Pink review: Singer wows Wrigley Field sold-out crowd

P!NK performs during her Summer Carnival tour at Wrigley Field, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. — Pink performs during her Summer Carnival tour on Saturday night at Wrigley Field.

Pink’s Summer Carnival Tour has been a wild ride the past few months. There was the tribute to Sinead O’Connor at the show in New York, and a fan going into labor during the gig in Boston. But the stop at Wrigley Field on Saturday night took on very personal meaning for the singer.

“I know I have a crazy imagination, but I feel like I’m dreaming right now. I cannot believe I’m at Wrigley Field,” Pink shared of the “special night.”

The sold-out affair marked her first time ever playing the ballpark and also her return to Chicago for the first time in five years. A native of Pennsylvania, the singer explained that her family has strong ties to baseball, with her grandad once playing for the former Philadelphia Athletics (the team that became the current Oakland A’s) and also commenting that, had her dad Jim Moore still been alive, “I know he would’ve flown in for this show.”

Pink delivers one of her songs while suspended upside-down in mid-air above Wrigley Field on Saturday night.

The sweet moment helped introduce her song “When I Get There,” written in homage to her late father and “biggest supporter” who passed in 2021 after a battle with prostate cancer. The emotion was still palpable as Pink teared up on the last few notes, after seeing a few other people in the crowd starting to cry while taking in the song’s heavy lyrics.

The track came just moments after another profound moment when her preteen daughter Willow Sage Hart joined mom for their pandemic-born duet, “Cover Me In Sunshine,” with the younger talent nearly stealing the show.

“I’m totally on board that she gets the loudest cheers of the night,” the beaming Pink shared.

The tour is billed as a “carnival” and it surely started with that energy, if not also calling to mind a sideshow with the inexplicable acrobatics and aerialist tricks presented by Pink throughout the night.

The singer got the party started by bungee jumping from a perch at the very top of the stage to the platform below. She ended it attached to ziplines, flying like Tinkerbell across the entire infield and grandstands.

No one does what Pink does live, and the fearless gymnastic grace of her shows sets them apart as a dazzling display of physical strength and bravery. Not to mention the feat of being able to deliver her booming vocals while suspended upside-down in mid-air.

Pink is all smiles during her carnival-themed concert at Wrigley Field on Saturday night.

Sequined costumes, huge props (like oversized disco balls and giant ice cream cones decorated with spikes) and an explosion of technicolor also gave the show an amusement park feel early on with the first act feeling like a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper come to life. It certainly worked for the vibe of Pink’s earliest material that she played in this segment including “Get The Party Started,” “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Like A Pill.”

The real beauty of the Summer Carnival Tour, however, came in the stripped-back, singer-songwriter moments that explored the maturity and depth of songwriting on her latest album, “TRUSTFALL,” her ninth offering, which debuted in February and shows the now 43-year-old exploring themes of loss, grief, life’s uncertainty and the love that gets us through it all.

In a press release, P!NK shared, “This might be the album I’m most proud of,” and you could feel that pride as she delivered the emotive title track and the cherished ballad “Kids In Love” (while also espousing the Swedish duo First Aid Kit with whom she collaborated on the track).

Other big highlights of the night came with the boot-stomper “I Am Here,” done mid-stage on the catwalk joined by her three-piece live band and four backup singers in a raw, street busker-style, as well as her anthemic protest song “Irrelevant.”

There were also two covers, Sade’s “No Ordinary Love” and Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love,” the latter of which Pink performed on piano after sharing she first fell for the song upon hearing Adele sing it on her debut album, “19.”

Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar perform their opening set on Saturday night at Wrigley Field as part of Pink’s Summer Carnival tour.

Pink likewise shared the love for tour opener Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo who, a couple of hours prior, sounded pristine on classics like “Heartbreaker” and “Love Is A Battlefield.”

Pink paid tribute with her own song “Just Like Fire,” adding in parts of “Heartbreaker,” giving hints of the genesis of the pop singer’s rock-infused style. “I’m in love with her and always have been,” said Pink, in homage to Benatar.

Whether it was getting real about couples counseling, discarding her shoes and sweating her makeup off or fudging the lyrics on “Try” (“at least you know I’m not lip synching”), the singer continues to be as real as they come.