TORONTO - Britney's latest tour may be a Circus, but Pink's Funhouse trek is way more inspired.
The 30-year-old singer called Pink (real name: Alecia Moore) pulled into the Air Canada Centre last night in support of her fifth studio album, Funhouse, and the show was fun, fun, fun and then some.
Appearing from beneath a trap door on her catwalk, and suspended in the air by a cable and sporting a long orange feathered train that matched a red and black outfit of sequins and spandex, Pink made a big carnival-like entrance and kept the momentum breathlessly going from there for the next hour-and-50-minutes.
Wearing numerous skimpy costumes and performing on an amusement park-inspired set with an eight-piece band and five dancers, there really was no stopping her infectious energy powered by that thrilling, soulful voice.
She's one big, blonde, bold, brash ball of fun and athleticism.
I can't remember the last time I saw someone skip down their catwalk over and over again.
"We are here, we are so happy, are you readying to tear it up?" said Pink, after performing such older standouts as Just Like A Pill and Who Knew, which both prompted major singalongs from the girl-centric crowd.
One of the few mis-steps was Pink's slowed down version of The Divinyls' I Touch Myself, which featured her in a black lingerie-inspired outfit and writhing around on a red couch. It was sexy but too reminiscent of Madonna's Like A Virgin schtick of years gone by.
Otherwise, Pink kicked off the night off right with a cover of AC/DC's Highway To Hell accompanied by a video of her riding a motorcyCle, lighting a cigarette and setting her house on fire.
Unlike the limp showing by Britney Spears during her Circus trek, Pink was an athletic and enthusiastic performer as she clamoured around her stage, getting in the face of her musicians and the audience as she crawled around the catwalk or dropped to her knees.
She also knew how to make fun of herself.
"How many good dancers do we have tonight? How many terrible dancers? I want to see the worst dancing," said Pink before she launched into Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely) and busted out a few nerdy moves of her own.
There was even a pillow fight staged by her four female dancers and one male dancer, all dressed in white underwear, on a leopard print, heart-shaped bed during another song highlight, So What.
Does this girl have male fantasies down or what?
Still, Pink got serious during a touching piano-and-violin version of Family Portrait and even strapped on acoustic guitar for I Don't Believe You, which saw four of her band members gather around her at the front of the stage.
Even more beautiful sounding was the harmony-heavy Dear Mr. President, a critical open letter to ex-U.S. president George Bush, which saw Pink hook up with her two backup singers, guitar player and drummer at the front of her catwalk or "our fake little campfire," as she called it.
"I really, really like this town and I don't like a lot of places,' said Pink of Toronto, the only Canadian stop on her Funhouse tour.
Next up was an acoustic version of Trouble and an impressive cover of Led Zeppelin's Babe I'm Gonna Leave You before she made yet another costume change for the dramatic Sober featuring a two-person aerial trapeze act.
During the MTV Video Music Awards just over two weeks ago, Pink actually performed the girl part but a shoulder injury has prevented her from doing that more recently in concert although she did end the show with the ballad, Glitter In The Air, performing some more gentle aerial work and getting dunked in water.
She's still got guts, along with the glory.
SET LIST
Highway to Hell (Intro - AC/DC Cover)
Bad Influence
Just Like A Pill
Who Knew
Don't Let Me Get Me
I Touch Myself (Divinyls cover)
Please Don't Leave Me
U + Ur Hand
Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)
So What
Family Portrait
I Don't Believe You
Dear Mr. President
Trouble
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Led Zeppelin cover)
Sober
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen cover)
Funhouse
Crazy (Gnarls Barkley cover)
Get The Party Started
ENCORE
Glitter In The Air
