On This Day in Pink History… 1st May 2013, Pink played at the O2 World in Hamburg, Germany
Pink played at the O2 World in Hamburg, Germany on the Truth About Love Tour and was joined by Nate Ruess during the performance of Just Give Me A Reason
On This Day in Pink History… 12th April 2013, The Truth About Love Tour started in Europe
Band/Backing singers/Dancers
On This Day in Pink History… 13th February 2013, The Truth About Love Tour started in Phoenix, USA
The Truth About Love Tour was the sixth concert tour by P!nk. Sponsored by CoverGirl, and showcasing music from her sixth studio album The Truth About Love, the tour played over 140 shows in Australia, Europe and North America. Shows in Melbourne, Australia were recorded and released on a concert DVD, The Truth About Love Tour: Live from Melbourne.
you definitely don’t walk away from a Pink show shrugging your shoulders and muttering ‘meh.’ It’s far more likely that fans practically skip out of the building, feeling extremely satisfied with the experience and determined to tell others to ‘go see Pink next time she’s in town’ […] Honesty is, as they say, the best policy. And, after watching the Truth About Love Tour, I can honestly say that few, if any, performers deliver better pop spectacles than Pink.
by the time Pink was soaring gracefully through the air on cables stretched across the arena to perform “So What,” the singer had demonstrated an epic workout of vocals, stagecraft and stunt-work without missing a note. The night’s best special effect was Pink herself.
Over 320,000 tickets for the Australian leg of the tour were sold within a few hours of release. The tour broke records for a solo artist tour in Australia with over 650,000 tickets sold. 200,000 tickets were sold for shows in Melbourne breaking a record P!nk had set herself with 2009’s Funhouse Tour. At the 2013 Billboard Touring Awards, Pink won the award for “Top Boxscore”.
The first North American leg of tour grossed $28.3 million from 26 shows, with an average gross per city of $1,134,385. The European leg grossed $30.7 million. The nine-week leg of Australia was expected to generate $100 million.
In Australia, initial grosses reported topped $31.6 million ($29.2 million) from two venues in Sydney and one in Brisbane, however that total did not include the four-night stint in the city of Adelaide, and a record-breaking eighteen shows in Melbourne.
The Truth About Love Tour was the third highest grossing tour of 2013 behind Bon Jovi, and Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour. P!nk was also the highest grossing female touring artist of 2013.
The Truth About Love Tour broke two records at the Rod Laver Arena, in Melbourne, Australia. P!nk is the artist who has performed the most shows at the venue, with a significant 18 sold out shows on The Truth About Love Tour. This record surpassed her previous 17-show record at the venue during her 2009 Funhouse Tour. She was also the first artist to sell more than 250,000 tickets at the venue. In August 2013, P!nk was rewarded a plaque backstage, a second pink pole, a star at the venue’s entrance and Door 18 was painted pink.
P!nk broke Kylie Minogue’s record of most concerts by a female performer at the Entertainment Centre having played twenty-six shows at the venue. Her four sold-out shows at the Allphones Arena in Sydney with more than 67,000 tickets sold, broke the record set by fellow popstar Britney Spears in 2009 with her The Circus Tour.
After playing to nearly 15,000 fans per night in Perth, P!nk now also holds the record for most performances by an artist at the Perth Arena, as well as the top four attended events at the venue.
Michael Coppel, President and CEO of Live Nation Australia, thanked P!nk for spending three months on tour in this country. “Everyone at LNA has been thrilled to be involved in Pink’s record breaking tour, continuing a decade-long association with an artist who continues to set new standards and who has now sold in excess of 1.5 million tickets in Australia.”
The pop star broke her own mark at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena with the 18th sold out performance, having set a house record in 2009 with seventeen shows on her Funhouse tour. The combined gross of $29.2 million (US$) in Melbourne was the largest gross for any headliner at a single venue in 2013.
P!nk also sold out the KFC Yum!, in the process becoming the highest-grossing female artist to play the arena to date.
To transport and set up the tour, there was a chartered 747 jumbo jet, nineteen semi-trailers, and eighty crew members to set up 400 tons of equipment. She also opened her first pop-up store which featured things that are not normally available at her concerts. Merchandise included autographed items, backstage passes, T-shirts, key rings, show tickets, etc.
Setlist
Encore:
On This Day in Pink History, 2nd December 2012, Pink performed Try on the X Factor
On This Day in Pink History… 18th November 2012, Pink attended the American Music Awards
On This Day in Pink History… 29th October 2012, Try was released
Try is the second single to be released from Pink’s 2012 album, The Truth About Love. The song was originally sung by GoNorthToGoSouth, a band fronted by Ben West and Michael Busbee.
The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its production. Andrew Hampp of Billboard commented “With a melody reminiscent of ‘Whataya Want from Me,’ the 2009 hit she penned for Adam Lambert, the single already pairs well sonically with Pink’s catalog. Josh Langhoff of PopMatters called it “an ode to romantic persistence over crisp ‘Hysteria’ guitars.” John Murphy of musicOMH wrote that ‘Try’ “demonstrates that she has a voice that not enough people give her credit for. For want of a better phrase, it’s a full-on power ballad, with yet more references to love going wrong, and the sort of thing you can imagine someone like Kelly Clarkson pulling off in her sleep.” Amy Sciarretto of Pop Crush also saw similarities with Clarkson, writing, “It’s a belter with a soulful voice, and she sounds like Kelly Clarkson with this song. The midtempo track finds Pink mourning, lamenting and musing on a relationship that is breaking down at its core. It hurts, but this song is a salve over the wound.”
Dean Piper of Mirror Online wrote: “The stand out track and an obvious international radio hit is ‘Try.’ Think how big and fabulous ‘Who Knew’ was – ‘Try’ is on the same wavelength.” Sarah Rodman of Boston Globe called it a “keeper and an urging-to-victory battle cry,” Robert Copsey of Digital Spy described it as “a ballad of the stadium-filling, lighter-waving variety.” while Caryn Ganz of Spin called it a “breakup salve.” Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the song 4 out of possible 5, writing: “Although she may not be treading new ground sonically, her passionate tones and solid determination will continue her chart presence – and rightly so.” However, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine was less positive, writing that “the midtempo ‘Try’ doesn’t push Pink forward either, and it’s marred by singsong lyrics.” Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune also shared the same thought, writing: “No one, not even Pink, can save lyrics such as these.”
Pink stated that the video is one of the most beautiful music videos of her career. Read more about the music video here.
The single was released with the b-side My Signature Move.
Charts/Peak Positions
On This Day in Pink History… 19th September 2012, Pink was on The View
On This Day in Pink History… 17th September 2012, The Truth About Love was released
The Truth About Love is Pink’s sixth studio album, released on 17th September 2012 in the UK. The Truth About Love samples rock music influences and is generally themed about relationships, breakups and the different stages and cases of love, while tackling issues of feminism, sexual prowess and social exclusion. It features guest artists Eminem, Lily Allen and Nate Ruess of American band Fun.
The album was a huge success worldwide, reaching number one on the Billboard Chart, selling 281,000 copies in its first week becoming her first number one album in America. The album also debuted at number one in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, and Switzerland. As of July 2014, the album has sold 2 million copies in the US, and estimated 7 million copies worldwide, becoming her most successful album since 2001’s Missundaztood.
Six singles were released from the album:
Track list / Writers / Producers
On This Day in Pink History… 26th August 2013, Pink received awards for a record breaking 18 shows in Melbourne, Australia
In 2013, Pink took the Truth About Love Tour to Australia and played a total of 46 shows in the country. 18 of those shows were at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena. She is also the first artist to sell more than 250,000 tickets at the venue.
Pink previously set the record when she played 17 sold out shows at the Rod Laver Arena in 2009 on the Funhouse Tour.
In 2013, for the Truth About Love tour, Pink was awarded with a star at the venue’s entrance, a backstage plaque and a second Pink pole (the first one awarded on the Funhouse Tour). Door 18 at the venue was also painted pink.
On This Day in Pink History… 26th July 2012, Blow Me (One Last Kiss) music video was released
In Summer 2012, Pink was back with her new single, Blow Me (One Last Kiss). The music video was released on 26th July 2012 on MTV and VEVO. The video was directed by Dave Meyers who has directed many of Pink’s music videos. The video, with opening titles in French, was shot in black and white, but a colour version was leaked online in August.
The video begins with Pink having a picnic with her love interest (Sebastian de la Forza). The two lean in for a kiss, which is interrupted by him taking a phone call. Pink splashes him with red wine, and walks away through the trees. She meets another man on his motorbike (Alexander Ercheverria) and goes home with him. He draws a portrait of her. Pink watches through the window as many female guests arrive for a party the man has organised. During the party, she dances with one of the women until she is interrupted by the man who brought her home. Pink wears a black suit with her hair pushed back and dances with the woman (Mosh). The man gets down on one knee and proposes. Pink accepts by giving him her hand but is disappointed to find out the proposal was meant for her dance partner. During their wedding ceremony, Pink is dressed completely in black, as if she is attending a funeral. A flying bike appears above the guests (Andreas-Holm Hansen), which is carrying a heart-shaped balloon. The balloon pops, and red liquid covers the guests as Pink sings and dances cheerfully. She joins the driver of the flying bike, and they fly away together at the end of this video clip across the countryside, into the sunset, under a bridge, over trees and up close to a big hill on the high flying bicycle with eagle wings.
On This Day in Pink History... 