Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris (2026)

Katy Perry Live from Paris Lights Up the Stadium Concert Sky like a Firework

I have an affinity for Katy Perry. I do admit she’s like the Walmart version of a wannabe Madonna pop princess who showcases a ton of glitz, a dash of glamor, and a lot of cookie-cutter overcaffeinated theatricality, but I’m not remotely above humming along happily to several of her songs. Even if there are times she feels like she was created in a boardroom and not organically through a lot of heart, blood, sweat, and tears, I’m kind of okay with that. She makes me smile.

That does not mean I am likely the best person to speak about her IMAX concert film Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris. Much of this raucous, over-produced two-hour spectacle is too schmaltzy in its glittery excess even for me to casually dismiss. Still, Perry has undeniable charm and stage presence, and I love that you can tell she’s actually singing and not lip-syncing along to her biggest hits. There’s something endearing about watching a talented performer try not to gasp for air so she can finish a lyric while somersaulting backward in an airborne harness across a glowing infinity symbol stage.

Directed by concert film veteran Paul Dugdale (according to the production notes and IMDb he’s handled eight pictures in 2026 alone, including Dua Lipa Live from Mexico and Disney Princess: The Ultimate Concert Celebration), the show — as originally conceived by Perry — is presented as a pop battle between a mechanized chanteuse warrior and a rogue A.I. that has kidnapped all of the world’s butterflies. Yes. That’s the plot of the concert. I didn’t make that up.

However, as silly as that goofy video game scenario sounds, it does make for a good excuse for Perry to dress up in several cartoon-inspired outfits and sing an impressive 31 numbers out of her songbook. Those costumes range from garishly robotic anime aesthetics to hard candy swirls come to shimmery life. We then watch Perry parade around her figure-eight stage with confident gusto, her cadre of athletic male dancers acrobatically moving all around her for the majority of each performance (there are rare, and notable, exceptions).

The Parisian stadium crowd vociferously eats it all up and, for fans, I’m certain experiencing this showcase secondhand in all its IMAX glory will be worth the ticket price. For me, I only enjoyed myself in fits and starts. The opening selections, “Artificial” and the undeniably catchy “Chained to the Rhythm” are terrific, and a suitably goofy presentation of “California Gurls” brought a big smile to my face. An emotional rendition of “Not Like the Movies” unexpectedly gave me all the feels, while an inspired presentation of semi-deep cut “Nirvana” is outstanding. Additionally, the one-two punch climax of “Wonder” followed by — no shock here — “Firework” more agreeably hit the spot.

The best moments come when Perry seems to completely let her guard down and embrace the Paris audience as if they’re all sitting in some small café enjoying an evening chatting and singing pleasantly with one another. This culminates in the artist bringing up four audience members to the stage (including two adorably enchanting twin little girls dressed in matching outfits, and a proudly swishy Gay superfan dressed like a character from one of her music videos) and proceeds to treat them like they’ve all been the best of friends for eons. It’s an act, of course, but it still comes off as genuine. It also establishes an undeniable connection between Perry and the audience that I found delightful.

But so many other moments land with a thud, not the least of which is a balletic presentation of “I Kissed a Girl” — as rousing a Queer kick-butt anthem as ever — where Perry still does not come anywhere near close to, you know, actually kissing a girl. Additionally, it is the one number where she is noticeably surrounded by her male dancers for the majority of the song. Even though Dugdale makes it a point to frequently cut to girls in the audience happily smooching, the whole performance sadly reminded me of the hysterical “Equal Rights (Not Gay)” music video from the Andy Samberg music mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. That’s not a compliment.

Other songs that underwhelmed include “Roar”, “Woman’s World,” “I’m His, He’s Mine,” and “E.T.” I don’t so much have anything bad to say about these performances as I don’t truly have anything good to say about them, either. They didn’t do anything for me.

Still, it’s fun watching Perry being frantically whisked underneath the stage between set breaks to quickly change, and the opening 15 minutes where we see the singer train, rehearse, and prepare for this show has a surprising amount of incisive, introspective weight. The highs outweigh the lows, and even if some aspects of this concert left me cold, the moments where I responded to the singer’s energetic performance more than made up for many of the film’s more obvious missteps.

Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris may not go boom, boom, boom, and it certainly is not brighter than the moon, moon, moon. But Perry still lets her colors burst, and I’m all but certain many of her most ardent fans will sit in that IMAX auditorium feeling nothing but awe, awe, awe. For a little less than two hours, the singer owns the night, just like that Fourth of July firework.

– Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle

Film Rating: 2½ (out of 4)