Katy Perry @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 7 Oct

Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour arrives in Glasgow under a bit of a cloud: bruising reviews from the American leg, a public marriage breakup, and a wave of online mockery that has followed her since 143 landed last year. Yet the crowd at the OVO Hydro tells a different story. It’s packed with fans of all ages, some in full costume, millennial parents ferrying groups of wide-eyed children to their very first concert. If this show is a mess, it’s one that thousands are still happy to dive into.

And as if Katy Perry hasn’t been through enough lately, she also happens to be the only person on Earth who can save the butterflies from extinction. You heard me. That’s the storyline running through Lifetimes, a maximalist video game-style adventure where Perry, as a digital heroine, must rescue the world’s butterflies from evil AI overlords. This clever climate allegory might land more powerfully were it not so reliant on AI-generated graphics. And didn’t she go on a frivolous space trip just a few months ago? Stop, this isn’t a night for overthinking. Or thinking at all, actually. It’s a night for seeing. Looking at stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.

Perry emerges from the multi-screen setup, valiant and ready to take on the task. Chained to the Rhythm and Dark Horse are early highlights and, like most songs during the two-hour show, act as vague prompts for visuals. Perry rarely stops moving: flying, twirling, running, firing pyrotechnics from her hands. At one point she stabs a dancer with a lightsaber. The whole thing is thrilling and exhausting in equal measure.


Image: Katy Perry @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 7 Oct by Kate Johnston

A central stretch of California Gurls, Teenage Dream, Hot N Cold and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is a good reminder of the absolute bangers in her catalogue that would shine well enough on their own, without the excesses the show insists on. The crowd doesn’t miss a word and, for once, the spectacle and the songs work in sync.

Although she’s cast as a cartoon-like superhero in the storyline, on stage, Katy Perry is far from the pop automaton that global arena tours can easily turn performers into. She’s clearly present, often breaking routine to respond to fans in the crowd (“these are my drunk friends”). Early on she jokes about Scotland’s east/west rivalry, saying she was told that Glaswegians “sound like they sing when they talk” before adding, “isn’t that what you’re paying me to do? Maybe they have more joy in their lives, that’s why they sing all the time!”

The fan interaction comes to a head during the acoustic segment, which feels charmingly unpolished. Perry invites three fans on stage: a heavily pregnant woman, another whose partner holds up a sign saying he’d leave her for Katy Perry and finally, Ethan, a young fan who has just finished chemotherapy and wanted to sing Double Rainbow with Perry – a sweet, overlooked ballad off of Prism that she's never performed live before.

By the finale, the butterflies are, of course, saved (thank God), and Perry celebrates by launching into Firework. "Come on, let your colours burst!" she shouts, sparks flying around her. The song’s famous 'make 'em go oh, oh, oh' lyrics land a little differently tonight. For this show, it’s more a case of make 'em go... oh? oh. ohhhh! Lifetimes is an enjoyable show that is both earnest and absurd, dazzling and hilariously over the top.