On Saturday, August 23, Miami’s Kaseya Center was transformed into a dystopian, candy-colored battlefield for Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour. With a narrative that blended pop fantasy, sci-fi futurism, and Perry’s catalog of career-defining hits, the show proved why, even at 40, she remains one of the most enduring entertainers in the industry.
The concert started at 7:45 p.m. with pop-disrupting queer artist Rebecca Black, the Mexican-American singer-songwriter and internet favorite, who delivered a sharp medley of songs from her project “SALVATION”, including “American Doll,” “TRUST!,” and “Sugar Water Cyanide.”
By the time Perry was set to take the stage, the arena was buzzing — families with kids as young as seven, groups of thirty-somethings reliving their teen years, and even parents in their forties and fifties tagging along for the ride. The energy was so high fans were doing the wave long before the main act appeared.
Then she arrived. In Perry’s world, a powerful AI known as Mainframe has harnessed butterflies to fuel its existence. Only one force can stand against it: Katy Perry, portrayed as a hybrid of human and machine. This narrative wove itself throughout the night, amplified by an arsenal of stagecraft — futuristic set pieces, dystopian projections, prop-laden choreography and, yes, even moments where Perry took flight across the stage.
Recurring motifs appeared along the way: a white heart and a pink heart flickered in and out of songs, representing Perry’s dual sides. It wasn’t until the show’s latter half — after an interactive audience vote unlocked “Not Like the Movies” and “The One That Got Away” — that the two hearts finally converged during “All the Love,” Perry’s dedication to her daughter. Embracing the symbols onstage, she embodied the merging of her human and AI selves.
But the story soon escalated into a full-blown battle. Perry fought robotic henchmen with a dual red lightsaber, then strapped a cannon-like blaster to her arm to obliterate the Mainframe in a fiery climax. It was spectacle in its purest form — a reminder that Perry has long thrived on mixing theatrical excess with pop accessibility.
The setlist was carefully structured, too. Perry delivered the catalog that made her a global icon: “Dark Horse,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Hot N Cold,” “Last Friday Night,” and, of course, “I Kissed a Girl.” That stretch sent the arena into a euphoric, neon-soaked singalong, the kind of collective release only a veteran pop star can orchestrate.
Later tracks like “Wide Awake,” “E.T.,” and “Part of Me” built momentum toward a finale of her two defining anthems: “Roar” and “Firework.”
By the end, it truly felt like a teenage dream brought to life — a balance of nostalgia and reinvention. Perry may not be in her prime chart-dominating years anymore, but on this night she proved she still embodies the same “showgirl candy-licious attitude” that defined her rise. The Lifetimes Tour isn’t just a concert; it’s a pop opera staged by an artist who knows exactly how to turn spectacle into storytelling.