I’m the type of guy who spends a maximum of $20 on a live concert ticket. When my wife asked to go to the Katy Perry concert, I knew it was going to be much more expensive. At $50 each, the price was reasonable for one of the hottest acts in music. Besides, going to this concert makes up for those dirty punk rock shows I’ve dragged her to over the years.
The trax train en-route to the concert was filled with prepubescent girls wearing blue and pink wigs as their disinterested parents looked on. We arrived at the arena to what appeared to be a mini-Katy Perry convention. This wasn’t the punk rock scene I was used to, but the adolescent rebellion in the air certainly felt familiar.
I have to admit, I did have ulterior motives when I bought those Katy Perry tickets for my wife. One of my favorite indie rock acts, Tegan and Sara, were also on the tour. Even though I was proud to see them on the tour, I was concerned for how it was going to play out. Tegan and Sara are use to touring smaller venues with a vastly different demographic, and I didn’t know how the crowd was going to respond to their non-mainstream sound.
As I suspected, the crowd was antsy and not showing Tegan and Sara the love I’d hoped to see. I was starting to get a bit disappointed with my fellow concertgoers until Tegan and Sara broke into their smash hit “Everything is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie.” Immediately, Tegan and Sara changed the audience’s mood for the duration of their set.
Katy Perry’s performance was breathtaking from the moment she hit the stage. Perry was greeted with nothing short of a roar from the crowd as she emerged from a giant steel prism. After performing on a moving platform, riding a giant Egyptian horse and spinning on a 30-foot-high acrobatic device, Perry welcomed the audience to her show.
Every song in Perry’s performance was a remixed version of her original songs. For example, there was a rock remix of her 2008 hit song, “I Kissed a Girl,” which was capped off nicely with a pair of flying, spark-shooting guitarists. As someone who appreciates live instrumentals, I was happy to see Perry perform with a live band. At one point she even grabbed an acoustic guitar and played a solo version of her song, “The One That Got Away.”
Perry’s set had no shortage of bizarre antics, such as tap-dancing felines, busty mummies and poorly-produced cat videos. Perry seemed genuine when she interacted with her fans. At one point she pulled an 11-year-old boy on stage just to give him an extra large pizza. She was a bit of a goofball, but her fans adored her.
Katy Perry might be as mainstream as they come, but she seems humble. With a stellar onstage presence and a show that was nothing short of a spectacle, Perry’s ticket price was money well spent.
