ENTERTAINMENT

Katy Perry Comes to Brussels

By Melisa, age 13, Belgium

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go see Katy Perry live in concert! She was in Brussels for her California Dreams Tour.

It was on a Thursday which sucks because I had school the next day. I went with three of my good friends right after school. First, we took my friend's school bus and went straight to her place to eat dinner ... yummy, pasta! And we sat down a bit and watched part of a movie called The Boat That Rocked, which didn't grab my interest much, but my friends liked it so I just watched it anyway. After that, my friend's mom told us to start getting ready, since she was going to go with us to the concert, so off we were!

We were supposed to meet my other friend's mom because she was also coming with us. So we walked for about 20 minutes around Brussels (obviously not the whole of Brussels), and we finally met the other parent. We then took a public bus for about 25 minutes, with all of us complaining that we were SO tired! Almost half the bus was filled with people who were going to the Katy Perry concert.

At last! We arrived! Oh gosh, the place was completely packed. All the people with Katy Perry t-shirts and even the funky wigs she wears. We handed in our tickets and walked in. It felt so amazing. I saw all the souvenirs, including posters and T-shirts, with Katy Perry's face on them. We entered the hall where she was going to perform and it was filled with THOUSANDS of people everywhere. The parents told us where they were going to be, took our coats, and went to their seats.

Unfortunately, we didn't have seats ... we had to stand up! The standing area had its pros and cons. The good thing is that you could dance around and move, rather than just sit on a chair. But it was also pretty tiring to stand on your feet the whole time. I saw a couple other people from my school there and I was happy to see one of them was a good friend of mine! We hugged hello and began our quest to squish through the crowd and get closer to the stage. One of the things about going to a concert is the enemies you can make without saying a word to them. There was this one girl who was so annoying! The thing is, she wasn't doing ANYTHING. She was just standing there. Luckily, my friends and I got to shove past her so it was all good.

The lights started to dim a bit and a new band called New Young Pony Club started playing. They were really amazing. Whoever reads this article should definitely check them out. They played about four songs - and catchy ones too! After they finished, some background music began playing so I started chatting with my friends. After a bit, a DJ went up on the stage and started playing a variety of different songs, which made the crowd go wild. Everyone was cheering and having such a good time, and Katy Perry hadn't even come up yet! After he was done, we had to wait about 10 minutes more until the moment everyone was waiting for.

The concert hall went completely dark and the curtains rose, causing the crowd to cheer their heads off. The stage was filled with lollipops, cupcakes, and cotton candy. There was a BIG cloud shaped TV and a movie played. The movie was in black and white and it sort of told a story, which was to inspire every song she was going to sing at the concert. At the end of the first clip, the public went wild - at last, they were going to see Katy Perry. The guitarist played the intro to one of my favorite songs, "Teenage Dream." Katy Perry was lifted on the stage with a pink tutu and a red leotard. At this point I was jumping like crazy! Then she began to sing the lyrics and I just melted. I don't think I was the only one either.

After about two or three songs, another song started to play. But this song was a lot different, and it's probably my favorite from her new album. Katy came out in a blue-green feathered leotard with a huge feathered thing behind her. When the chorus came, the feathered thing behind went up and when I heard the lyrics I couldn't help but sing along. Yes, it was indeed "Peacock!" I listen to this song almost every day. It's definitely my favorite.

Later, after a few other songs (some were from her older album), the hall went completely black. Lights started to shine on the crowds and a clip started showing. After it was done, Katy came out in a purple cat suit, singing the song that made me understand the light show. It was very sci-fi-like to me, so of course it was E.T. The lights were still shining on us and it felt so amazing! This setting was definitely the prettiest and coolest of all.

One or two songs later, Katy came up looking gorgeous. She had a baby pink strap dress on and was sitting on a chairlift covered with different flowers. A piano started to play and it was so beautiful. This song made me tear up a bit because it sounds so sad, but the good kinda sad. It was, in fact, "Not Like The Movies." Bubbles started coming out of the stage and it looked so magical. The chairlift started to bring her up really high, and at this point I wanted the crowd to be quiet to hear the pretty song.

This is the part that ruined the night. Since I was surrounded by hundreds of people, obviously it was going to be a little hot, right? Wrong. It was EXTREMELY hot. I felt like I was going to faint and almost collapsed. I had to get out of there so I pushed my way through the crowd with my friend who was helping me. I sat down on the floor and rested a little bit. It was good that it was almost the end of the concert because we were on the side of the hall where you couldn't see much. One of the guards gave me a drink of water so I felt a lot better after that.

Yay! This song is definitely a fun song: Katy Perry had changed into a polka dot leotard and screamed to the crowd: "This song is for all the people who love to party!" So obviously, "Last Friday Night," right? I was a bit sad because I couldn't see her properly since I was on the side of the hall and it was impossible to get back to the spot I was before. I was dancing along and one of the dancers was waving to me and my friend. She was telling us to come up on the stage! She kept waving to us to come on but the guard was confused about who were the people she had called up. My friend and I jumped like crazy but unfortunately the little girl next to us got to go up ... which made me really disappointed :(

Now, I had been waiting for this song the whole night: Katy said that this was the song she loved the most. "Firework!" I can see why she said that because the song is about people who are different but should just stand up, be happy, and live their lives. I heard that this song is a really hard one to sing but she did absolutely amazing. She looked gorgeous as well (wearing the same outfit as before).

A clip started showing again, and this clip was to inspire probably one of her most well known songs. She started singing it and the crowd went insane, including me because I had this song in my head for two days straight. "You could travel the world ..." California Girls! Before I knew it, pink confetti was everywhere and the dancers on stage had thrown giant beach balls into the crowd (not including me, since I was still on the side with my friend). It was so cute and pretty.

Then the song ended, she said goodbye, and the curtain went down. I was really sad because I wanted the concert to continue forever. This was one of the best experiences of my life. As a souvenir I got a giant poster of The California Dreams Tour and hung it in my room, and I'll always remember everything about that night.

I give the concert a big 5 stars! If you haven't heard Katy Perry's album, go listen to it now! You won't regret it. I promise :)


Photos were taken by my friend Anna Vinkele, and are used by permission.

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