For the first time in her career, the pop star performed Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Mid-way through “I Kissed A Girl,” the breakout hit in Katy Perry’s nearly decade-long career, the pop star flew from the stage and was engulfed by a pair of larger-than-life, rosy red lips.
To a run-of-the-mill concert-goer, the gesture would be startling.
To an attendee of Perry’s “Witness: The Tour”? It was merely another twist on the whirling roller coaster of weird that the California-born pop star brought Saturday night to Wells Fargo Arena.
Performing at the downtown Des Moines venue for the first time in her career, Perry brought 11,862 people to the arena for her two-hour performance. The Des Moines show comes as part of a nearly year-long world tour in support of Perry’s fifth studio album, “Witness,” which debuted earlier this year at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
“It’s exciting to be back in Des Moines once again,” Perry, who last appeared in Iowa’s capital city at a 2015 political event, said after being dosed by human-sized salt and pepper shakers during a rendition of 2017 single “Bon Appétit.”
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Backed by eight dancers, an eyeball-shaped screen the size of a basketball court and a seven-piece band, each of the night’s 19 numbers came packaged in its own near-Machiavellian state of madness.
These nonsensical, campy visuals dominated the two-hour performance: Chart-topper “Last Friday Night (T. G. I. F.)” showed the 33-year-old dancing alongside twice-her-size flamingos; 2017 number “Roulette” had Perry’s dancers crawling out of enlarged dice; a stripped-down version of “Thinking Of You” saw Perry floating on a planet through a makeshift solar system above the crowd.
And, yes, Left Shark even made an appearance alongside the queen of quirk.
« Should we all say ‘I’m sorry, Left Shark?,' » Perry jested. The life-size shark became an Internet sensation following her 2015 Super Bowl halftime show. « Ever since that day… all he’s been doing is dance class after dance class — and he does so well now, doesn’t he? »
Perry would, between some songs, conduct shticks with the crowd.
Some worked. Prior to performing “Power,” she brought 11-year-old Hailey Schwienebart, of Urbandale, on stage and asked her that if she had one wish, what would that wish be? Melting every heart in the room, the pre-teen replied: “World peace… because some people in other countries don’t have (the) rights that we do.”
Others didn’t go off quite as well. Perry brought her mother, Mary — who explained she was in Des Moines to celebrate her 38th wedding anniversary with her husband and daughter — on stage. As part of the act, which happens via phone during most shows, her mom delivered a few jokes about the night’s tour stop.
“What do you call a bunch of John Deere tractors at an Iowa McDonald’s on a Saturday night?,” Mary asked the audience. “Prom.”
Come on, mom.
She returned moments later for a one-song encore: an explosion-filled rendition of pop music empowerment anthem “Firework.”
Finishing the song about igniting your light — no matter how large or strange or over-the-top — and letting it shine, Perry shared her gratitude with the audience for a final time.
“I love you, Des Moines.… God bless you,” she said, leaving the stage. “I hope you dream big, because that’s what I did.”
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