SAN FRANCISCO — A scary moment occurred late in Katy Perry’s sold-out concert at Chase Center in San Francisco on Friday. It happened during one of the Perry’s (roughly) 278,433 aerial/high-rise sequences in the show, as the superstar boarded a giant black mechanical butterfly and soared off high above the crowd during the anthem “Roar.” Suddenly, the butterfly lurched downward, as if one of ...
Jim Harrington, The Mercury News | July 19, 2025
Katy Perry performs in concert at Chase Center in San Francisco on July 18, 2025.
Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/TNS
SAN FRANCISCO — A scary moment occurred late in Katy Perry’s sold-out concert at Chase Center in San Francisco on Friday.
It happened during one of the Perry’s (roughly) 278,433 aerial/high-rise sequences in the show, as the superstar boarded a giant black mechanical butterfly and soared off high above the crowd during the anthem “Roar.”
Suddenly, the butterfly lurched downward, as if one of its cables holding it aloft had come loose, drawing gasps from KatyCats (aka, Perry’s fans) as it appeared that the superstar could fall or otherwise be in danger.
Fortunately, the vocalist was OK and would finish her ride on the none-too-steady butterfly back to the stage. Disembarking from the creature, Perry would utter a memorable response to the mishap — one that fans would immediately begin quoting.
“Not today, Satan,” said the singer, who started off her career in Christian music before going on to find massive fame in the mainstream pop world.
The dicey butterfly ride was the exclamation point on what had been a technically challenged show — so challenged, in fact, that it almost didn’t happen. Organizers didn’t open the doors on time, leaving many KatyCats — dressed in their glittery best — outside while crews worked on the problems with the elaborate set. It was only moments before opener Rebecca Black took the stage that it was even decided that there would be a concert on Friday.
Yet, Perry wasn’t about to disappoint her Bay Area fans.
“I was like, ‘No we are doing the show,” she told the crowd. “This is my biggest show in America, so thank you San Francisco!”
She’d thank fans by putting her all into this stop on her Lifetimes Tour, her fifth trek overall and first road show since 2017-18’s Witness: The Tour.
Since Bay Area KatyCats last saw her at SAP Center, Perry had a child, spent several seasons as a judge on “American Idol,” released two albums that hardly lit up the charts and, yet, somehow still managed to grow her fan base to include KatyCats who weren’t even born when the singer landed her last top 10 pop single.
She also broke up with her longtime beau Orlando Bloom and, oh yeah, went on a controversial space flight with Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket.
Having gone seven years between tours, Perry is making up for lost time by throwing everything she can at fans — which, as it turns out, is way too much — on this current trek in support of her seventh studio album, last year’s mildly entertaining “143.”
The show is bloated and convoluted, banking on the wow factor over common sense as it tries to tell a strange story of Katy Perry becoming a video game character — “KP143” — and fighting a strange AI nemesis known as “Mainframe.” It’s pretty much a mess from start to finish, which it seems that the show designers must realize because they continually distract us from trying to follow along with the storyline (and I use that term loosely) by battering us with complicated special effects and video segments.
Light saber battle? Check. Laser hand gun showdown? You bet. Enough costume changes to make one lose count? Definitely. An onslaught of aerial/high-rise scenes that even Pink would find excessive? Perry has got you covered as she works a giant set that includes an catwalk that extends into, and around, the crowd in the shape of the infinity sign (or a figure 8).
The show was broken into individual acts — or, in video game speak, “levels” — which did nothing to help further a storyline that, really, one wished didn’t even exist in the first place.
Given the failed production, it’s quite amazing to say that Katy Perry was still able to succeed and deliver some memorable moments during the concert.
Credit that in part to the strong catalog of past pop triumphs on display at Chase — “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Hot n Cold,” “Roar,” “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” etc. — which more than compensated for the rather weak offerings from her newer albums.
The No. 1 reason the performance worked as well as it did, however, has everything to do with Perry’s ability to come across as just so darn likeable on the stage.
Those moments mostly occurred when the light sabers were turned off and the giant mechanical butterflies were out of sight, allowing Perry the space and time to just lean on her winning personality and great sense of humor to connect with the crowd.
During one lengthy segment — which went on so long that it might have totally derailed most artists’ performances — Perry invited numerous fans onstage and just greeted and talked to them like someone at a backyard barbecue. She kneeled down to tie the shoe of one 5-year-old fan (in a super-safe double-knot) and even heeded the request of a pregnant fan to name her baby (eventually deciding on the lovely moniker of Lily).
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” Perry remarked of the chance to name the child.
She found out who these fans were — not just their names and where they were from, but also about their hopes and dreams — as she inspired them, and the rest of us, to shoot for great things in life.
“You can be anything you want to be,” Perry told the 5-year-old fan whose shoes were now securely tied.
That’s the kind of stuff that we need more of — not just in concert, but in this world in general. And Perry is just so good at providing those moments. One only wishes that the San Francisco concert had included more of those and less of the gawdy big-budget special effects.
Maybe after the technical difficulties on Friday — and her scary flight aboard the giant mechanical butterfly — Perry will rethink what should be her priorities for the next stage show. And, hopefully, she won’t make us wait another seven years to see the result.
Katy Perry setlist July 18, 2025:
1. “ARTIFICIAL”
2. “Chained to the Rhythm”
3. “Teary Eyes”
4. “Dark Horse”
5. “WOMAN’S WORLD”
6. “California Gurls”
7. “Teenage Dream”
8. “Hot n Cold”
9. “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”
10. “I Kissed a Girl”
11. “NIRVANA”
12. “CRUSH”
13. “I’M HIS, HE’S MINE”
14. “Wide Awake”
15. “Not Like the Movies”
16. “The One That Got Away”
17. “ALL THE LOVE”
18. “E.T.”
19. “Part of Me”
20. “Rise”
21. “Roar”
22. “Daisies”
23. “LIFETIMES”
24. “Firework”