Roughly half way through the North American leg of her headlining tour, pop superstar Katy Perry brought Witness: The Tour to Milwaukee’s BMO Harris Bradley Center, one of the last concerts to be held at the venue before the city’s new state-of-the-art arena opens just next door.
With support from Canadian electronic duo, Purity Ring, one of three supporting acts that have or will join Perry on the current leg of her tour, Katy Perry’s massive production was beyond entertaining, exceeding fan’s expectations and again proving that Perry will never be an artist to simply mail in her live performances. Switching between cuts from her new LP, Witness, and her huge catalog of hit singles, Perry blended the old and the new to piece together a set full of platinum hits, costume changes, dancing, a game of hoops and of course an appearance from the infamous Left Shark.
Check out our photos from the wild performance below and peep the remaining dates of her North American tour here.
As the holidays begin, so do the amazing variety of holiday concerts and more. From WGCI’s Big Jam with Rick Ross and Chris Brown to B96 Jingle Bash with Taylor Swift and the Backstreet Boys, Christmas is coming early for a lot of music fans in Chicago next month.
Check out our list of our 8 can’t miss concerts in Chicago next month!
Katy Perry and Noah Cyrus invaded the United Center last night, as Perry brought her headlining tour, dubbed Witness: The Tour, to the historic United Center. With elaborate set designs, a huge eye-shaped video board and a number of entertaining costume changes, Witness: The Tour is something you have to see to believe, and we captured some memorable shots of night one (of two) of Perry’s Chicago stop on the tour.
Check out our photos from last night’s performance below and read our full review here.
Moments ago, Katy Perry closed things out after her and supporting act, Noah Cyrus, delivered a memorable night one for Witness: The Tour‘s mini two-night Chicago residency at the historic United Center.
There exists a fine line between a concert and a performance, but tonight was undoubtedly a performance as Katy Perry brought an amazing spectacle full of platinum and diamond hits, five entertaining costume changes, fireworks, lights and an elaborate set design that fans will never forget. And with support from emerging pop star, Noah Cyrus, fans were in for a treat from the very beginning.
Up first for the night was the diversely talented 17-year-old singer/actress, Noah Cyrus. If you couldn’t guess by the name, Noah is the younger sister to Miley Cyrus and the daughter of country legend, Billy Ray Cyrus. But just as Miley made her own name for herself, stepping out of her father’s shadow, Noah is quickly doing the same.
Not only is Cyrus making her arena tour debut, but the Nashville native has already celebrated her first platinum-certified single with ‘Make Me (Cry)’, her music video for ‘Stay Together’ has already amassed over 50 million views on YouTube, and she is only months away from the release of her anticipated debut album, NC-17.
While Cyrus put together one of our favorite performances from B96′s Summer Bash concert, just months ago and only a few miles away, her live performance clearly improves with a supporting performance, when compared to a radio gig. Performing seven songs, just under a half hour, Cyrus previewed a number of tracks from her forthcoming debut LP and gave a memorable performance of Selena Gomez’s ‘It Ain’t Me’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Million Reasons’, a performance which earned her a big co-sign from Gaga weeks ago. And when Lady Gaga comments on your bright future, and your cover “warms her heart”, you must be doing something right.
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
Personal highlights of Cyrus’ set came at the beginning and end, as Noah opened with her fun and addictive single ‘Stay Together’ and closed with her Labyrinth-assisted hit, ‘Make Me (Cry)’, two tracks which are night and day in their feel but together help show the range of content that young Cyrus can sing about. Although Noah Cyrus’ supporting performance won’t quite compare to Perry’s, with the experience and monumental production that Katy Perry brings to the table, Cyrus still gave fans a million reasons to get to the arena early and to catch an inevitable headlining tour that will come through in the relative future.
With the mood set from Noah Cyrus’ supporting set, it was time for Katy Perry to great her Chicago fans. Opening with the title track from her new album, Witness, Perry’s 4th major label album and where the tour also get its name, Perry submerged from the sky on a giant star, in the biggest Katy Perry-fashion imaginable. But that was only the beginning as a number of props, wildly dressed backup dancers, giant puppets and expensive production elements would complement her throughout the hour and 45-minute performance.
For Perry’s second song of the night, ‘Roulette’, the Santa Barbara-native sang atop two huge dice and confetti began to fall from the sky. Although tonight’s performance was dominated by the biggest single’s of Perry career, which mostly precede her new album, it was the fun and eye catching production of the tour that made Perry’s performances from her newest LP (which she performed just over half of), not only bearable but equally entertaining.
For Katy Perry’s Witness single ‘Swish Swish’, Perry performed an extended 10-minute version of the track and took time to pick out a dad from the crowd for a little shootout. Their may not be a bust of the dad displayed next to Michael Jordan at the UC’s stadium for all to see, but in that moment he was the coolest dad on the planet.
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
A personal highlight of Perry’s set came midway as the infamous Left Shark, from Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl performance, blessed the stage to bust out it’s perfectly imperfect dance moves at the end of the catwalk, as Perry performed her track ‘California Gurls’. Left Shark remained on stage as Katy Perry used a huge telephone to make a call home to mom, which actually may have been real. That sequence paved the way right into Perry’s breakout track, ‘I Kissed A Girl’, where KP was hoisted onto a huge set of red lips.
To cap things off, Perry closed her set with her 2013 hit, ‘Roar’, a track which reminded us of the huge voice behind all the glitter and glam. But the night wasn’t quite over, as Perry returned to the stage atop of a huge hand, to perform her Teenage Dream record, ‘Firework’, complete with confetti, applause, and real actual fireworks.
Tonight’s performance was wacky and fun and everything you needed on a Tuesday night. Perry does anything but mail-it-in when it comes to her tours, so much so, that you wonder how she even turns a profit with all the production and theatrics that her tours offer. If you wanted entertainment, you got it. If you wanted the hits, she brought them. If you wanted cuts from the new album, you got that to. And even if you wanted a raw display of Perry’s vocals, she gave you some of that as well. Tonight was nothing short of a spectacle, and we say that in the best way possible. Perry brings so much to her tour, but most importantly, not at the expense of anything else.
If you missed out tonight, you’re in luck, because Katy Perry and Noah Cyrus return to the United Center tomorrow night.
Don’t think just that summer is over that great live music also has to end. As the festivals wrap up and the leaves fall in the Windy City, the concerts move indoors to some of the best venues and arenas in Chicago. And October especially is a great month to catch a concert or two in Chicago, with stars and legends like Katy Perry and Janet Jackson set to visit and artists like Hoodie Allen, Jon Bellion and the A$AP Mob scheduled to tear up the stage with headlining shows of their own.
Check out our list of the 9 can’t miss concerts in Chicago this month!
Taylor Swift has the internet and fans going crazy with the release of her new music video, for her Reputation single ‘Look What You Made Me Do’. Full of references to her old looks and videos and subliminals towards some of her most famous foes and ex-boyfriends (Kanye West, Katy Perry, Tom Hiddleston), there is almost too much to keep track of.
Check out our (growing) list of subliminals and references from Taylor Swift’s new ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ video below.
“I Would Very Much Like To Be Excluded From This Narrative”
In the outro to the music video, as all the various forms of Taylor Swift stand side by side, Taylor Swift shows a little humility and humor by referencing her feud with Kanye West. Holding her “Best Female Video” VMA, the version of Swift that was interrupted by Kanye tells the other Taylors that she would “very much like to be excluded from this narrative.”
This quote wasn’t from the VMAs, rather it was from an Instagram post that Taylor sent to fans to address the bad press the singer was receiving after Kim Kardashian leaked a recording of a phone call between Taylor and Kanye, where Taylor gave the green light to the lyrics from Kanye’s track ‘Famous’. Although Taylor claimed she wants to move on from the drama, her Kanye references in her new single and its video are clear.
I Love TS
Near the three-minute mark of the music video, Taylor’s backup dancers are rocking some “I Heart TS” shirts. Although his wasn’t a black glittery crop top, Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend, Tom Hiddleston, was caught by photographers on the beach rocking an “I Heart TS” tank-top of his own. This isn’t much of a shot towards Hiddleston, but its definitely a cute little Easter Egg.
Cat Burglars
Around a minute and a half into the video, Taylor Swift leads a team of “cat burglars” rocking cat masks. Many fans believe that this is taking aim at Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’ music video, where her back-up dancers are rocking Egyptian cat masks. The masks aren’t a direct rip-off by any means, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this indeed is a reference to Perry.
Famous?
There may be multiple reference to Kanye West in Taylor’s new visuals. About 2-minutes into the video, Taylor Swift lays near a pile of unconscious life-like mannequin/robots. This one may be a stretch, but this may reference Kanye West’s music video for ‘Famous’, where Kanye displayed a number of life-life naked and sleeping wax figures, one of which portrayed Swift, which she was famously unhappy about.
Snakes, Snakes and More Snakes
“Taylor Swift is a snake” has become a popular meme on the internet, especially from the perspective of many Kanye West and Calvin Harris fans, and generally from the point-of-view of any Taylor haters. With her reputation under fire, Taylor Swift has embraced this persona in her new video with snakes being pictured throughout.
Music Video References/Zombie Taylor
The new video doesn’t just take aim at Taylor’s foes, rather it also pays homage to Swift’s catalog of music videos. Sharing characters and outfits from her ‘Out Of The Woods’ video (for the Zombie scenes), ‘You Belong With Me’ video and many more, the ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ takes inspiration from Swift’s past and puts it all into one amazing video.
Katy Hair and Grammy Shade
Katy Perry and Taylor Swift share a lot, including a lot of bad blood for each other, one thing that they don’t share however is a Grammy because despite 13 nominations, Katy Perry has yet to win a Grammy. Swift made sure to remind us all of that when in her new video, she is rocking a haircut and style very similar to Katy Perry, and what is she holding? One of her Grammy awards. Cold!
Saturday Night Live concluded its 42nd season with a big finale last night, hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Katy Perry stole the show with her performances of ‘Bon Appétit’ with the Migos and her new (rumored) Taylor Swift diss track, ‘Swiss Swiss’.
As a self-diagnosed “details freak”, Perry definitely didn’t go with a traditional SNL performance with the famous Grand Central backdrop, rather Perry laid across a huge table of fruit with the Migos for ‘Bon Appétit’ and sang on a runway filled with drag queens and “backpack kid” for ‘Swish Swish’.
Watch Perry’s Saturday Night Live performances of ‘Bon Appétit’ and ‘Swish Swish’ below.
Katy Perry has responded to Taylor Swift’s (rumored) diss track, ‘Bad Blood, with one of her own… at least that’s what everyone is speculating. Titled ‘Swish Swish’ and featuring Young Money’s Nicki Minaj, according to many, Perry’s new track takes aim at Swift and Remy Ma (through Nicki’s verse), but don’t expect Perry to confirm that directly. But if the shoe fits, right?
“A tiger, don’t lose no sleep, don’t need opinions, from a shellfish or a sheep”.
While the ‘Roar’ singer is “the tiger” in the lyrics, many believe the sheep represents Swift, as Perry famously tweeted out “Watch out for a sheep in Regina George’s clothing”, a Mean Girls reference that many believed was aimed at T-Swift, when their rivalry was at its peak. We may never received an exact confirmation, but it will certainly be interesting to see if Taylor Swift responds.
Stream ‘Swish Swish’ below and check out the dates for Katy Perry’s forthcoming headlining tour.
Led by her singles ‘Chained To The Rhythm’ and ‘Bon Appétit’, Katy Perry has announced her forthcoming LP, Witness, the follow up to her 2013 album, Prism. Currently scheduled for a June 9th release, via Capitol Records, Witness will reflect on the changes in Perry’s life, as well as the changes in the world around her. The upcoming album will deliver tracks that will both challenge and inspire Perry’s fans.
That isn’t all though, as Katy has announced her forthcoming arena tour which will roll through all of North American in just a few months. Kicking things off on September 7th in Columbus, WITNESS: The Tour will make stops in Chicago, Nashville, New York, Milwaukee, Toronto and many more, until things come to an end next year, February 5th in Vancouver.
Tickets for the tour will be available through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, with registration beginning today and lasting until May 16th. Perry’s fan presale will go on sale on May 18th from 9AM – noon, and tickets will go on sale for the general public on May 22nd at 10am. Each ticket purchase for the ‘I Kiss A Girl’ singer’s tour will also include a copy of Perry’s new album.
Check out the dates for Perry’s North American tour below.
After debuting the new single earlier this month, Katy Perry has shared her music video for her Migos-assisted track, ‘Bon Appétit’. The follow up to her comeback single, ‘Chained To The Rhythm’, ‘Bon Appétit’ will have fans both hungry and thirsty, with the new visuals.
If you haven’t yet, download the new collaboration now on iTunes and stay tuned, as it’s just a matter of time until Perry announces her next LP, her first album since Prism in 2013. And if fans are lucky, hopefully a world tour will soon follow.
Watch Katy’s new music video for ‘Bon Appétit’ below.
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