Pink with Mudbone @ Wembley Arena, London
Wednesday 7 October, 2006
Reviewed by Melisa Tang
Since her dramatic entrance into the music industry with the sassy ‘Can’t Take Me Home’ in 2000, Pink has become one of the most enigmatic pop stars around, adapting her sound to match her ever-changing image each time she releases a new album.
With the forthcoming release of her new single, ‘U & Ur Hand’, the 27-year-old took to the road, stopping off in
Support for Pink came in the form of funk/rock artist Mudbone (pictured), who engaged the largely young audience from the very beginning.
Whilst you may not be too familiar with his name, this artist’s repertoire reads like a who’s who of the industry, having previously worked with the likes of Prince and Herbie Hancock, and with requests to collaborate coming in from artists as varied as Bono of U2 to Jimmy Cliff, Mudbone is already one step ahead of the rest when it comes to artist recognition within media types. All this and I’ve yet to mention that his debut release, ‘Fresh Mud’, was produced by Dave Stewart and features the likes of Jools Holland and Bob Dylan.
Already an accomplished singer and songwriter,
When Pink appeared onstage a good half an hour later, her fans were more than ready, the whole arena roaring as people caught sight of the 27-year-old at the top of her makeshift set. Kicking off with ‘Cuz I Can’, Pink went on to belt out hit after hit including popular chart singles ‘Who Knew’, ‘Don’t Let Me Get Me’, ‘Trouble’, ‘God Is A DJ’, ‘There You Go’ and ‘U & Ur Hand’. The singer born Alecia Moore also donned a long blonde wig and huge designer sunglasses for her p*sstake of a single, ‘Stupid Girls’, poking fun at the likes of Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and even Beyoncé.
With a number of cleverly designed outfits, Pink stripped off bit by bit, song after song, until at one point she writhed around in a bikini as she was lifted above the stage in a large net.
She continued the show with the moving ‘Family Portrait’, and slowed down the tempo of the concert with a brief interlude, where she performed her own version of the much-covered Bob Marley original, ‘Redemption Song’. Getting political in the heat of the moment, Pink also sang ‘Dear Mr President’, an emotionally-charged track marked for the attention of George ‘Dubya’ Bush.
Bringing the show to a close with her bass heavy encore of ‘Get The Party Started’, Pink was every bit the performer fans could expect from her – and she didn’t let anyone down.
Whilst her fanbase may consist of the younger pop generations, there were also middle aged music fans in the audience, all singing and dancing along with Pink as she carried out her acrobatic antics on the stage before them.
Pink refuses to ‘pigeon-hole’ herself into one category, and by doing that she is able to appeal to every man, woman and child, of varying ages. Her live performance is definitely one to be rivalled – and even I, previously only a fan of Pink’s earlier R&B releases, came away from the show completely satisfied – an evening well-spent.
Catch Pink and Mudbone when they continue their tour of the
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