Peasant Press

DENVER

Post COVID I have been going into debt to see several artists sing on stage. Among them in no particular order: Billie Eilish in Las Vegas, Bruno Mars in Las Vegas, Green Day & Smashing Pumpkins in Phoenix, Foreigner in Las Cruces, P!NK in Phoenix, Sarah Brightman in Las Vegas, Taylor Swift in Denver, Weird Al Yankovic in Salt Lake, a failed attempt to see Ronnie Milsap In Ruidoso, New Mexico, and last night, Katy Perry in Denver. While all of them were memorable and worthy efforts on my and tens of thousands of other peasants to see, I was most worried about getting a healthy return on investment from Katy Perry. Why? Because of the infusion of bad press being pumped out of the MATRIX toward her recently.

Shockingly she was being mocked at every turn over her participation in leaving planet Earth with other hard working women who decided to spend their money on that, viral videos framing her on this tour as lazy or anticlimactic at best compared to Taylor, Billie, or Beyonce’, and her very Public break up with her daughter Daisy’s baby daddy, Orlando Bloom. Yet, here she was and here we all were in Denver to see her after the show had been punted to July 10 from May 15. My expectations were low. In fact, I am no die hard fan of any of these very lucky peasants because I have been too busy raising children of my own for the last couple decades and trying to survive. I am a fraud. I don’t know album names or fan girl out too deeply like those around me. I hide and enjoy myself with my shallow knowledge of songs with appreciation and no regrets.

By comparison, Ball Arena in Denver went as smoothly as Wierd Al Yankovic at the Maverick Center a couple weeks ago in Salt Lake. THAT crowd was completely and utterly Caucasian and the merch line I was tribute to stand in line for was a mile long full of the nerdiest most fabulous peasants I have ever witnessed. Taylor Swifts merch line was impossible. I ended up getting something online altogether for that one, but the peasants willing to stand in her line were sparkles and light! Katy Perry’s merch line? Flawless and glittered with fans that are hybrid to Taylor Swift and Weird Al heck, all other artists and age groups combined! In fact, the girls behind us were already wearing simple white T-Shirts with Katy Perry’s face close up in her blue astronaut uniform holding a single daisy. I wanted to buy them right off of their back but found my own on Etsy waiting for Katy to perform. Her merch line was fast. We got a butterfly pillow, shirts, and a looking glass.

The opener last night was Cheat Codes. Never heard of them but really appreciated them and they warmed us up effectively. Within minutes of Katy Perry finally taking the stage I discovered exactly why she has been targeted so vile an Trumpishly lately. Her performance was an adventure, no, better than that, a video game where she is the heroin very sexy and strong and teaming with Tomb Raider vibes but better as it was ai nodding adventure where butterflies have been taken from the Earth causing calamity and she has to go through levels and collect hearts and gain strength to defeat the damaged code.

I do not want to give it away but I have more to say. This woman Katy Perry stood in front of us fresh off a flight from Paris with no sign of haggardness. This mother of a five year old already sleeping behind stage showed up instead of canceling Denver and did as much physical displays as P!NK, plenty of wardrobe changes, and put on a show with a broken heart to boot! Something she is no stranger to if you recall Russell Brand era. She generously pulled up many girls on stage not from the pit either! She asked them what they want to be when they grew up. One didn’t know, the others? Lawyer, Fighter Pilot, Singer, and for the record I clapped loudest at the uncertain one. It was beautiful. At one point we got to vote on a song she would sing which was awesome.

The entire thing inspired me. It inspired this. Day after day we peasants do our best with so much power, love, and control yet often feel the opposite is true. With bodies saturated with information and feckless experts on everything letting us down incessantly who cares if Katy Perry is an astronaut? What do I want to be? I want to comment on and write about life. We’re all just Daisy’s sprinkling the Earth playing out our brief part as modern peasants. Katy Perry preaches love. God is Love? The world needs more of it. I nominate her for cuntator of the Earth since dictators have only ever destroyed it. With our collective support, maybe she can reboot Earth so we can thrive as a species and restore justice, balance, health, and harmony through endless hope with orchestrated love.