P!nk at BST Hyde Park

Singer Alecia Beth Moore Hart, better known by the moniker P!nk, is one of a kind. She is humble and personable and one hell of a performer.

As an exhilarating rendition of Get the Party Started opens the first of her two headline slots for BST’s Hyde Park concert series, it is straight into the madness for the American songstress. She appears to the crowd from the top of the stage between cartoon lips, trapezing her way through the song without missing a beat. What follows is a dazzling delivery of some of her very best and most loved tracks.

P!nk’s Summer Carnival Tour is a spectacular production, split into several acts, full of pop bangers and tender ballads. Each song has its moment to shine, uplifted by circus acts, dance routines and a vocal powerhouse of a frontwoman. A mesmerising stage presence, she is just as captivating alone with a guitarist for Please Don’t Leave Me as she is surrounded by a troupe of dancers for an EDM version of What About Us. While sometimes aspects of an outdoor summer show can get lost in the day-to-night transition, the timings and setlist appear to intentionally coincide with the setting sun. For Turbulence, a heartfelt offering from her recently released ninth studio album, the singer performs an emotive aerial acrobatics routine against the backdrop of a golden sky. A stunning piano rendition of Bob Dylan’s To Make You Feel My Love follows.

Other highlights of the evening include 12-year-old daughter Willow making an appearance for a verse of Cover Me in Sunshine (somehow entirely unfazed by the size of the crowd), and the moody trampoline choreography in Trustfall. Incorporating songs from each era of P!nk’s discography, the transitions are seamless.

Throughout the show the songstress takes time to joke around and chat with the crowd as they throw various gifts on-stage, the list of which includes frog slippers, personalised cups and a wheel of cheese. At one point she swaps her bright pink feathered jacket for a denim vest hand-painted by a fan. It is an incredible achievement to make a performance to 70,000 people in a central London park feel as intimate as a pub gig, yet here we are. While she has plenty of hit records in her repertoire, it is P!nk’s authenticity and care for the audience experience that make her one of the biggest artists in the world. The set is meticulously crafted and choreographed, but the singer herself embraces the silliness. She may be over 20 years into her career, but it seems the artist is having more fun than ever.

The finale of her two-hour set sees the singer get up close and personal during So What, as she flies above the crowd. “I’m coming to see you at the back,” she declares as she flips and spins her way around the park, still demonstrating enviable vocal skill. There’s no mistaking the Pennsylvania native as one of the greatest live performers currently touring. All we can do is watch in awe.

Katherine Parry
Photo: Dave Hogan/Hogan Media

For further information and future events visit P!nk’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Trustfall here: