MUSIC
Katy Perry Hydro, Glasgow JJJ
KATY Perry has formidable form in delivering all-singing, all-dancing, multi-coloured pop theatre extravaganzas. All her tours to date have featured spectacular visual set-pieces delivered with wit, cheek and a degree of acquired local knowledge.
So she has set herself a high bar for Witness the Tour, drafting in Take That/pet Shop Boys creative designer Es Devlin to create a visually eye-popping backdrop to what was essentially a set of generic dance pop tracks – even the previously
exultant Teenage Dream had been blanded out by its new electro arrangement and I Kissed a Girl lost some of its rebel pop attitude in its latest banging dance remix form.
Thankfully, there was compensating eye candy on show, from the dancers’ futuristic bubblegum outfits to Devlin’s audacious kinetic sculptures, including a pair of huge Flamingo marionettes gallivanting around during Hot and Cold, an elaborate Venus flytrap routine for Bon Appetit and a supersized origami tiger head lantern for Roar.
Perry’s audience appears to be getting younger all the time, so while the faceless suited mannequins representing the capitalist drones of Chained to the Rhythm might have gone over the heads of the pre-schoolers, fans of all ages could enjoy the special guest appearance by her Superbowl costar Left Shark on California Girls or the basketball challenge set to audience members David and Ethan, even if it did rather slow down proceedings towards the end of the show when she should have been revving up to the big finish of Firework.
FIONA SHEPHERD