Katy Perry fans have waited almost a decade for her to revisit Raleigh, NC. June 12, 2014 was her last visit when her Prismatic World Tour made a stop there. Why such a long time in between visits? Well, the main two things were becoming a mom and becoming a judge on this little television show that you may have heard of before. American Idol? Well, I guess the itch to get back on the road couldn’t be resisted anymore. Her Lifetimes Tour revisited Raleigh on August 17, 2025 at a packed and very loud Lenovo Center and although we never heard it officially announced, it had to be very close to being SOLD-OUT because we didn’t seer empty seats anywhere.

Rebecca Black opened up the show and did a great job of getting the “Katy cats” fired up. If the name sounds familiar to you it may be because of her viral hit “Friday” back in 2011. Well, she’s grown up now with her own style and sound. She and her dancers did a great job getting people out of their seats and dancing. Yes, she did include that viral hit “Fridays” in her set, but only a portion of it in a medley.

Then, it was time for Perry to take the stage. ihad read some things about the tour where a lot of people thought it was hit or miss so I was curious to sett how things played out. The show involved Perry being in spome type of video game world. Her entrance at the beginning had her risong up into what appeared to be a tube almost levitating while perfrming “Artificial.” It was both a visually and sonically intense way to kick-off the show. The show had six sections to it (full setlist can be seen after the photo gallery) and Perry had a new costume on for each set.

The entire show was a feast of the senses. It was visually stunning from the costumes to the huge figure eight stage to the costumes to the set design. Perry pulled out all the stops on this tour and even flew across the stage at one point. One of the best points of the show came when she brought four young fans on-stage to help out with the song “The One That Got Away.” One of the four was a young girl who was blind and had a sign hoping to get Perry’s attention. Well, it worked and it was a beautiful, emotional meeting of fan and artist.

It proved to be a really cool show and we thoroughly enjoyed it1 I’m not exactly sure why some people have hated on it because although we weren’t familiar with all of the material performed, the show still kept us engaged. There aren’t too many dates left in the tour so you don’t have many chances to catch a show. If you can make it to one, we highly recommend it. It’s hard to find a show where you enjoy it from beginning to end but this is definitely one where you do.

Review and pix by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price

REBECCA BLACK