By: Carissa Aguirre
On Wednesday, September 27th, fans filled Minute Maid Park. But it wasn’t for a baseball game; it was for P!NK’s Summer Carnival Tour. The singer started this tour on June 27th, and it has taken her all over the world. She is known for her extravagant shows and acrobatic skills, so of course, that was something everyone was looking forward to. There were already high expectations for the show due to the amount of attention the tour has gained on social media. She met and exceeded every one of them.
As the stadium filled, Grouplove started their performance by playing some of their most infamous songs, like Tongue Tied and Colors. They even played one of my favorites, Itchin' on a Photograph. The last time I saw Grouplove was at the Free Press Summer Festival in Houston. I was a little upset that they didn’t have a longer set this time around, but they did mention that they would be back next year. Fingers crossed, they announce that tour soon!
The stadium lights got gradually darker, and the next opener, Brandi Carlile, began. The folk rock artist from Washington had everyone singing to her songs. But after she left the stage, DJ Kid Cut Up continued to get the crowd excited for the main attraction of this Summer Carnival, P!NK!
The stadium was immersed in bright, multicolored lights, and the beginning tune of Get the Party Started played. The crowd cheered louder than I had heard before, and the echo in Minute Maid amplified it. P!NK appeared on stage accompanied by multiple backup dancers dressed in bright neon colors that reminded me of outfits from the 80s. However, P!NK rocked a pink bedazzled one piece with silver, sparkly, platfoorm boots. I couldn’t help but think about what a badass she is for wearing those boots every night while dancing the energetic choreography and flying in the air. As mentioned before, there were high expectations for her production, but everyone on her team, from the backup dancers to the band, came ready to deliver.
Her show was split into four acts, with each having its own theme. The singer changed outfits during each part of the performance, as did the backup dancers, to match the theme of her songs. The first act was super upbeat. She was attached to bungee cords and catapulted above the stage during Get the Party Started. The second act got a little slower, with piano covers and instrumental songs. Then she brought out Brandi Carlile to accompany her in a duet. We even got to hear Just Give Me a Reason and F**king Perfect. My favorite song by far was at the very end of act two, when she merged Just Like Fire and Pat Benatar’s Heartbreaker together. The guitarist, Justin Derrico, was absolutely amazing during that song.
Act three was probably the slowest part of the show, but the most sentimental. We got an acoustic version of Please Don’t Leave Me, followed by Cover Me in Sunshine. She brought her daughter Willow on stage to sing the rest of the song, and the way P!NK looked at her while she sang was beautiful. You could tell how proud she was of her daughter.
Act four slowly got more upbeat but started off with the most amazing cover I’ve ever heard of No Ordinary Love by Sade. She introduced her band and her backup dancers during the last songs, said their goodbyes, and exited the stage. We knew it wasn’t quite over yet, and they didn’t even wait for the encore. Almost immediately, P!NK returned to the stage and was assisted into a harness. She was lifted up in the air, and she practically flew across the entire stadium, getting super close to even the 300 and 400 sections. She hovered over the crowd and did multiple flips while singing So What, ON KEY. It was insane.
P!NK’s Summer Carnival production is definitely a show you don’t want to miss out on. She will be on tour until March, so if there is a show coming near you, I would definitely try to make it out! Her songs will transport you back to the good days when they first came out and have everyone singing along. Even if you’re not a big fan of P!NK, you have to admit that she has some of the most iconic songs of the 2000s, 2010s, and even now.
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