Katy Perry

Tonight, in front of a sold-out crowd of blue wig wearing mini-me’s, multi-million selling hit factory Katy Perry kicks off the 109th show on her never-ending California Dreams World Tour with ‘Teenage Dream’. In the subsequent three minutes she effortlessly justifies why she’s one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Backed by a white suit-sporting band, the singer (celebrating her birthday in a few hours’ time) is every inch the perfect performer, belting out the likes of ‘Waking Up In Vegas,’ ‘Ur So Gay’ and ‘Peacock’ without breaking a sweat.
But this evening’s show isn’t just about the songs. She’s also woven a typically bonkers back story into the performance, which tells the tale of a girl named Katy who works in a butcher’s shop and is secretly in love with the unfortunately named Baker’s Boy. After enduring an especially grim day cutting up meat, she goes to bed and wakes up in a techni-colour sweet-filled world where she spends most of her time searching for her cat Kitty Purry. Needless to say it’s as pink and fluffy as Louie Spence’s living room, but it helps fill the time between costume changes nicely.
Katy also engages in plenty of interaction with the crowd throughout the show. Just before ‘I Kissed A Girl,’ the singer, resplendent in a ballgown and red and yellow feather boa, encourages a male fan to take his shirt off before dragging him up onstage to poke a little fun at him. “Your name’s Keith?” she coos. “That’s my dad’s name. Maybe you can be my daddy tonight. Is that too creepy?” Yes Katy, um, yes it is…
Still, we’ve got the likes of the nu-crunk future classic that is ‘E.T.’ to help banish any weird images from our brains and the stripped-back rendition of ‘The One That Got Away’ (featuring a brief run-through of Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’) shows that Katy can still charm a crowd without the bells and whistles. At certain points the storyline does get a little bizarre (midway through, giant meat props hang from the rafters like something out of Morrissey’s worst nightmare) and we kinda wish she’d cram in a few more songs instead of making room for dancing slot machines, quick change magic acts and sexy Hulk Hogan outfits. But it finished well, with the storming ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’, ‘Thinking Of You’ and Mario Balotelli’s favourite song ‘Firework’ ending the show in spectacular fashion.