Katy Perry @ Bournemouth International Centre
BIC, Bournemouth
Support: DJ Skeet Skeet, Yelle
You’ve got to hand it to Katy Perry’s promotions team. From projecting her new video onto the side of the iMax (at least it was useful for something) to selling sweets and pumping the scent of candy floss throughout the concert hall, there was an instant impact as Candyland hit Bournemouth.
Opening act Yelle seemed an unusual choice of support – being French the majority of her vocals were in her mother tongue, which had the effect of somewhat disconnecting her with the British audience in a Eurovision kind of way. In her defence, she did perform a memorable rendition of Robyn’s Who’s That Girl, named Qui Est Cette Fille, which may well have been a nod to the fact that Robyn was Katy’s support in mainland Europe.
Next up was DJ Skeet Skeet, who must have the easiest job ever – playing other people’s music with very little mixing or mashing and getting paid for it. Genius. Nevertheless, he showcased John Legend’s Deep South take on Adele’s Rolling In The Deep and a few current club hits which made for a more interesting transition between acts than your average gig gives you.
And here it was, the moment the under 14s, ladies and dragged along boyfriends had been waiting for – the California Girl herself. The candy floss cloud screen played a video of Katy being sacked from a Sweeny Todd style butcher’s shop before going to the baker’s and buying a cupcake. I had fully prepared myself for falling down a Wonderland-esque rabbit hole, but it turned out Katy was taking the audience and her beloved cat, Kitty Purry, into a Wizard of Oz style dream world.
The beautiful Mrs Brand then emerged from the top of her candy cane and lollipop staircase, adorned in a sequined tutu, to sing her number two hit Teenage Dream. The candy cane backing singers and cupcake-tattooed dancers then led her into Teenage Dream album track Hummingbird Heartbeat.
Having released two high-charting pop albums, Katy had an abundance of tracks to choose from to perform on the night, and equally an enormous wardrobe to choose from – Katy must have had at least 20 costume changes throughout the night. Favourite songs were Waking Up in Vegas, the flamboyant innuendo-fest Peacock, a saucy vintage rendition of I Kissed A Girl and a touching and heartfelt performance of Not Like the Movies, with a backdrop of cartoon couples in love.
One of the major stand out performances included Katy’s latest single E.T. which made great use of laser and spotlighting effects to help convey the abduction theme. After the show Katy was to find out that E.T. had got to number one in the Billboard 100 – the forth number one from the Teenage Dream album and her fifth on the chart.
Katy took time out from singing to tell the crowd how much she loved Bournemouth and the English as a whole, calling herself an “honorary one” and flashing her wedding ring from her marriage to the infamous Russell Brand. She then invited the crowd to throw pounds onto the stage and she would perform as a jukebox. She shouted out the names of several artists – not making the mistake of mentioning Justin Bieber as she did in London’s Hammersmith Apollo – before doing some broken down covers of Rihanna’s Only Girl (In the World), Jay-Z’s Big Pimpin’, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way and Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair.
Katy kept her charm going by inviting topless male audience members onto the stage and offering kisses to fans, and it was a combination of her bubbly personality and the incredible stage set that helped gig-goers forget about any dropped notes. She also invited younger fans to join her on stage for her version of Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, some of which found it hard to let go of her and leave the stage.
When the lights dimmed, it was apparent that Katy Perry needed to come back for an encore, having missed out three of her major hit singles. She returned for the costume-fest Hot N Cold, where her outfits miraculously changed in clouds of confetti and a pyrotechnic fuelled performance of Firework, which really made use of the height and space available on the BIC stage. The finale was, of course, California Girls, where Katy was joined by dancing gingerbread men and the audience were showered with candy confetti. She thanked everyone for hanging out with her on the launch night of her E.T. video, and seemed thoroughly genuine in saying so.
The whole night served as a welcome break from all the heavy and tragic news stories that have been hitting the headlines throughout the start of this year, and for that I think many will thank Katy Perry for some lighthearted relief and a chance to relive our childhoods for one night. Well done Katy and congratulations on your success with E.T.
More photos from our photographer George Turner:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
