Play (concert residency)

Summary

Play was the first concert residency hosted by American singer Katy Perry. The first eight concerts were announced in May 2021, which ran at Resorts World Theatre from December 29, 2021, to January 15, 2022.[1] Eight more shows were added later that month in response to popular demand, extending the residency to March 2022.[2] Ticket sales became widely available to purchase on May 24 after a pre-sale for those with Citibank cards.[3] Perry announced in January 2022 that she had added 16 more shows for May through August.[4] On June 1, 2022, she announced that a further eight shows were added for October due to increasing demand.

Play
Residency by Katy Perry
LocationWinchester, Nevada, U.S.
VenueResorts World Theatre
Start dateDecember 29, 2021 (2021-12-29)
End dateNovember 4, 2023 (2023-11-04)
Legs10
No. of shows80
Katy Perry concert chronology

Perry opened Play to a sold-out crowd at Resorts World Theatre, with the furthest seat being only 150 feet away from the stage.[5] In February 2022, the first set of boxscores were reported by Billboard. She earned $6.98 million from the eight reported dates and drew a total of 32,000 attendees in the timeframe.[6] From these earnings, she reached the top spot on the Artist Power Index (APX) chart by Pollstar.[7] On April 10, 2023, Perry announced that the final show of the residency would take place on November 4, 2023.[8]

Background edit

The show draws influence from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Perry also stated, "It's just gonna be a feast for both the ears and the eyes and it is like the most laughter I've had in a rehearsal setting ever in my life. My co-creators and collaborators and the dancers and the band, everybody's just like, 'This is the kookiest idea.'"[9]

Production edit

 
Perry performing "Teenage Dream"

Several parts of the show have been described by media outlets such as Vogue as "camp", such as Perry descending from the ceiling and being placed on a gigantic bed, interacting with a giant toilet and a giant face mask while performing, and a huge red rocking horse. Christian Allaire of Vogue called her the "Queen of Camp" for her approach to the show, saying: "Perry's playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to dressing really makes the show for us. More than a decade into her impressive career, she's clearly still a reigning queen of camp."[10][11]

Critical response edit

 
Perry performing “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Play received universal critical acclaim.[12] Mark Gray from Rolling Stone said that "the production was larger than life" for the residency's opening night, further adding: "the show is quintessential Perry, who indulged the emotional, the over-the-top, the whimsical, the psychedelic, and even the cheesy over the course of 95 minutes".[13] Melinda Sheckells of Billboard also gave the first show a positive review, stating that Perry "left another unforgettable mark on the Strip in front of a sold-out, all-ages crowd of 5,000 loudly purring KatyCats", further adding: "'Perry Playland' transports the audience into another dimension of rainbow fluff, heart-shaped confetti and larger-than-life anthropomorphic household objects — it's part fantasy, part hallucination and thoroughly high-camp Perry."[5] Yahoo! contributor Joyann Jeffrey felt Perry "perfectly wrapped up 2021 in a nutshell when she toasted a giant face mask onstage, and sang on top of some giant toilet paper rolls, which sat beside a huge bathtub and toilet" with Play and wrote the outfits used were "equally as amazing".[10]

Set list edit

 
Perry during a show

Perry revealed the set list on December 28, 2021, a day before the first show was scheduled to start.[14]

  1. "E.T."
  2. "Chained to the Rhythm"
  3. "Dark Horse"
  4. "Not the End of the World"
  5. "California Gurls"
  6. "Hot n Cold" / "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"
  7. "Waking Up in Vegas" (jazz remix)
  8. "Bon Appétit"
  9. "Daisies" (Oliver Heldens remix)
  10. "I Kissed a Girl"
  11. "Lost" / "Part of Me" / "Wide Awake" (acoustic)
  12. "Never Really Over"
  13. "Swish Swish"
  14. "When I'm Gone" / "Walking on Air"
  15. "Teenage Dream"
  16. "Smile"
  17. "Roar"

Encore

  1. "The Greatest Love of All"
  2. "Firework"

Shows edit

List of dates, attendance and revenue earned
Date Attendance Revenue
Leg 1[1][15]
December 29, 2021 32,000 $6,980,000
December 31, 2021
January 1, 2022
January 7, 2022
January 8, 2022
January 12, 2022
January 14, 2022
January 15, 2022
Leg 2[4]
March 2, 2022
March 4, 2022
March 5, 2022
March 11, 2022
March 12, 2022
March 16, 2022
March 18, 2022
March 19, 2022
Leg 3[4]
May 27, 2022
May 28, 2022
May 29, 2022
June 3, 2022
June 4, 2022
June 8, 2022
June 10, 2022
June 11, 2022
Leg 4[4]
July 29, 2022
July 30, 2022
August 3, 2022
August 5, 2022
August 6, 2022
August 10, 2022
August 12, 2022
August 13, 2022
Leg 5[16]
October 5, 2022
October 7, 2022
October 8, 2022
October 14, 2022
October 15, 2022
October 19, 2022
October 21, 2022
October 22, 2022
Leg 6[17]
February 15, 2023
February 17, 2023
February 18, 2023
February 22, 2023
February 24, 2023
February 25, 2023
March 3, 2023
March 4, 2023
Leg 7[17]
April 5, 2023
April 7, 2023
April 8, 2023
April 12, 2023
April 14, 2023
April 15, 2023
Leg 8[18]
May 12, 2023
May 13, 2023
May 17, 2023
May 19, 2023
May 20, 2023
May 24, 2023
May 27, 2023
May 28, 2023
Leg 9[18]
July 28, 2023
July 29, 2023
August 2, 2023
August 4, 2023
August 5, 2023
August 9, 2023
August 11, 2023
August 12, 2023
Leg 10[8]
October 4, 2023
October 6, 2023
October 7, 2023
October 11, 2023
October 13, 2023
October 14, 2023
October 31, 2023
November 1, 2023
November 3, 2023
November 4, 2023

References edit

  1. ^ a b Spanos, Brittany (May 12, 2021). "Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan Plot Las Vegas Residencies". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  2. ^ Hahn, Christine (May 24, 2021). "Katy Perry adds eight dates to her Las Vegas residency showresidency show". WRMF. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  3. ^ Willman, Chris (May 12, 2021). "Resorts World Sets Dates for Vegas Mini-Residencies by Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan". Variety. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Dresdale, Andrea (January 28, 2022). "New 'PLAY' dates: Katy Perry adds new summer shows to her Las Vegas residency". Good Morning America. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Sheckells, Melinda (December 30, 2021). "Katy Perry Brings Dancing Mushrooms, A Giant Toilet & More to Wild Las Vegas Residency". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 31, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  6. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (February 11, 2022). "Katy Perry's Las Vegas Residency Has Already Earned Nearly $7 Million". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 12, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Allen, Bob (February 11, 2022). "Katy Perry Powers Forward, Tops APX With Box-Office Boom From New Las Vegas Residency". Pollstar. Archived from the original on February 11, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Katsilometes, John (April 10, 2023). "Katy Perry announces final 'Play' dates". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ^ Henderson, Taylor (December 16, 2021). "Katy Perry Knows She Helped Fans Explore Their Sexuality". Out. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Jeffrey, Joyann (December 30, 2021). "Katy Perry sings next to a giant face mask and inside a toilet in Vegas residency". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on January 1, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  11. ^ Allaire, Christian (January 2, 2022). "Katy Perry Is Still the Queen of Camp". Vogue. Archived from the original on February 1, 2022. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  12. ^ Katsilometes, John (January 27, 2022). "Katy Perry adds more shows to 'Play' at Resorts World". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  13. ^ Gray, Mark (December 30, 2021). "Katy Perry Sings in a Toilet, Toasts a Giant Mask, and Plays the Hits at Vegas Residency". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  14. ^ @katyperry (December 29, 2021). "TOMORROW you can officially come to PERRY PLAYLAND! Where you can come and sing along to so many of your favorite songs! #PLAY" (Tweet). Retrieved December 29, 2021 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (February 11, 2022). "Katy Perry's Las Vegas Residency Has Already Earned Nearly $7 Million". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  16. ^ @katyperry (June 1, 2022). "mark ur 🗓 we gonna #play 🍄 in October too babes AXS.com/katyinvegas". Retrieved June 1, 2022 – via Instagram.
  17. ^ a b @katyperry (October 27, 2022). "Welcoming all my #flatearthers #spaceisfakers #birdsarentrealers #skyisntbluers to come see my broken doll eye party trick IRL in Vegas next year!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ a b @katyperry (February 13, 2023). ". @lukebryan 🤝" (Tweet) – via Twitter.