OMG... Let them Wear Cake!
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| Remy and Emily having their picture taken by Katy Perry on the stage in front of 11,000 people, Moment of a Lifetime and "Ultimate Concert Souvenir " quote Keith Spera Remy & her friend Emily had been looking forward to the Katy Perry concert since they bought the tickets. It was Remy's first concert. As the concert got closer the outfits were of the utmost importance. If any of you have a 16 year old daughter, you know that the arguments about fashion choices are quite frequent. After researching the colorful aesthetic a KP concert we felt informed enough to come up with a look that would be fun and appropriate. Remy loves making crafts so she made her necklace and painted her shorts. Emily put together a cute Katy inspired look. As always Remy ask me to help with the head pieces. We wrestled with several ideas for food choices but we settled on a slice of birthday cake because it was just Emily's birthday and I told her I would make them matching hats to wear to the concert. After constructing them they looked really fun and pretty over the top. My main objective was just to get them noticed, maybe a little wink and a wave from Katy from the stage. Since they would be watching the show from the pit. When Remy came home and told me the whole story I was in absolute disbelief. Who would have known wearing a crazy cake hat your mom made for you would be the ticket to up close and personal and on stage being photographed by the star of the show in front of 11,000 people. The girls were in awe of Katy's presence and thought she was really nice. I don't know what planets were lined up to create such an out of this world experience for these two girls but they will never forget it. It was such a unexpected thing. They also were mentioned in the article below. Read on. |
Katy Perry served up a sweet and mildly salty show at the New Orleans Arena
Published: Friday, September 09, 2011, 2:39 PM Updated: Friday, September 09, 2011, 3:22 PM
Midway through her Thursday night performance at the New Orleans Arena, pop songstress Katy Perry solicited a “boyfriend” from the audience — no easy feat, given the overwhelming preponderance of young women and girls in attendance. After rejecting an enthusiastic 12-year-old boy as too young, she declared that the first guy to remove his shirt would win. Nineteen-year-old Chase, an Australian who now lives in New Orleans, clamored onstage. Still shirtless, Chase stood beside Perry as she teasingly traced a finger down his bare chest and stomach.
EnlargeKaty Perry performs at the New Orleans Arena on Thursday September 8, 2011.Katy Perry at the New Orleans Arena gallery (10 photos)
Had this been, say, Janet Jackson or Nicki Minaj, Chase would likely have wound up with the singer straddling him. Instead, the encounter climaxed with a chaste exchange of pecks on cheeks.
In temperament, tone and appearance, Perry’s California Dreams Tour approximates a high-end burlesque troupe sitting down for a friendly game of Candyland. As she romped through her ever-growing catalog of hits across a nearly two-hour show, Perry intermingled the girliest of cliches with a playful, PG-13 sexuality.
Her stage was a sweet-shop fantasia of lollipops, candy canes and cotton candy. The musicians wore white, the male dancers candy-striped slacks. Perry and her two backing vocalists often resembled jewelry box ballerinas in short, sparkling, tutus.
A video narrative strung throughout the show to allow time for costume changes found Perry, all wide, innocent eyes, fleeing an evil butcher and disappearing into what looked like Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory. The videos trafficked in kitties, cupcakes and the quest for true love, even as the real Perry, clearly in command, strutted and sang as the centerpiece of an entertaining production.
A thumping kick drum propelled the muscular “Teenage Dream” that opened the show. Perry, in thick, sparkling heels and a bustier equipped with spinning peppermint discs, stepped out alongside eight dancers.
She and Michael Jackson are the only two recording artists to notch five No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Hot 100 from the same album. The mildly aerobic “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” was appropriately carefree. She proclaimed “Firework,” with its empowering celebration of the “sparkle in you,” to be her favorite song. However, her best songs are clearly her best songs: There were few gems among the lesser-known material that fleshed out the show.
Skits played off the video narrative. Two mimes served Perry a “homemade” brownie that left her in a woozy, wobbly, hallucinogenic state — a curious choice of gags for someone whose real-life husband, Russell Brand, is a recovering addict.
During “Waking Up in Vegas,” a female dancer appeared costumed as a slot machine. “This is my friend Slot,” Perry said. “That’s S-L-O-T, not S-L-U-T. Although she is a slut.”
Perry willingly assumed seemingly contradictory roles in the battle of the sexes. In “Peacock,” she was the aggressor. As she paraded in showgirl-like plumage, she challenged a guy with, “I wanna see your peacock … let me see what you’re hiding underneath.” Nothing subtle there, even if the sunny delivery and feathers somehow made the briefly fellated microphone less naughty.
Conversely, in “E.T.,” she was more than willing to be subservient: “Kiss me, kiss me, infect me with your love, fill me with your poison/Take me, take me, wanna be a victim, ready for abduction.” In “Hummingbird Heartbeat,” she gushed, “Spread my wings and make me fly, the taste of your honey is so sweet.”
Unlike Lady Gaga at the MTV Video Music Awards, Perry did not hesitate to break character. The slight pouch across her lower midsection was not evidence of pregnancy, Perry proclaimed, but her “FUPA” — in polite terms, her “fat upper pubic area.” She advised fans whom she high-fived to “wash your hands,” as she was fighting a cold.
She was not averse to getting up close and personal with her people. She performed a solo acoustic “Thinking of You” from a cotton candy cloud suspended above the mixing board at the rear of the arena floor.
During an ecstatic, faithful cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” she invited two dozen fans onstage. After the others departed, two young women wearing faux slices of cake atop their heads remained behind. Perry took a camera from the girls, instructed them to press their heads against hers, and snapped a photo — the ultimate concert souvenir.
Some 11,000 fans opted to watch Perry on Thursday instead of the Saints’ showdown with the Green Bay Packers. But TV monitors in the arena concourses, and many cell phones, were tuned to the game. Late in the show, Perry extended her “condolences” to the Saints, only to be informed that it was only the fourth quarter, with the score sitting at 35-27, Packers. Thus corrected, Perry led a Saints cheer that, alas, proved ineffective.
The over-the-top encore of “California Gurls” boasted a foam cannon, a row of dancing gingerbread men, oversize beach balls, confetti and Perry’s breasts, packaged like a pair of oversize Hershey’s kisses. “Daisy dukes, bikinis on top, sun-kissed skin, so hot, we’ll melt your popsicle,” she gushed, singing of a frozen treat, or something else.
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Keith Spera can be reached at kspera@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3470. Read more music news at nola.com/music. Follow him at twitter.com/KeithSperaTP.
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