Pink – Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul MN – March 12th 2018

Pink! Beautiful Trauma Tour Xcel Energy Center 3/12/18

I have been attending concerts for over 40 years. I’ve seen just about every act there is to see. Last night’s Pink! Show, has to be in the top 10 of all time. She is the real deal, there’s no doubt about it. Not only is she an incredible singer/songwriter, she seems to really get it. What I mean? She gets the fact that people are spending their hard-earned money to come and see a spectacle. In the words of Paul Stanley, “I think were a lot more exciting than for slobs walking on stage you need a shave”. That perfectly describes Pink.

As a concertgoer, I expect this type of attitude. I want to be entertained. If you are simply going to come out and stand in front of a microphone with a guitar, I’d rather stay home and listen to the CD. Pink gives you your money’s worth. Up until this point I felt that Madonna was one of the most theatrical artists I had seen. I got to tell you, she’s got nothing on Pink. Every artist touring now in large venues as well as small can learn something from Pink.

The show was almost 2 hours long and covered everything from her very first album all the way up to her latest release “Beautiful Trauma”. She opened the show with “Let’s Get This Party Started” and ended it with “Blow Me One Last Kiss” before the encore. In the middle of all that she spanned her entire career. She’s elevated herself to the point where she can’t play all her hits anymore. She left a few out but that didn’t surprise me. Another take away for me with this was how much she really truly enjoyed being there. She seemed appreciative to her fans and really seem to give it her all.

For me the highlight of the evening was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my 40 years of going to concerts. It was some type of rig that was designed to allow her to fly around the entire arena. Not only was she flipping and spinning, she was moving side to side. Her Cirque du Soleil type of style for the lack of a better term is something I knew that she incorporated in to each show. However this last trick took everything to an all-new level.

Pink seems to always work with the best musicians and last night was no exception. Not only was her band top-notch but all of the dancers were incredible as well. It’s great to see a performer like her, actually sing live with a live band. I don’t care if you’re a metalhead or a country fan, there’s no way you can go and see Pink and not fall in love. If you enjoy live music and great upbeat songs not to mention an amazing production, you owe it to yourself not to miss this tour!

 Review and photos by Tommy Sommers.