by Daisy Creager | Staff Writer
After running into the AT&T center 30 minutes after the opening act began, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with five cars in the parking lot and squeezing past a horde of girls (or backup dancers?) in bright, skimpy outfits, I decided that I am not a big enough Katy Perry fan to be taking a seat at her concert. Surrounded by screaming middle schoolers in blue wigs, teenagers who have actually taken the dive with actual blue hair, our group seemed a bit out of place. San Antonio was the last city in Texas on Perry’s “California Dreams” tour, and the stage was decorated to a theme- with lollipops, candy-canes, and inordinate amounts of pink fluff.
The concert began with a video that became a theme throughout the concert: a slightly creepy mashup of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, where Katy is a poor girl working for a terrible, blood-soaked butcher who yells a lot. Her love interest is the baker’s boy- a baby-faced teenager who later reappears dressed up as a gingerbread man, thereby losing all credibility as a dream-boat by my standards. Katy buys a cupcake and falls asleep on her bed to wake up in a strange world of those weird lollipop candy cane things. I think it was just an excuse to hang large slabs of meat from the ceiling and have freaky mime guys dancing around the stage while offering Perry questionable brownies.
After a song or two, Perry proceeded to explain why she likes San Antonio better than the other cities of Texas (somehow “You’re just like them, but you’re different, because you’re San Antonio” wasn’t quite satisfying enough) and to ask repeatedly if we were ready; all for cheap applause.
Despite the fact I only knew about four of the songs performed, I’d have to say I enjoyed this show. There was a lot of crowd interaction, included getting guys from the crowd to get on stage and take off their shirts. Between the sight of confetti in the air, massive beach balls, and audience members being assailed with candy-cane water pistols, I found myself entertained.
