Pink at the Wachovia: A pop-rock spectacle

Alecia Moore, better known as Pink (or P!nk!), has always portrayed herself as a troubled soul, a damaged bad girl prone to violent mood swings. But she beamed almost all the way through her show at the Wachovia Center on Saturday night, unable to suppress a grin even when singing about dark times.

The sold-out crowd did its best to keep the Doylestown native's spirits up, nearly drowning out her vocals on "Just Like a Pill," one of many songs that found her breaking free from an unhealthy relationship. Through the evening, she whipsawed between vulnerability and independence, never more than in "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)": "Go away, come back. Go away, come back. Why can't I just have it both ways?"

Taking its cue from the title of her latest album, Funhouse, the two-hour show offered plenty of spectacle, beginning as Moore made her entrance aboard a twirling trapeze. Her backup dancers doubled as aerialists, twisting in midair and adding Barnum-esque showmanship to an already flashy production.

A major upgrade from her last local show, at the Electric Factory in 2006, it served an expansive recapitulation of her career so far. The milestone was underlined by the three generations of family members in attendance, including her mother, in a red cape reading, "I'm the mom."

"I waited 30 years for this," said Moore, who, sure enough, turned 30 a few weeks back.

Although she started her career singing irrepressible pop anthems like "Get the Party Started," once Moore had the clout to take charge, she moved away from synthesizers and programmed beats toward blaring guitars and emotionally charged lyrics. In "Don't Let Me Get Me," taken from her emancipating second album, M!ssundaztood, she reiterated her frustration with being "compared to damn Britney Spears" - underlining it by thumping her microphone to show that there would be no lip-synching involved. Rejecting the label of "pop star," she proclaimed in "So What," "I'm still a rock star. I've got my rock moves, and I don't need you."

In truth, the show was equal parts pop and rock, mixing choreographed theater with off-the-cuff spontaneity. Starting off the show in a bustier, spiked heels and a feathery skirt with detachable train, Moore quick-changed into a succession of typically rococo Bob Mackie outfits that took every opportunity to show off her chiseled physique. But midway through, she swapped her yellow leather waistcoat for jeans and white tank top and stripped her band down to acoustic instruments as well.

Drawing evenly from her five albums, Moore also chose a succession of covers to demonstrate her multiple personalities: the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself," Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Led Zeppelin's "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and, of course, Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." But by and large the many sides of Pink balanced each other out, forming a triumphant if still fractured whole.