Katy Perry @ Globen, Stockholm, Sweden 22/3 – 15
We went up fairly early, but somehow I managed to fall back to sleep and much to my despair I noticed the time was ten to seven and I practically DASHED out of bed, changed, packed and headed out of the hotel. It was supposed to take about 30 mins to walk to the central, and the bus was leaving in 20. Somehow, we managed to make the bus with just a few minutes to spare and our hearts up our throats.
With that said, we started our journey towards Karlstad and Stockholm. Michelle was hoping off in Karlstad in order to head over to Manchester, and I was continuing onto Stockholm. Why?
Because Katy Perry, that’s why.
Katy Perry… where do I begin. She’s basically the love of my life. I don’t even know how to explain it, or how to put it into words… But it’s something with her music that reaches in to your very core, puts it’s arms around it and hugs it tightly. Relatable songs, as if she’s watching from above, but not only that, she also got the easy get going cheerful songs to get your mood up. I don’t know, she’s my saviour, that’s really all I can say. I had waited six years for her to come to Sweden, and this was the day.
Said and done. We arrived a bit a head of time to our destination and I immediatley hit the hotel to drop off my shit, give Michelle a call and get ready for the show. I headed over to Globen fairly late actually, but it was all good. Hit the merchstand for a tour shirt, tourprogramme and a button pack. It hit me that I have more buttons with artists as Lady Gaga and Katy rather than metal bands. LOVE IT.
Went down to the standing area, picked up a drink and popcorn, took a decent place and started to wait for the opening act, Charli XCX.
I’m more of a major in Metal, so I didn’t initially recognize her name, but once she started playing some of her songs I realized I knew most of them. This happens only with pop songs, but I must say I was happily surprised to realize it was actually someone I somewhat knew of (I need to get better att checking out supportacts)
I’m not sure how long she played, I didn’t clock it, but it was an extremely energetic set, I was impressed! And I was also impressed on how into it the audience was, it was quite the difference from yesterdays shenanigans… With all that, she left the stage and the final waiting began.
This was gonna be it. The moment. The moment I had been waiting for for so long. I’ve been a fan or hers since 2009 , and I’ve never seen her before. I got the tickets in June last year, do you understand how long time it is?
After waiting for a good half an hour or so (with a rush to the bathroom just-in-case) the lights went out and the show was on.
Basically, how it started was Katy elevating out of this triangle from the middle of the stage, and she did so to the pure tones of “Roar”‘s intro. Out she steps, the lady of the night in a dress made out of reflective silver pieces with LED lightning following the lines. Fucking love it.
The show is massive, alright, you can tell already here. Props all over, a lightning show that sends EVERYTHING ELSE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN TO SHAME and all these backup dancers… Ahh. It’s pretty much everything I ever thought Katy to be.
“Part of Me” was next song on the list and I couldn’t do anything but to stare (and dance and sing) at the lady. The amazement that is her. “Wide Awake” was fired off before it was time for one of the best moments of the show.
“This Moment”.
First of all, this song is a personal favorite of mine, but aside that… THE LIGHTSHOW people. You HAD to be there to see it, it was almost like crystals who shot out of the lights, and it was sparkles all over the arena, you could spin around and just see it all over. This only lasted for the first chorus, but the rest of the song had other stunning lights. The song faded over to “Love Me” before she left the stage.
And returned with a gigantic horse.
A dark horse.
Clad in Cleopatra inspired clothes sitting up on her horse she performed “Dark Horse” to us in a MASSIVE way. Like, I was never too hyped about the song on the album, but DAMN. This song is amazing live. Damn.
“E.T” and “Legendary Lovers” was next on the list, and damn, these songs are so amazing. Sometimes I really forget how fucking amazing she is. And this is probably because she is way better live than she is on CD. Which is much appreciated. And the massive show… dancers in the roof, the light.. ahhh.
“I Kissed A Girl” was fired off before she left the stage and had us watching Kittywood before returning with an ensemble of cats for a toned down, almost showkind of version of “Hot N Cold”. Imagine real old lounge music sung by some fancy lady. That’s pretty much what this was. LOVED IT, despite it being so unexpected. And what happened after this? THE RAT MAN.
This is literally my favorite shot from the whole concert. Basically, the ratman appeared running around causing trouble, but thanks to the cats, we could get rid of him.
Next, was “International Smile”. AND THANK YOU FOR THAT ONE. This one is my favorite song off “Prism”, since it sometimes feels a bit like us, traveling around for all these bands and everything, and I must admit I was so happy see so many of my own favorites ending up. Maybe my bad old luck with setlists are finally over? The song eventually faded out in “Vouge”.
After this, it all got a bit toned down. She changed into this beautiful butterfly kind of dress, almost like the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. She brought up a fan on stage to take a selfie with her, and then she took the mic and began with “By the Grace of God”. She proceeded to pick up a guitar and perform an acoustic version of “The One That Got Away”.
Something I noticed, is how emotional Katy seemed. She looked like she was crying, or about to, in many of her songs. And I can see why, some of her songs are really emotional, but it was just… yeah. I haven’t seen such vulnerability to stage in a very long time, it makes me glad. That we can share the moment like that.
“Unconditionally” was dedicated to her crew and brought the whole crowd into a singalong that sends Steel Panther to shame. After it was done, she left us for a little while only to return with “Walking on Air” with her being attached to a wire in the roof while walking on the air. Love it.
“It Takes Two” was next on the list before it was time for the big audience favorite – “This is How We Do” / “Last Friday Night” where she sent out BIG champagne bottles, shoes, lipsticks, you name it! Ah, she’s like a child. I love it. I mean this in a very, VERY good way.
“Teenage Dream” was next on the list before she left to change and came back to fire off “California Gurls”. Love it. They brought out the letters “HOLLYWOOD” and played with the lightning again. LOVE IT.
She left for a good while, and then returned for the first encore, which was “Birthday”. She brought up a fan that had her birthday on stage and put her on a throne and dedicated the song to her. She then proceeded to get into a swing and fly all around the arena, and how do you possibly match this up if not by throwing out a million balloons and confetti? That’s right.
She left again, and this time the screen on the stage advised us that it was time for Prisma Vision.
What is prisma vision? Well, pretty much all the guests had been given certain glasses, like 3D glasses sort of, if you like, and now was the time to put them on for the very last song of the night, which was “Firework”.
And damn. DAMN. DAMN. The effects made with these glasses! It was insane. What before was just some screen savers turned out to be actual fireworks, the pyrotechnics got intenser and rainbows all over the place. What an ending! How could anyway ever actually top this? No one can. NO ONE.
With that, she thanked for the night and walked off stage. And by that, Prismatic World Tour was over.
Katy Perry. You’ll never actually read this yourself, but THANK YOU. Thank you so much, for this show, for your music, for your existence. You are one of the reasons I’m still alive and I owe my life to you. This show was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life, and I’m so thankful I got to be a part of this. Thank you, from the deepest corners of my heart.
I could not have had a better ending for this tour-week. With this show, that week was over. I left Globen with the biggest smile on my lips.
This is what I call perfection.
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 
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