UNCASVILLE, Conn. – The reigning queen of pop brought her Prismatic World Tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Monday night for an evening of lights, smoke, fire, dancing… and oh yeah, there was music.
Touring in support of her 2013 release, Prisma, Perry literally rose from the stage as a hydraulic prism opened up to display the singer. The opening number Roar included a full array of backup dancers clad in warrior ensembles highlighted by fluorescent tubing. This was the start of a two-hour event that provided enough costume and set changes to rival any awards show.
The concert was broken down in to three- or four-song segments. The first segment was called Prismatic and featured the songs Part of Me, Wide Awake and This Moment/Love Me. Each song throughout the night had its own choreographed dance routine and featured some amazing lighting displays along with one of the biggest and most unusual stage designs I have seen at a concert. The stage itself jutted out the entire length of the arena’s floor and tapered to a point at the end, basically a giant prism. This set gave some lucky fans the opportunity to be in the middle of the stage that was cut out specifically for this purpose.
The stage changed for the next theme, Egyptian, and started off with one of many No. 1 singles played throughout the night, Dark Horse. Perry came out riding a giant Egyptian-style clad horse which was actually on the shoulders of a couple of the dancers as it moved across the stage. This was actually a pretty cool stage prop and something a little different for a concert. The remainder of the Egyptian set included E.T., Legendary Lovers and mega hit, I Kissed a Girl.
The third segment title Cat-Oure started out with a minute-long cat-themed video and had Perry come out in a full-blown catsuit. This was homage to the nickname given to her fans, Katycats, whom were very loud and abundant at this sold-out show, the majority having an average age of 13. Also performed for this segment was International Smile, containing a portion of Madonna’s Vogue.
I should note that an actual band did appear around the third song of the set and that brings me to the acoustic portion of the show. Perry toned the show down for a few songs and limited the craziness for a fantastic version of By the Grace of God, The One That Got Away/Thinking of You and Unconditionally.
Going back to the full blown show for the Throwback segment, Perry chose Walking on Air, It Takes Two and This is How We Do/ Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F). Kind of amazing to have so many hits to your name that Perry can get away with playing just a snippet of a former number one song in Last Friday Night.
Theme Hyper Heon came next with Perry throwing in a few more number one hits with Teenage Dream and California Gurls. Unfortunately the segment had to deal with one song that only reached number 17 on the charts… Birthday.
The encore had both fireworks and Firework as Perry ended the performance with another No. 1 song. There were plenty of actual fireworks and the audience was also treated to a three dimensional show thanks to 3D glasses handed out upon entering the arena… just a note this 3D thing live has been tried before and always comes across a little lame with tonight being no exception.
Katy Perry has some rabid fans and they turned out in full force for this sold-out show. I am not sure I will call it a concert in that the music is almost secondary to everything else that is going on. I do have to give Perry credit though, she has completed reinvented herself from when she first came out as a singer/songwriter to now a full-blown celebrity that happens to write music and tour.
Katy Perry has the formula for success down pat: good looks and catchy songs.
