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P!NK
+ TONES AND I
@ Heritage Bank Stadium,
Gold Coast, QLD,
20th February 2024
(Live Review)

Review by Tammy Whitelaw

Photos by Nino Lo Giudice (@ninologiudice)

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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Summer in Australia is always a busy time for Aussie music fans, as many international acts head down under to play festivals and shows whilst making the most of the great weather.  P!nk has already been spotted on the Gold Coast riding motorbikes with husband Carey Hart and dodging bluebottles on the beach with her kids.  The singer has long made her love affair with Australia well-known, from her multiple record-breaking tours to even admitting she’d happily move her whole family here.  At this point, surely, she’s entitled to some sort of honorary dual citizenship.   Her current Summer Carnival sees her spending almost two months down under as she travels back and forth across the country for the 20-date tour.  Now, by P!nk standards, a 20 date tour seems a little short (her 2013 Truth About Love tour was over 50 shows) however, this time around, P!nk finally graduates to full-scale stadium shows. 

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Tones And I

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The support act for the Australian leg of the tour, Tones And I, may have cut her teeth busking on the streets of Brisbane and Byron Bay, but tonight she shows the packed Gold Coast stadium that she also has the chops to command a much bigger crowd.  Staying humble in the world of pop music is hard, especially when your star has risen as quickly as Tones’ has, but she declares her gratitude for the opportunity to open up for a global superstar like P!nk “It could have been any amazing Australian act up here tonight”.  Those humble beginnings are acknowledged as a video montage of her early busking days is played on the giant screens, leading into a stellar performance of her first ever single, Johnny Run Away.  With her team of back up dancers and singers, Tones warms the crowd up with ease, as she closes out her set with two of her biggest tracks, Dance Monkey and Fly Away.

The anticipation of P!nk’s arrival is amplified as the stage lights illuminate the giant silver palm trees that frame the stage. Roars erupt as the giant red lips that adorn the top of the stage part and P!nk descends head first towards the stage below.  P!nk has perfected the art of the party anthem, and her two opening tracks are some of the finest of this generation.  Get The Party Started and Raise Your Glass set the tone for the night as the crowd scream every word back to her with their drinks in the air.

The energy on stage between P!nk and her dancers is infectious.  There is not a moment throughout the entire show where anything feels forced – everyone is genuinely having a great time and not there just to ‘perform’.  Even with her knee visibly strapped up with tape underneath her sparkly fishnet stockings, P!nk clearly looks determined to make tonight’s show one of her best ever.  She constantly engages with the crowd, accepting gifts from fans including a packet of Tim-Tams she opens up and shares with the front row – not before taking one for herself.

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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For most artists, the performance P!nk delivers during What About Us, complete with pyrotechnics, could easily be a set closer.  However, for P!nk, the show is just getting started as she returns for one of her many aerial stunts, singing Turbulence as she spins around ropes mid-air.  Just Like Fire continues to heat things up, quite literally, as bursts of fire shoot up from the stage during the chorus.  

You’d be hard pressed to find a sappy love song in P!nk’s discography, her specialty lies more in the realm of the vengeful love song.  The singer even admits “I don’t write love songs; my love songs are more… I like you, but be careful”.  However, she gets in touch with her emotional side as she sits behind the piano for a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘To Make You Feel My Love’.  There’s very little down time at a P!nk show, so the quieter, more vulnerable moments are always extra special.  When I Get There, off P!nk’s latest album, Trustfall, is a touching tribute to her late father, bringing tears to many in the crowd.  Those tears are quickly wiped away and smiles returned to faces as P!nk’s dancers launch themselves off trampolines for the album’s title track, Trustfall.

Although the cheers and screams throughout the stadium are non-stop for P!nk, it’s her daughter Willow who receives the biggest reaction of the night, and the singer admits she’s ok with that.  The adorable 12-year-old joins her mum on stage for their duet, Cover Me In Sunshine, sporting a fresh buzz cut.  P!nk tells the crowd, just two days earlier, she had commented on how beautiful and long her hair was to which Willow replied “shave it off”.  It seems Willow has inherited not just her mother’s incredible singing talent, but her fiery personality too. 

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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Long time fans are treated to Don’t Let Me Get Me and Just Like A Pill, both off the 2001 album Missundaztood and a special cover of What’s Up by that same album’s producer, Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes.  With no signs of slowing down, P!nk finishes the set with Never Gonna Not Dance Again and Blow Me One Last Kiss, and judging by the screams of the crowd, no one is ready to bid farewell just yet.

After disappearing for just a moment, P!nk returns for an encore, getting hooked up for her most impressive aerial stunt of the night.  As P!nk flies above the crowd and across the stadium for So What, singing her heart out right until the very end, it’s hard to imagine how a show as big as P!nk’s was ever contained within the four walls of an arena.  While there’s no denying the acrobatics and theatrics are a major drawcard of a P!nk show, beneath all the bells and whistles is an artist who understands her fans and knows how to connect with them.  Australia’s love for P!nk hasn’t dwindled over time, in fact, it’s now just grown stadium-sized.

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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Check out Nino Lo Giudice’s (@ninologiudice) full gallery of this event HERE

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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Follow P!NK
Facebook – Instagram – Twitter – YouTube

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P!nk / Photo – @ninologiudice

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Press Release 4th February 2024 (below) HERE

P!NK’s
record breaking
SUMMER CARNIVAL 2024
gets the party started
in Australia and New Zealand
NEXT WEEK

THE MOST STADIUM SHOWS AND
BIGGEST SELLING TOUR EVER
FOR A FEMALE ARTIST IN
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

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Photo – Ebru Yildiz

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P!NK

With special guest TONES & I

SUMMER CARNIVAL
AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2024

ALLIANZ STADIUM, SYDNEY
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9

ALLIANZ STADIUM, SYDNEY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10

MCDONALD JONES STADIUM, NEWCASTLE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13

SUNCORP STADIUM, BRISBANE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16

SUNCORP STADIUM, BRISBANE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17

CARRARA/METRICON STADIUM, GOLD COAST
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20

MARVEL STADIUM, MELBOURNE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23

MARVEL STADIUM, MELBOURNE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24

ADELAIDE OVAL, ADELAIDE
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27

OPTUS STADIUM, PERTH
FRIDAY, MARCH 1**

OPTUS STADIUM, PERTH
SATURDAY, MARCH 2**

DUNEDIN, FORSYTH BARR STADIUM
TUESDAY, MARCH 5

AUCKLAND, EDEN PARK
FRIDAY, MARCH 8

AUCKLAND, EDEN PARK
SATURDAY, MARCH 9

MARVEL STADIUM, MELBOURNE
TUESDAY, MARCH 12

MARVEL STADIUM, MELBOURNE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13

ACCOR STADIUM, SYDNEY
SATURDAY, MARCH 16

SUNCORP STADIUM, BRISBANE
TUESDAY, MARCH 19

QUEENSLAND COUNTRY BANK STADIUM, TOWNSVILLE
FRIDAY, MARCH 22

QUEENSLAND COUNTRY BANK STADIUM, TOWNSVILLE
SATURDAY, MARCH 23

** Also appearing in Perth are JOAN AND THE GIANTS

For complete tour and ticket information, go to www.livenation.com.au

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About P!NK

Since her debut in 2000, P!NK has released 8 studio albums, 1 greatest hits album, sold over 60 million albums equivalents worldwide, 15 singles in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (four at #1) and has sold out arenas all over the world.  In addition, she is the recipient of three Grammy Awards (twenty-one nominations), one Daytime Emmy Award, seven MTV Video Music Awards including the 2017 Vanguard Award recipient, two MTV Europe Awards, two People’s Choice Awards, was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2013, and received The Brits Outstanding Contribution To Music Award in 2019 (the first international artist to receive this honor.) Also in 2019 she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Most recently, in 2021 P!NK was Billboard Music Awards Icon Recipient.

Her last studio effort Hurts 2B Human marked her third consecutive album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart as well as debuted at #1 in 8 other countries.  The first single, “Walk Me Home” marks P!NK 10th #1 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart and extends her record for the most at this format across all solo acts.  The track along with “Can We Pretend” scored P!NK her 6th and 7th #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs Chart.  At the end of 2019, P!NK wrapped her highly acclaimed Beautiful Trauma World Tour where she played over 156 shows in 18 countries ultimately selling over 3 million tickets worldwide.  The tour is the 10th highest grossing tour in Billboard’s Boxscore history, the biggest tour for a woman in over a decade, and she received Billboard’s Legend of Live Award in November 2019.

In 2021, P!NK released “Cover Me In Sunshine”, a duet with her daughter Willow Sage Hart. Also in 2021, her documentary P!NK: All I Know So Far was released to critical acclaim on Amazon Prime Video as well as her live music project All I Know So Far: Setlist.

P!NK is a huge supporter of various charities, including: No Kid Hungry, Make-a-Wish Foundation, Planned Parenthood, REVERB, Autism Speaks and Human Rights Campaign, and she is an ambassador for UNICEF USA. 

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AMNPLIFY – DB