UNDERSTATED is never going to be a word you would use to describe Katy Perry.
The singer brought her Witness world tour to Manchester and a packed out arena witnessed something very special indeed This was some spectacle with production values which made your average West End show look like an am dram offering in the local church hall.
There was a clue as to what was in store from the ranks of artics lined up in the car park across the road - this was a full blown stadium spectacular brought indoors.
A huge eye-shaped video screen dominated one end of the arena and this opened up to reveal our airborne heroine, winging her way on to the stage on a giant star - and that was just the start of it.
With encores the show ran for a shade over two hours and at no point did you know what was going to happen next.
We had dancing flamingos, a 30-foot tall puppet of a man with a television for a head, a giant wasp on stilts, oh and a shark who played The Birdie Song by tap dancing on. Big-style, floor-mounted piano keys. It was surreal and at times nuts but boy was it entertaining.
The production values were incredible. Computer graphics complemented every song, the eight backing dancers never stopped and two acrobats provided Cirque du Soleil-like interludes to allow for the obligatory costume changes.
Now all this flashy production would count for nothing if the songs weren’t there to back it up. This was a gig, a concert lest we forget.
But no fears there. The feisty Ms P delivered on all fronts. This girl can sing - she’s not all show and no substance.
California Gurls, Tsunami, Last Friday Night, I Kissed a Girl, Hot N Cold and Swish Swish - the hits and fans’ favourites just kept on coming.
A powerhouse of a band kept the whole thing driving along at a fearsome pace. Katy Perry ran, cartwheeled, did the splits, flow across the arena on her own planet and at one point did a headstand for far longer than seems healthy.
“It’s Friday night and we’re here to have fun,” she said at one point. And we certainly did.
At times it was almost too much to take in. A giant mouth loomed over the stage before swallowing up everyone’s favourite Valley girl. Then she lay on a giant lettuce leaf being ‘seasoned’ from giant salt and pepper pits before being eaten by a Venus Fly Trap - told you it was bonkers!
Firework - with full blown pyrotechnics, naturally, and Roar complete with massive lion’s head brought the night to a close and left most of us delighted, dazed and slightly stunned.
You ain’t seen anything like it!
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