Pink fires up at the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow night for the first show of her national tour.
Carey Hart will be forever remembered by dirtbike fans as the first man to pull off a backflip.
He'll be remembered by everyone else as the "tool" who figures prominently in his wife Pink's bestselling album Funhouse.
Pink fires up at the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow night for the first show of her national tour. Hart will be tagging along but he's not content to sit in the shadows.
Instead he'll front a free lifestyle show before the concert _ and he's roped in some of the country's best freestyle motocrossers to help out.
"It's been a really long time since I've had a chance to get out for my Australian fans and they're pretty dedicated, so it was time to come," Hart says.
"I also want to be able to travel with Pink and now I can get out and have a good time with my bike over here.
"It's a great opportunity for my fans to see me again and it's a great opportunity for her fanbase to see what I do before they go to the shows.
"Me and Pink want to try to something different ... meld a couple of platforms together and see what happens."
Hart says the free event is far more than just a bike exhibition.
"It's not your cut-and-dried motocross demo," he notes.
"We'll have a graffiti artist, stunt bike riders, hot rods, the Holden ute drift team and a lot of face-to-face time with fans.
"It'll all be really laid-back and easy."
"Towards the end of this whole event (at the Gold Coast), we'll have Mike Mason and Bilko and a really full-on crew."
Hart is as successful off the track as he is on, with a line of clothing, tattoo parlours and his own race team.
He is considering opening a store in Australia and says his time with Pink will be spent scouting locations.
Hart is riding a four-stroke Honda CR 450 for his Australian shows, a decision he's made in the interests of consistency.
"I was riding the two-stroker, then the four and having to constantly adjust my style to suit," he says.
"It's got to a point where it's just easier to deal with the one engine _ when we travel overseas we were getting three and four-year-old bikes that hadn't been that well maintained and it just added another element of complication that I didn't need."
HART'S SHOWS
Rod Laver Arena, tomorrow
Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Thursday, June 4 Sydney Entertainment Centre, Saturday, June 6 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Saturday, June 13 Golf Coast Parkland Showgrounds, Saturday, June 20 (stand-alone event)
