers threw this?' I thought, uh-oh, bitch gon' go postal... but she sniffed it again and said 'you smell EXCELLENT!' before forcing her bass player to sniff it too. haha. She told the crowd she had a new album 'and it's very good'. haha. She asked who had bought it (loud cheers) and who had downloaded it (a few worried cheers) to which she replied 'it's okay, I don't need to eat'. haha. At this point, someone threw something in her direction and it smacked her directly in the face. I thought it was a soiled jockstrap at first - no joke - but it turned out to be a sweaty burgundy tie. 'Who threw that? MOTHERFUCKER'. Proving what an good sport she is, P!nk put it on the side of her head like a headband and kept it on for the entirety of the next song which was 'I'm Not Dead'.

She picked up her water bottle at the end of the song and accidentally dropped it. When she'd picked it up again, P!nk told the crowd she'd had the 'clumsiest week of my life' before asking the audience if they had something stronger than water. She performed 'Long Way To Happy' (with one of her dancers doing strange liturgical / abstract dance moves on stage) and I think it was during this one that she took a half-full can of beer from a fan in the audience, said 'cheers' and threw it down her throat. Bless her fucking heart.

P!nk then gave me my biggest eargasm of the night by saying with a grin 'wanna go even further back in time?' A fan in the front row clearly had the same affection for the 'Can't Take Me Home' record as me because he squealed out 'THERE YOU GO!!!!!' and P!nk looked down and said 'yeah, 'There You Go'' with a big smile. Major snaps to her for doing a faithful version of the song with its skittery beats and 1999 production and not succumbing to the temptation to rock it up. I was so buzzed to hear this and I'm glad that P!nk clearly isn't reticent to haul out the oldies now and again. Someone through a pitbull dog mask up at her and she put it on the back of her head for all of 'There You Go'.

She stopped to introduce the next song and said 'everyone knows this one, if you say you don't then you're a hater'. I figured it was going to be one of the Janis Joplin tracks she's so fond of performing, but the opening chords didn't sound like 'Me and Bobby McGee' or 'Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart' to me... 'twenty five years and my life is still...' No shit, the entire crowd went BALLISTIC. I'd heard of P!nk covering 4 Non Blondes' 'What's Up' before but never thought I'd get to hear it myself. She sounded incredible but didn't even need to sing most of the chorus because the audience was screaming it so loudly. After both parties had calmed down, P!nk said 'I did another album, a rocky one...' The cheers weren't exactly deafening (poor 'Try This'!) but she thundered into a blistering performance of 'Try Too Hard'. The audience sang a lot of the song for P!nk and it sounds awesome live. Expect to see it work its way into her tour setlist later this year.

P!nk told the audience she was going to do one more song and performed my fave cut on 'I'm Not Dead', 'Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)' complete with girly dance moves. I so badly want this to be a single! P!nk and her band flounced offstage but the lights stayed down and when a stagehand bought out some stools we knew more was coming. P!nk returned and said she'd had a great time in Australia as always but there was one question journalists kept asking her: 'what advice would you give to young girls who want to get into the industry?' She said her advice would be don't wear fishnets on stage because they fucking hurt, before spreading her legs and pointing to her nether regions. hahaha. I nearly peed a little. She said the next song was one of the most important she's ever written 'and not for egotistical reasons' before doing a killer version of 'Dear Mr President'. The audience (which was largely lesbians - a P!nk concert in Sydney is basically a dyke boarding call, bless them) cheered throughout but went nuts for the 'what kind of father might hate his own daughter is she were gay?' line. For the final verse, she emphasises the line 'dear Mr Presi-DENT' with a sarcastic snarl on her face. It had to be seen to be believed.

The closer was 'Get The Party Started', complete with a megaphone for one of the verses. Then after a final thank you P!nk made a hasty exit off stage, into a waiting van and descended into the night. (I'm a poet and I know it).

If you get the chance to see P!nk on tour this summer, then fucking do it. She put on one of the greatest shows I've seen in my life and the fact that a small gig like this rates up there with major artists' tours speaks volumes about P!nk's charisma. Her voice is just like it is on record if not stronger and her personality carries the entire show. It was better than sex and I'd go see her again in a heartbeat.





Setlist:

'Cuz I Can
Trouble
Just Like A Pill
Stupid Girls
Who Knew
My Vietnam
Lonely Girl
Family Portrait
Don't Let Me Get Me
Nobody Knows
I'm Not Dead
Long Way To Happy
There You Go
What's Up (4 Non Blondes cover)
Try Too Hard
Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)

(encore)
Dear Mr. President
Get The Party Started


x

You look like my friend Julian! Cute.

Aawww, that is really cool! I'm glad you had a great time and even got to meet her! Thats awesome! what a great friend you must have! Lucky!!!