Katy Perry LIVE

It’s not a good sign when you don’t really know why you are even going to a concert. It’s not as if I particularly like Katy Perry. I Kissed A Girl is fine as a novelty pop hit, and Hot and Cold does enough to save Perry from being a one-hit wonder but other than that there’s nothing I would ever want to listen to on her album again with any great relish.

Of course the rantings and ravings of a man who left high school almost 14 years ago matter little in terms of Perry’s core audience. She herself may be under some illusion (although I actually think that Perry is savvy enough to know which side her bread is buttered on) but a quick glance around the sold out Manchester Academy sees a definite bias in her audience towards teenage girls. I was certainly one of the few straight males there who wasn’t either dragged there by their girlfriend (chance would be a fine thing I suppose) or by their daughter’s.

So whilst I could bang on about the fact that I don’t rate Perry all that highly, that her stage set up was something akin to a low budget Elton John (or Flaming Lips) presentation, that her lyrics are at times cringe worthy and that her between-songs banter was, by turns, irritating and hugely annoying all that might be somewhat missing the point. The fans sung heartily (even along to selected album tracks) and there wasn’t a disappointed face to be seen as the fans shuffled onto the streets when it was all over. When you please your audience to that extent, what does it matter about that one miserable bastard in the crowd anyway?

And even I would have to admit that, after an admittedly dodgy start which could kindly be put down to the effects of flu that were noticeable at last week’s Brits, Perry can sing. And as her acoustic version of Thinking Of You proved, so can play too. But, frankly, I spent most of the evening in a state of mild irritation, wondering how better I could have spent my Wednesday night.