I saw astronaut Katy Perry kiss the sky… and I liked it? Sorta.
Actually, I’m kind of torn on my thoughts after seeing Perry’s “Lifetimes” tour in Las Vegas. That’s because I was both equally amused and entertained as I was bewildered and frustrated by it. For a lot of reasons.
Now granted, I’m comparing it to her Resorts World residency a few years ago, “Play,” a production she referred to as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids meets Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Yes, it was as odd as that sentence reads. Perry’s performance found her singing out of an oversized toilet and dancing in a field of monster mushrooms with a lipsticked frog in a bikini.
So that’s why, when tickets for “Lifetime” landed in my lap from a friend, I was intrigued by the opportunity. The night started when a wicked windstorm launched a plastic bag into the air near the Luxor light beam as I walked to the show and, of course, fittingly ended with Perry closing her show with that opening lyric from “Firework.”
Between those moments there was a lot going on. Perry was engaging and spoke to the audience quite a bit. Early on, she poked fun at herself in reference to the backlash from her recent Blue Origin spaceflight, saying she’s the “world’s most hated icon.” Later on, Perry thanked the crowd “for loving me despite all of my flaws.”
Her “Lifetimes” tour, which is crisscrossing the globe through the end of the year in promotion of her album 143, has received a lukewarm reception, with some observers calling Perry a copycat. They note that her opening monologue mimics the one from Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour and how the portion of Perry’s show calling on the audience to scan a QR code and pick a song for her to sing is oh-too-similar to what Sabrina Carpenter has done.
But comparisons aside, Perry makes it her own with a five-act video game concept that involves her battling an AI robot. That’s… not necessarily a good thing. The storyline is confusing but apparently Perry is half-human, half-machine (which explains the metallic costumes, cone bras and furry moon boots) and in a fight with a cyborg to save butterflies and spread love. It’s The Matrix meets Star Wars. At one point, Perry even swings a red lightsaber to destroy her enemies.
The stage for “Lifetimes” is designed in a figure eight pattern allowing her to get closer to the crowd. There is a lot of airtime as well with artists performing Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatics and Perry suspended by wires flying and flipping above the audience on four separate occasions, including when riding on the back of a butterfly while performing “Roar.”
My history with Perry starts at the very beginning. I first heard her in 2008 performing songs off Teenage Dream at the New York-New York’s long-closed Rok Vegas nightclub. Then, while working for Us Weekly, I covered the “Waking Up in Vegas” singer whenever she hit town—including her bachelorette party with Rihanna and numerous appearances and award shows. I even witnessed one of her first flights (albeit above a stage, not into outer space) at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards.
And while the voice is different and some song arrangements have changed, the one constant from quirky Perry are the campy costumes and hit songs. At T-Mobile Arena, she performed 24 songs and judging from the devoted fans singing along, “Lifetimes” works.