At this point, should we start feeling sorry for Katy Perry?
The 40-year-old mother of one saw her would-be comeback album “143” flop critically and commercially (much like her previous effort, 2020’s “Smile”), suffered from slow ticket sales in some markets for her first tour in seven years and got absolutely roasted for her tone-deaf Blue Origin space flight. (Even the Wendy’s Twitter account got in on the action, responding to a post celebrating her return to Earth with “can we send her back”)
After sitting through her garish spectacle of concert Tuesday night at Target Center, the answer to my question is that, no, we should not start feeling sorry for Katy Perry. To paraphrase Radiohead, she did it to herself, she did.
For starters, “technical difficulties” led to doors opening more than two hours late, leaving fans waiting outside or in stuffy skyways. (Word is the crew was late in arriving from a Monday night concert in Chicago.)
Once the show finally started, it wasn’t a mere concert, but a high-concept experience meant to mimic an immersive video game where Perry portrays a half human/half robot who battles an AI monster named Mainframe who stole all the world’s butterflies. Which, much like “143,” sounds as if it was conceived by AI.
She performed on a massive stage that includes a large, lighted infinity symbol stretching into the crowd to the back of the floor with fans inside the teardrop-shaped centers. Both Perry and her army of dancers wore so many different complicated, semi-futuristic outfits, she must have a dedicated semi truck just for the wardrobe. At various points, she flew above the crowd, rode a gigantic metal butterfly and engaged in a lightsaber battle.
Clearly, someone sunk a lot of cash into the production. Yet it all looked so cheap and chintzy, as if it was all constructed out of items from a combined Big Lots/Party City closeout sale. It was loud, too, with endless flashing lights and migraine-inducing graphics. And that aforementioned lightsaber battle? She was dueling with what appeared to be two large sections of HVAC tubing.
More than a whiff of desperation ran throughout the set list as well, with Perry opening by sneaking in new songs “Artificial” and “Teary Eyes” between older hits “Chained to the Rhythm” and “Dark Horse” in the same way folks try to hide heartworm medication in the dog’s Purina Pro Plan.
Many aspects of the show lifted ideas from other, more talented, acts like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Pink. From Swift, for example, she partially adopted her Eras Tour style and played banks of songs from the same time frame. And it was a genuine surprise that she dropped five of her biggest hits in the first hour of the show: “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Hot n Cold,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” and “I Kissed a Girl.” (Hilariously enough, during “Hot n Cold” she strapped on a guitar and proceeded to play it for maybe 30 seconds tops.)
To her credit, it was quite cute when she pulled a fan and her mom onstage to sing “The One That Got Away.” Perry was also quite gracious when another fan in the crowd handed her an album to sign. But it was actually an album from Perry’s opening act Rebecca Black and it was Black’s autograph she was looking for.
Perry’s voice has held up remarkably well and the new songs aren’t quite as cringeworthy in concert, save for the still-dreadful “I’m His, He’s Mine.” Also, Perry did take full advantage of her gigantic stage and played on all parts of it, giving fans from all around the arena a decent view at some point. Unfortunately, it was a decent view of a Katy Perry concert.
Leave a Reply