If Katy Perry was hoping the “Hot N Cold” reaction to her career moves the past few months might start to fade, her Lifetimes Tour, which stopped in Chicago Monday night, only raises the temperature on the conversation.
The pop star brought the bloated spectacle to United Center, the fourth U.S. date in a sprawling tour that has already been dogged by slower-than-usual ticket sales and criticism of awkward orchestration and choreography. One prime example was a light saber fight sequence in which a pair of “sandworms” looked more like an HVAC system. Another was Perry’s simplistic dance moves that felt straight out of a Jane Fonda workout video (especially in comparison to her incredibly athletic backup dancers).
It might be easy to assume that the criticism of Perry’s tour so far is just backlash from the pop star’s decision to rocket into space for 11 minutes on Blue Origin last month. The civilian mission widely was decried as tone deaf as real NASA astronauts lost jobs and real Americans still struggle to put food on the table. Perry’s response to online vitriol: like being a “human pinata.”
Some in the music industry have also recoiled at Perry’s decision last fall to again work with Dr. Luke on her album “143,” while the producer was still fresh from abuse allegations and a 10-year legal battle with the pop star Kesha (the two settled out of court in June 2023). When “143” was released last fall, driven by the cringy track and video for “Woman’s World,” it wasn’t the empowerment album Perry hoped for but rather a fall from grace with an album that was a far cry from her “Teenage Dream” days.
The Lifetimes Tour suffers from much of the same issue, where extravagance continues to supersede significance. There were no giant toilet props pulled from her Vegas residency, but it wasn’t far off — this time replaced by Jedis, cotton candy boots and AI imagery. The complicated stage, shaped like a figure eight, was designed so Perry could “be as close as possible” to the crowd, though that was about as down to Earth as she got. She started the show with “Artificial” while suspended midair by a series of wires. That set the disassociated vibe early on. She followed that by choosing to take on detractors during a moment of cheers.
“I thought I was the most hated person on the internet. I think that’s false,” she said in a moment that was as cringy as it sounds.
Katy Perry seems more keen on playing games with this tour than she is on delivering any strong message. The five-act concept is set up as a video game that sets Perry’s cyborg alter ego KP143 on a mission to capture hearts and break down a mainframe bot villain. At the end of the two-hour show, she did offer one saccharine life message: “Remember that you are the main character of your video game; don’t ever forget that.”
Sure, the kids loved it. The nearly full audience was surprisingly filled with more preteens and parents than adult fans, and Perry sensed it too.
“You might be a little sleepy at school tomorrow,” she told the crowd after inviting a trio of 8- and 10-year-olds to join her onstage to help sing “The One That Got Away.” Perry’s 4-year-old daughter Daisy was also present, leading the singer to diminish some of her songs, for example refusing to play “Peacock” and apologizing to her own mom for “I Kissed A Girl.” She finally launched into the latter song, which put her name on the map in 2008, delivering one of the highlights with rich vocals and a full live band.
But Perry hasn’t had a full-blown tour in eight years (just her Vegas residency), and to fill in the gaps, the Lifetimes Tour appeared to borrow from her contemporaries rather than being wholly original. Lifetimes, just another word for Eras, had the general construct of Taylor Swift’s career-spanning offering two years ago. Perry even had a mid-set “surprise” song section, performed acoustically mid-stage. At other times, Perry tinkerbelled around the arena with the mimed acrobatics of Pink, and she took hints of the tour’s cyborg/futurism themes from Nicki Minaj’s and Beyoncé’s recent tours.
In today’s pop regime, imitation is no longer flattery. And being the queen of camp isn’t as worthy of a crown, especially in the era of the more authentic narratives driving the careers of Chappell Roan, Charli xcx and Billie Eilish. There was a point during Perry’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” segment, in which fans could pick songs via QR code for her to play from any era. Even the material of her 2001 album “Katy Hudson” was an option. You almost wished the crowd would’ve punted for it, if only to bring back the real person whom some may remember from back in the day. That was the Katy Perry who played the Warped Tour before “American Idol” and space trips put her into another orbit.
Set List
ACT 1: ARTIFICIAL
Artificial
Chained to the Rhythm
Teary Eyes
Dark Horse
ACT 2: WOMAN’S WORLD
Woman’s World
California Gurls
Teenage Dream
Hot N Cold / Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)
I Kissed a Girl
ACT 3: NIRVANA
Nirvana
Crush
I’m His, He’s Mine
Wide Awake
ACT 3.5: CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
Pearl
The One That Got Away
All The Love
ACT IV: MAINFRAME
E.T.
Part of Me
Rise
ACT V: END GAME
Roar
Daisies
ENCORE
Lifetimes
Firework