Katy Perry was in Newcastle on the 3^rd of April on the most recent date of her sell out ‘California Dream’ tour. The entire stage was set to reflect the Candy land artwork of her current album Teenage Dream.

 Lollipops and sugar sweet cupcakes littered the stage and filled the entire room with colour. One would think that she had designed the whole tour to appeal to her younger fans which flooded the floor, but the cheeky grin which lights up her face and saucy double entendres show there is another level to the whole thing, which sets her as a popstar who is far beyond her short musical life. An obvious example being the tune ‘Peacock’ ,everyone in the crowd united in their singalot to the words ‘I wanna see your peacock..cock..cock”. Most of this wouldn’t be picked up by the youngsters in the crowd, who were enjoying the bright colours and catchy choruses. It would be nice to think that this was a subtle hat-tilt to the absurdness of the whole thing, it the words didn’t do it, I’m sure the subtle wink would.

It’s hard to comprehend that Katy Perry has only been around for 3 years, with her first single ‘I kissed a girl’ only being released in 2008. She is now a staple of world pop music and her belted out sassy version of the same song directed at a sell-out Newcastle crowd, shows how far she has come. She followed her single success with two multi-platinum selling albums, and the best of which were lovingly recreated on the night, perfectly. Her rousing fist pumping rendition of ‘Waking Up In Vegas’ vibrated through the massive room and took the open-mouthed crowd to a Vegas casino, the massive screens set behind her flicking around like a slow machine. It was impossible not to be caught up in the whole thing.

All of this build up led to the explosion that was ‘Firework’ a song which burned and pulsed through the crowd and used every ounce of the crowds built up energy, as it spilled throughout the arena. Every one of her adoring fans, screaming the words in echo back towards her. The entire night was as sweet as one of the lollipops which stood against the back of the stage, but who doesn’t enjoy sweets and silliness? The perfect popstar who manages to combine being the youngster-friendly pop icon whilst managing to sizzle like the world renowned sex symbol she is.

 I’ll leave you with this thought. I photographed the gig and removed the battery as I finished. Upon leaving the show I checked my camera bag to find an hour later it was still turned on. She’s good, she’s very very good.