Pink put on a fantastic show last night in San Jose (separated shoulder be damned), the second North American stop of her Funhouse tour. I last saw Pink live in 2007 when she opened for Justin Timberlake on his FutureSex/LoveShow tour. I was so impressed was by her command of the stage that night that I left feeling she deserved co-headliner status. On Thursday night, Pink again showed just how real her talent is, tearing through 20+ songs and doing it all very much live.

While comprised primarily of her own hits, the Funhouse setlist does feature five covers: AC/DC’s “Highway To Hell,” the Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself,” Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” Pink definitely did the late Freddie Mercury proud — seriously, the Queen fellas should ring her up — but it was her slowed-down take on the Divinyls‘ hit that was the most surprising. The song elicited a big reaction from the audience as Pink lounged on a couch full of holes, through which hands fondled her from head to toe (a set piece clearly inspired by this infamous Madonna performance). A woman behind me got so excited that she screamed, “I wanna be that couch!”

“I Touch Myself” was recorded in 1990 by the Australian rock duo of Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee, written with veteran songwriters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg (“Like A Virgin,” “Eternal Flame,” “I’ll Stand By You”). Steinberg, whose lyrical ideas birthed the tune, says “I Touch Myself” goes deeper than simply being a song about masturbation:

“It sort of falls short of even being a double entendre, but what I like about the song is that in spite of the fact that the chorus kind of boldly says that, the verse was much more sort or poetic and kind of meaningful. It says, ‘I love myself, I want you to love me, when I feel down I want you above me, I search myself I want you to find me, I forget myself I want you to remind me.’ Those words I think are very strong.”

Steinberg continues:

“I like playing with words, and whether it’s ‘Like a Virgin’ or ‘I Touch Myself,’ I like being able to take phrases or words that are sort of untapped and find a way to write something meaningful and yet has a rebelliousness, because really that’s what rock’s all about.”

Unlike so many of her current pop peers, Pink certainly possesses that rebel streak, making “I Touch Myself” a perfect candidate for inclusion in her concert set. The song originally reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1991, the Divinyls’ only trip to the Top 40. Over on the Modern Rock chart, “I Touch Myself” did even better, topping out at #2. Hear here:

Pink’s Funhouse tour continues tonight in Los Angeles and finishes up in two weeks at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, before she packs up the big top and heads to Europe. If you have the means to go, I highly recommend the show.

And here’s hoping Pink heals quickly and is back up to her acrobatic tricks soon, because her shoulder injury meant missing out on this last night.

Purchase Divinyls – “I Touch Myself” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.