{"id":759974,"date":"2026-06-25T10:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/759974\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:03:12","slug":"katy-perry-plays-all-the-hits-at-malahide-castle-but-almost-in-a-hasty-tribute-act-fashion-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/759974\/","title":{"rendered":"Katy Perry plays all the hits at Malahide Castle but almost in a hasty tribute-act fashion \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katy Perry<\/p>\n

Malahide Castle\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2bea\u2606 (3.5)<\/p>\n

Storming the stage in a shirt-and-tie number, Katy Perry<\/a> deals a frenzied version of her hit California Girls to open her Malahide Castle date, setting her multigenerational crowd alight. <\/p>\n

Her opener sees her don a bedazzled stars-spangled tie with a shirt that reads \u201cI am not a Robot\u201d in block lettering, all while being supported by eight back-up dancers in caricaturistic muscle-men suits, in turn bringing a slice of Venice Beach to Dublin\u2019s northern coastline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came with the freaking weather,\u201d the Santa Barbara singer-songwriter exclaims joyfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to play all the songs you grew up with\u201d she adds, which the diverse crowd take delight in; her last album 143<\/a> was a critical and commercial flop, in part due to the involvement of controversial producer Dr Luke. <\/p>\n

Although she is performing in Dublin as part of her Lifetimes Tour in support of her seventh studio album, the set list predominantly features material fans and non-fans alike will be familiar with from her early career.<\/p>\n

California Girls is immediately followed by Teenage Dream and Last Friday Night (TGIF) \u2013 two other tracks off her 2010 studio album \u2013 in a whirlwind medley. <\/p>\n

The triple-hit opening embodies everything that is brilliant and disappointing about the gig. Sure, she plays all the tracks you know and love, but almost in a hasty Katy Perry tribute-act fashion. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s 9pm by the time the star makes her appearance on stage to the 20,000-strong crowd, and an hour and 45 minutes does not feel like a sufficient amount of time to do justice to all the chart-topping tracks from her near 20-year long career. <\/p>\n

\"PerryPerry wore a shirt that reads ‘I am not a Robot’. Photo: Kieran Frost \"KatyKaty Perry performs to a 20,000-strong crowd. Photo: Kieran Frost \"KatyKaty Perry performs onstage during a concert at Malahide Castle on June 24th. Photo: Kieran Frost <\/p>\n

There are two glorious songs that prove exceptions to this ad hoc greatest hits festival. <\/p>\n

The first is a moving rendition of her 2009 track Thinking of You – it is the first of very few songs of the evening played from start to finish in full. It sees Perry pluck guitar strings and prove she is every bit the star, if not more so, without the trappings of the elaborate stage. <\/p>\n

The second incidence of blistering authenticity is when she plays a stripped-back Roar – the final track of her set before the encore. <\/p>\n

Perry\u2019s stage presence in these moments is more compelling than when she gambols across her elaborate set \u2013 which is designed to look like a desk, complete with a giant white laptop, phone, window, water bottle and books. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say the crowd does not go wild when she uses the enormous stage-prop water bottle as a vehicle for crowd surfing, as part of a back-to-back billing of Hot N Cold followed by I Kissed a Girl. <\/p>\n

But with the rush to deliver high-octane rip-roaring pop, Perry sometimes loses sight of her most endearing authentic performance moments. <\/p>\n

Ending a musical night of fun and camp, Perry closes with one life-affirming session of Firework, taking a bow on her evening of greatest hits. <\/p>\n

\"'I‘I came with the freaking weather,’ Katy Perry tells the crowd. Photo: Kieran Frost \"EndingEnding a musical night of fun and camp, Perry closes with one life-affirming session of Firework. Photo: Kieran Frost \"EnglishEnglish singer-songwriter Mimi Webb opened for Katy Perry at Malahide Castle. Photo: Kieran Frost <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katy Perry Malahide Castle\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2bea\u2606 (3.5) Storming the stage in a shirt-and-tie number, Katy Perry deals a frenzied version…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,15294,75,4417,270900,341],"class_list":["post-759974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dublin","tag-entertainment","tag-katy-perry","tag-malahide-castle","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}