REVIEW: P!nk brings her three-ring circus to Chase Center at first of two Trustfall shows
SAN FRANCISCO — P!nk has been performing her high-wire act for years, combining all the bombast of a massive pop spectacle with acrobatics galore, and yet it never fails to impress. At the first of two concerts at Chase Center, the artist, her terrific band, squad of dancers and back-up vocalists delivered again.
P!nk
Grouplove
7:30 p.m., Sunday
Chase Center
Tickets: $50 and up.
Alecia Beth Moore spared no expense on production value—pyrotechnics, fog cannons, props—and her voice was on display all night. Yet it’s probably her physically intensive daredevil routines that attendees will remember first. She began the show by bungee-jumping from the rafters, later swung upside-down from a swing and finished the show flying around the entire arena on a rotating contraption that made her look like Tinker Bell.
The Saturday show was part of her Trustfall Tour, supporting her 2023 album of the same name, though her set covered her lengthy songbook pretty evenly. It was broken up into five acts, but the pace was brisk through most of the set, other than a stripped-back segment that encompassed all the folkier tunes and slower ballads together.
It began with a bang as the band, performing on raised platforms at the back of the stage, kicked into “Get the Party Started.” All that was missing was P!nk herself. Even though she appeared on screen, her location wasn’t given away until after she dove headfirst from the lighting rig up above. At that point she was hard to miss in her sparkly pink outfit and shoes. She was quickly joined by three dancers on stage but didn’t stay grounded for long. Two other dancers, hanging from a lit-up contraption that looked like two rings, hoisted her back up for some flips as fog cannons and sparklers at the back of the page turned the whole performance into a three-ring circus.
But P!nk and her crew were just getting started. On the following “Raise Your Glass,” she was joined by two performers on flamingo-shaped Segways. During “Who Knew,” two pairs of dancers performed dramatic routines around her. She followed that with “Just Like a Pill,” “Try” and “What About Us.” Through this point, every song was a banger, keeping the energy up and most of the room on its feet. By the latter song, a pure dance anthem, P!nk was already on her third top of the night, though that one might have been a present from a fan. In fact, everywhere she went, attendees showered her with presents of clothing, candy and more. Early in the show she was handed a Pride flag, which she hung proudly from her microphone stand.
The second act began with much the same jaw-dropping physical exertion, during “Turbulence.” During the song, P!nk and a male dancer lifted themselves onto an aerial-silk-like swing, first spinning together, and then spinning around by herself upside down while still singing powerfully. That this was happening live was beyond impressive. P!nk could probably fake it and use backing tracks if she chose, but then she wouldn’t be having as much fun.
Afterward, she got chatty, while eating some Sour Patch Kids and Twizzlers she got from fans.
“I used to eat these every day I was pregnant with my kids,” she said, explaining that her children steal her candy, so eating it onstage is her only outlet to indulge.
“I used to spend a lot of time here, like 20 years ago,” she continued. “I was kind of adopted by the lesbians of San Francisco.”
That led into her explaining how she doesn’t think she can write traditional love songs, and she began humming “Baby Shark” and covering Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” alone at a white grand piano that had appeared on stage. After she twice very briefly slipped up with the lyrics, she jokingly mocked her performance.
“I was so close,” she said. “Adele does it so good.” After mid-tempo ballad “Just Give Me a Reason,” which started one of the loudest singalongs of the night, she and her band brought the energy back with “Fuckin’ Perfect,” belting and prancing to the music. Another hit was combining actual flames shooting up at the back of the stage with “Just Like Fire” and Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker,” during which she traded vocals back and forth with her three singers. The song was punctuated by a powerful solo by her guitarist.
Following another outfit change—now in a neon green shirt, orange jacket and baggy pink and green pants—P!nk returned to beautifully harmonize with her singers on “Please Don’t Leave Me.” It wasn’t quite an acoustic performance, but the guitarist fed his Les Paul through an acoustic filter to set the right vibe. On the following song, “Cover Me in Sunshine,” her 12-year-old daughter, Willow Sage Hart, came out to sing a verse and chorus on her own. It was as sweet a moment as it sounds.
“I wanna put Willow back in my belly,” the proud mama said afterward, sharing a few stories along the way.
“Don’t Let Me Get Me,” which P!nk performed with her guitarist and backup vocalists on a smaller stage in the middle of the arena floor, was also a touching moment that eventually grew into a loud singalong, as was ballad “When I Get There,” which she prefaced with a story about visiting her late father’s gravesite for the first time after not being able to. She told with her signature jest, mentioning she found out he was buried next to someone named Fred Kruger.
Next came a cover of Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” for which she added some rasp to her powerful delivery,” and “I Am Here,” which took on a Mumford-and-Sons-like folky and gospel vibe with the drummer hammering away on a couple of tom drums on the secondary stage and all the vocalists harmonizing.
After a brief cover of Sade’s sensual tune “No Ordinary Love,” which she sang while being carried by dancers while on her back, P!nk brought the show home with her new album’s title track, “TRUSTFALL,” “Blow Me (One Last Kiss),” “Never Gonna Not Dance Again” and “So What.” Each one of these songs was punctuated by something impressive.
For the first one, dancers climbed a two-sided staircase and fell like leaves onto trampolines, bouncing back up effortlessly into their original positions. On the following tune, dancers wearing lip-shaped costumes followed P!nk around before blowing confetti out of their…. mouths? And of course, “So What” featured the most impressive aerial stunt of the night.
L.A.-based rock band Grouplove opened the show with an energetic set of its own. The group, fronted by Christian Zucconi and San Francisco native Hannah Hooper appeared to get more time on stage than their typical opening slot, and the band took full advantage.
Zucconi, styling two short braids, and Hooper, who wore what looked like a swimsuit under a sheer leopard print catsuit, made their way down the catwalk on bouncy opener “Deleter.” They crouched down while singing to each other.
The band, which also includes guitarist Andrew Wessen, bassist Daniel Gleason and drummer Benjamin Homola, also played a couple of its early hits in “Itchin’ on a Photograph,” “Colours” and the jubilant “Tongue Tied,” which included a snippet of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Hooper dedicated “Welcome to Your Life” to her sister after saying she had family and friends in the building. But it wasn’t all joy for Grouplove, as Hooper explained her parents couldn’t attend as her dad was in the hospital and her mother with him.
“We love you Jack and we’re all thinking of you,” Zucconi said.
Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.