Katy Perry, Auckland NZ, 2018

Katy Perry

20th August 2018
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.

“Pop stars have brain farts. We don’t fart otherwise, but we have brain farts.” – Katy Perry

With one little soundbite, the fearless and fierce Katy Perry summed up life in the public eye, being witnessed by her Katy Kats and the world at large, for every triumph, for every innovation and for those inevitable brain farts. Perry’s best parts are that she knows what it is to be human, to be at play and embraces this to fuel her genuine nature and her undeniable prowess as a performer. You’ve heard the rumours, let’s be honest, you’ve probably even looked up snippets of the Witness tour on YouTube and the ‘Gram to get an idea of what you’re in for. Well let me tell you, you’re not prepared for the incredible imagination, kawaii sensibilities and a collision of Vegas meets Cirque du Soliel meets Iron Maiden Eddie puppetry of this show – it’s wild and astounding, with a stratospheric level of production values at play. Multiply each band member or backup dancer on stage with all of the stage hands, dressers and staff that you don’t see off-stage and you’re kind of awed by the team that make this behemoth of a pop extravaganza happen every night…for the past year.

Katy joins us in Auckland at Spark Arena on her second to last tour date of her Witness tour. Bringing along DJ Zedd to warm the crowd thoroughly with canon spurts, lasers, thumping low-end and mesmeric video visuals to accompany his runs through his EDM gems. I did feel for Zedd, he was well received and the crowd did get into it but clearly this ravenous group wanted to skip to the main course as soon as possible. With The Middle, Remedy, Titanium, Time of my Life (with Black Eyed Peas) and Stay (with Alessia Cara) gaining massive responses. Taking his cue Zedd is vibed and despite the “We wanna see Katy” elephant in the room he’s managed to shake us out of our Monday night malaise and kicked us into high gear. During the break the Witness eye lolled and rolled on the big screen surveying us as the band set up; and then the fish in the Spark Arena barrel were shown ads on the big screen for Katy’s new fragrance – Indi and also her new Cover Girl Mascara and Matte Lipstick range; in a masterstroke of marketing because, why not? Here’s your target market, pliable and suggestible and YES I want to purchase both of these Perry products, take my money! Perry knows her people.

As a huge star shaped craft bursts through the Witness iris, Katy Perry appears and with no hesitation breaks into Witness as she glides down to stage. Followed by Roulette, as parkouring dancers weave in and out of giant gold dice. Crowd favourite Dark Horse was played out to an intricate choreography on rising pillars where Katy and her PVC clad dancers writhe and mix; it’s this stage setup along with many other pieces in the Witness tour that transcend above a live performance and become the fun, performance art that Katy Perry is known for; delivering a show that’s titillating and incredible to watch right in front of you on stage. Perry’s savvy with a screen shows that once the on-stage visuals are viewed through the big video screens at side of stage, you see her antics take on a posterized look, like live anime on display. Chained to the Rhythm has a Pink Floyd aesthetic going on with the big TV headed dancers chasing Katy everywhere around the amazing, interactive stage. Teenage Dream becomes an 80s candy Max Headroom mash-up with Katy appearing in one of the evening’s five costume changes, this one, looking like a sparkly David Byrne.

Katy takes many opportunities to press pause on the antics and break it down on the mic with her fans…“Listen, I don’t know if a lot of you are seeing me for the first time, I know a lot of you came from many different places in New Zealand (delivered with a pretty good kiwi accent), I’ve just got to say if you had any anxiety or you were fearful at all that I wouldn’t play your favourite song, like the hits, you can let that go now. Because I like to go deep into the vault, especially with this next one, it’s ten years old, don’t you worry sweetiepies, I’ve got your back. This is a pop star that believes in you. I know exactly what you want, I go to concerts too, I wanna sing along, I wanna know all the words. I don’t want the B sides. I want the hits! You might get a couple of B sides tonight, who knows – but not now! This is Hot Cold.” As Katy performs flashing LEDs beam out from her chest and sync up to the action on Hot Cold, California Girls and more; which gives you an appreciation for how hard Katy trains, she’s giving it everything in this energetic show – cartwheeling, playing guitar, dancing, getting up into contraptions that move out over the entire crowd and have a heavy piece of set strapped to your body for a good chunk of show. Through it all though, Katy‘s now iconic voice never falters, never cracks. Katy Perry consistently displays why she is at the very top of the pop heap and as the woman herself says “For a lot of you that are seeing me for the first time you‘re probably thinking what am I watching this is weird, but I kind of like it. I just want to say thank you for spending your hard earned money, for paying for parking [Katy really DOES know the struggles of her Auckland fans!] and for giving your kids sugar so they can stay up late, they are going to be nightmares tomorrow. But for over ten years you’ve very warmly and thoroughly welcomed me and I really enjoy coming over to New Zealand these gorgeous islands. So Fresh! So organic! Every single time when I have a tour I’m never going to leave you off the map, OK? Thank you for pushing play for over ten years and for staying with me, I know there‘s a lot of people out there and a lot of choice so it means a lot to me that you’re still with me and on this journey.” Before launching into Into Me You See, Katy lets us know it’s a love song and she’s dedicating it to us because in New Zealand she feels “…safe, seen and celebrated.”

Honestly, I could go on forever about the magnitude of the Witness tour, the excellent selection of tracks that really did cover all the hits from her decade long career to date or the abundance of crowd interaction like Katy bringing two fans up onstage to play a quick game of Basketball; or Mac her new expert flossser friend receiving a signed fan for him to Swish Swish Bish at anyone who may try to dull his shine in future, to the long interlude with Left Shark that is definitely for the younger fans. Perry has a vicegrip hold on her image and her iconography and used it to create an explosion of her for two hours, parading her dancers in paper doll cut out versions of her previously famous stage outfits, showing herself as the person and the personified as she’s matured and gotten in touch with the artist she wants to be now. Katy Perry provided an oasis from the seriousness of our world and reminded us that “If we’re open to having fun, we just might”.

Were you there at Spark Arena for this epic Pop extravaganza? Or have you seen Katy Perry perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below! 

There is one more chance to catch Katy Perry in New Zealand, with another show tonight (21st August 2018) at Spark Arena, Auckland. There are limited tickets still available from Ticketmaster, but get in quick as it’s sure to sell out!

Setlist:

1. Act I – Song played from tape “In The Space” (Video introduction)
2. Witness
3. Roulette
4. Dark Horse
5. Chained to the Rhythm
6. Act II – Intermission (Contains elements of “Act My Age”)
7. Teenage Dream
8. Hot N Cold
9. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
10. California Gurls
11. I Kissed a Girl
12. Act III – “Celestial Body” (Video interlude)
13. Déjà Vu
14. Tsunami
15. E.T.
16. Bon Appétit
17. Act IV – Intermission (Contains elements of “Mind Maze”)
18. Wide Awake
19. Into Me You See
20. Power
21. Act V – Video Game (Video interlude)
22. Part of Me
23. Swish Swish
24. Roar
25. Pendulum [Encore]
26. Firework [Encore]

If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.