Broomfield – Traipsing the concourses of the on Tuesday night were a sea of teenagers, mostly young ladies -– not quite the hyper-sexual “Teenage Dream” sings about in her hit songs.
But of course Perry’s fans skew young. Who else is pop radio’s biggest audience?
When 2010’s most popular artist hit the suburban arena’s stage on Tuesday, she was greeted as the pop royalty she is. She boldly greeted the crowd back with a set-opening take on “Teenage Dream,” the brilliant pop song that helped define popular music in 2010/11. She also let out a throaty, “Hello, Denver,” that was more aggressive than innocent, more growly than dainty.
And thatap part of Perry’s appeal. The kids love the simplicity of her songs, and adults can relate to her sexuality –- and suddenly her innocent, doe-eyed façade subtly melts into the music video of her and that hot dude making out in the beach-side motel room. Perry makes it work.
What worked at Perry’s concert on Tuesday? Again, “Teenage Dream” is a legendary pop song –- structured and formulaic, yeah, but also a perfect anthem for our times. “E.T.” is an explicit dance jam, and Perry and her seven dancers, two back-up singers and five-piece band transformed the single into an even bigger party on the stage.
While Perry is quite likable, and her voice sounded solid on Tuesday -– kudos for not lip-syncing (that we could tell) -– she’s not the most charismatic performer. She doesn’t appear to be completely comfortable in front of a large crowd, though she looks more at home on a stage than she did a year ago.
Her discomfort was visible when she slinked into a flashy, lounged-out “I Kissed A Girl” that eventually grew into the arena rock jam that first introduced us to Perry. As the singer strode the stage in a tri-colored, oversized feather boa, her herky-jerky stomps and wide-eyed, slightly nervous glances gave away her poker face.
But for the most part, Perry’s concert -– vaguely focused on a story involving her going through a magic portal in search of her cat, Kitty Purry –- was a visual treat. Who doesn’t want the Cirque-like aerial action during “Pearl” or the Katy-on-a-swing portrait of “Not Like the Movies.’
Of course that meant they had to sit through “Hummingbird Heartbeat,” “Peacock” and her karaoke-hour take on Jay-Z and Rebecca Black -– eww -– but even the hardcore fans sang along to those. At one point, Perry invited a “Denver boyfriend” to the stage –- a shirtless, much-envied lad with “I love Katy” written on his chest. When she asked him how old he was and he replied proudly with “17,” she quipped back instantly: “Get off the f—ing stage.”
And itap why we love her. She’s all too aware of the kids in the audience. But there’s no candy-coating it – not even in Perry’s Candy Land.
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Ricardo Baca is the founder and executive editor of , the co-founder of The UMS and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post.
Joe McCabe is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb. Check out his .
