Review: P!nk at Optus Stadium

P!nk at Optus Stadium
w/ Tones and I
Friday, March 1, 2024

Magenta. Neon. Blush. Watermelon. Coral. Hundreds of shades of pink packed Optus Stadium on Friday night for the first of two Perth shows in P!nk’s Summer Carnival tour. This massive tour started in June 2023 and will conclude 99 shows later in Miami. 

Warm-up act Tones and I was awestruck by her biggest ever audience and spoke from the heart as she thanked everyone. Tones sang a lovely cover of Forever Young, previewed her new song I Get High, and the audience sang along to her biggest hit, Dance Monkey.

Tones’ rough and casual style contrasted well with the polished glam of P!nk. Unfortunately for Tones, the acoustics did not favour her. The intense echo of Optus Stadium and speaker reverberation, combined with her shouty vocal style, made it difficult to hear the lyrics. 

DJ KidCutUp kept the crowd singing like a chorus of mega hits, including an Aussie medley of Jimmy, Johnny and the ubiquitous Horses.

And then the wait. The crowd grew restless with a 45-minute wait, with no explanation or apology for technical difficulties. When P!nk finally emerged from the giant lips, the audience was more than ready to “Get the Party Started.” Unfortunately, this delay also saw many families leave before the finale as the hour grew too late for her younger fans.

But once it got going, what a show! Being her eighth world tour, P!nk is an experienced consummate entertainer. Summer Carnival has all the glitz, neon, and tricks you would expect, including silk aerials, fireworks, and incredible screen graphics, plus a few new ones, including stunt trampolining, neon flamingo electric scooters, and glowing poi balls.

For the gentler numbers, graceful dancers in flowing white robes mesmerised the audience through What About Us, and skilled pianist Jason (and P!nk too) tickled the ivories on a white grand piano.

Yet the best part was actually P!nk’s interactions with others when you saw her personality peek through. Whether kidding around with her band (including her incredible guitarist of 20 years, Justin Derrico), singing happy birthday to a lucky 13-year-old Hayley, having a proud mum moment watching daughter Willow sing Cover Me In Sunshine, collecting the Tim Tams and Maltesers fans tossed onstage, or accidentally dropping adorable mum lines (like suggesting ‘ants on a log’ is a great party food), she is the epitome of a rocking 44-year-old mum pop star.

Everything about this tour is massive: the rows of haulage trucks outside, the stage, the rigging, the queues to get in, and the heights that P!nk soared over the crowd. The logistics involved in bringing a show of this size across the Nullarbor are immense, and for each time P!nk returns to Perth, her fans are immensely grateful. 

MELISSA MANN

Photos by Linda Dunjey