Tickled P!nk

                Believe it or not, I went to the P!nk concert in Minneapolis last week.  I know that I may not fit the profile of a typical P!nk fan, having already journeyed several years into the territory of middle age.  I admit that the last concert I saw in an arena was an Andrea Bocelli concert, and that was many years ago.   And I’ll even confess that I didn’t know who P!nk was when I accepted the invitation to go to the concert.  The fact of the matter is that I pretty much fit the stereotype of a man my age, so you can just imagine the look on my pre-teen daughters’ faces when I told them I was going.  My host also seemed pretty surprised that I accepted the invitation; she felt the need to warn me that P!nk can be pretty “racy,” to use her word, and give me the opportunity to bow out gracefully.  I went anyway.   

                So what did I think of the concert?  Well, P!nk was, in a word, impressive.  I did, in fact, recognize some of P!nk’s songs; it was good to put a face to her great voice.  Add that great voice to the fact that P!nk is a talented acrobat/gymnast/aerialist, and you have one spectacular performance.  And she really seemed to enjoy what she does, which made the show all the more enjoyable. 

                But what impressed me the most about P!nk wasn't her singing or her dancing or her acrobatics.  It was her integrity.  At one point in the concert P!nk told the crowd that she’s been criticized for using too many “mommy words” in some of her songs, so she drops the f-bomb in those songs to spice them up a little.  But after singing Perfect, P!nk explained that she sang the “clean” version because there were so many children in the audience.  If anyone wanted to hear her drop the f-bomb, they would just have to imagine it.  That’s integrity – the courage to do the right thing no matter the cost.  P!nk put her reputation for edgy performances at risk in order to do the right thing.  A music critic recently commented that P!nk is a woman determined to make an impression at all costs.  Well, she may not have intended to impress anyone by singing the clean version of the song, but I sure was impressed.  In fact, I was tickled P!nk!