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Perry dazzles 13,000 delirious teenage girls

By: Rob Williams

Posted: 07/14/2011 11:23 PM | Comments: 0

Katy Perry brought a dose of candy land to the MTS Centre in Winnipeg Thursday night. (HADAS PARUSH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Katy Perry July 14, 2011 MTS Centre Attendance: 13,000 FOUR out of five stars

Even Katy Perry’s dreams are sweet.

The California cutie upped her status from pop tart to delicious cupcake at the MTS Centre Thursday as the star brought her California Dreams tour to town for a sold-out crowd of 13,000 delirious teenage girls, along with some parents and teenage boys who knew where the girls were hanging out.

Perry’s show was built around a Katy Goes to Wonderland storyline with the singer dreaming of an escape from a drab life in a butcher shop to a colourful candy land with a stage full of cupcakes, lollipops, peppermint swirls and video screens surrounded by clouds.

Willy Wonka might have been envious of the setup, which even featured two backup vocalists dressed as oompa loompas, along with eight backup dancers and a five-piece band.

Perry took the stage to a huge roar singing Teenage Dream dressed in tiny white dress adorned with spinning peppermints as her backup dancers twirled and whirled around her.

Unlike Britney Spears who was in town last week, the smiling Perry appeared to really be singing and having a fun time with the concept.

Actually, it was tough not to have a good time.

"I’m finally in Winnipeg. Hello guys welcome to the California Dreams tour," she said early on.

Later she would congratulate us for being the hometown of Winnie the Pooh and talked about bike riding at Assiniboine Park Thursday and handing out free concert tickets.

She dished out her dance-pop singles evenly as the two-hour show went on, sliding in some filler such as Hummingbird Heartbeat and Circle the Drain between surefire crowd pleasers Ur So Gay, Peacock, I Kissed a Girl — which turned into a huge sing-along — and E.T., featuring a laser show that would have impressed Pink Floyd fans.

Costume changes were numerous as Perry switched from her white dress to a pretty blue number to a skintight cat suit and later a glittery pink bodysuit with roses on it, helping to distract us when the songs weren’t holding our interest.

Each number had its own little theme or gimmick within her dream, visible on the video screens. Mimes helped her out on Ur So Gay; she was raised into the air on a giant riser while an acrobat performed aerial maneuvers behind her during Pearl; and one lucky shirtless male fan got pulled on stage to plant a kiss on her cheek before I Kissed a Girl.

"Stop! They just told me that my husband is here. Run, run, run!" she yelled while the fan was on his knees bowing.

With only two albums, Perry had to fill some time so she and a few member of the band did some acoustic covers, including Rihanna’s Only Girl (In the World) and Rebecca Black’s Friday. She grabbed her own guitar and rode a pink cloud over the crowd performing the ballad Thinking of You before a fun version of the bubblegum single Hot N Cold featuring some magic as Perry did some quick changing into six different outfits during the song.

A group of fans was invited on stage to dance with her during a cover of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) before the main set ended with Firework and its explosive fireworks show. The night ended with the encore California Gurls as beach balls bounced around the audience and confetti was shot into the air.

Atlanta’s Janelle Monae opened the show with a celebratory 35 minute set of funky Motown-inspired R&B and dance-noir that had her 15-piece backing ensemble — including a four-piece string section, two horns, four dancers and Outkast’s Andre 3000 on guitar — grooving and bouncing along to the infectious mix, which included highlights from her acclaimed 2010 album, The ArchAndroid, and a cover of the Jackson 5’s I Want You Back, fitting since the sharp-dressed Monae dances like Michael Jackson.

It was another 55-minutes before Perry took the stage, which gave the crowd a chance to listen to a DJ or walk through the concourse getting pictures taken on a phone-company sponsored cupcake or try out the Just Dance video game featured in Perry’s video for Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).

Rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

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