Birmingham has never sparkled quite like this. On a crisp Saturday night, the city’s streets were awash with sequins, neon wigs, and ten-gallon cowboy hats as 11,500 die-hard KatyCats descended on the Utilita Arena. You could feel the buzz in the air – that giddy, electric anticipation only a bona fide global superstar can summon. Katy Perry was in town, and Birmingham knew it.
Katy Perry: Pop’s Reigning Showwoman
Seventeen years on from her breakout smash I Kissed a Girl, a song that rewrote the pop rulebook and became a defining queer anthem of the late 2000s, Perry proved she’s still pop’s reigning showwoman: larger than life, unapologetically weird, and endlessly charming.
The Lifetimes Tour is pure spectacle, part Broadway fantasy, part sci-fi carnival. A vast figure-of-eight runway snakes deep into the crowd, while giant LED backdrops pulse with montages from her most iconic videos. It’s a feast for the senses.
The show is neatly divided into acts, blending fresh material like Artificial and Lifetimes with career-defining hits: Teenage Dream, Chained to the Rhythm, I Kissed a Girl, Roar, and, of course, Firework, which still explodes with the same euphoric punch as when it first lit up the charts.
High-Flying Stunts
But Perry doesn’t just sing her story – she flies through it. Literally. During Nirvana, she was hoisted high above the crowd, twirling through the air in a jaw-dropping aerial stunt that saw her flip twelve times, landing back on the stage – a personal record. “I’m officially flipped out!” she laughed, promising Birmingham the bragging rights for her most acrobatic show yet.
The show’s storyline follows Katy as she sets out to save the world by rescuing butterflies, a whimsical metaphor (one hopes) for transformation, freedom, and joy. At one point, she soared over the audience on a giant purple butterfly during Roar (it’s a lot to take in).
Between numbers, she was her usual engaging, quick-witted self. “I’ve learned how to say it right,” she teased the crowd. “There’s no ham in Birmingham, it’s Birming’m!” Cue roars of approval from her adoring Brummie fans.
A standout interactive moment came during the “Choose Your Own Adventure” section, where the audience voted live for the next song. The winning track, Unconditional, transformed the arena into a galaxy of phone lights and full-throttle singalongs.
Young Fans Take the Spotlight
In a charming, pantomime-like moment, several young fans were invited on stage to join the fun. Among them was 13-year-old Harrison, who clutched the silver percussion ball he had been handed to accompany the next track and asked, “Can I keep it?”
“Yes, you can,” laughed Katy. “I think you’re going to win at life.”
Following the song, a brazen Harrison asked if he could show off his dance moves, and promptly launched into some hip-shaking moves that would make even Elvis blush. The crowd went wild; Katy looked momentarily speechless. “This is Birmingham, luv,” the city seemed to reply.
From the glitter to the gravity-defying stunts, this was a masterclass in pop theatre. Perry’s warmth tied it all together – she’s playful, empowering, and wholly invested in her fans.
At times, the theatrical visuals threatened to overshadow her genuinely outstanding vocal performance, but that’s the Katy Perry experience: bold, bizarre, and utterly bonkers.
By the final note, Katy Perry had left Birmingham buzzing: a night of glitter, stunts, and pure pop spectacle fans won’t soon forget.
