Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour Launches Into Infamy

Just two weeks after she announced the set list from space, Katy Perry’s Lifetimes Tour is under way. The pop diva has been an online punching bag since the release of her song “Woman’s World” up through her most recent album, 143, but nobody can deny that she has an unimpeachable run of hits off her first three records. Maybe it’s time to just remind the world of her long list of bangers! The tour began on April 23 in Mexico City and will run through the end of 2025, ending in Abu Dhabi on December 7. Like the rest of Perry’s recent output, the online antics surrounding the Lifetimes Tour have been merciless — with social media making fun of her choreography and sets and accusing her of using AI. The concert is split into five acts plus an encore, with Perry fighting an evil force called “the Main Frame” as a video-game character named KP143, per the Associated Press. How does that tie into her greatest hits? Well, it’s certainly going down in pop history.

She had some suspicious visuals.

the ai visuals… this is a new low pic.twitter.com/4g4kaiz9Gt

— Brooklyn (@bklynb4by) April 24, 2025

In the story of the Lifetimes Tour, Perry battles the “AI” Main Frame, so it’s certainly ironic that she’s being accused of using AI to generate the “Lifetimes” background. Technically, the use of AI video generation isn’t confirmed, but the images have a certain sheen. (Vulture has reached out to Perry’s team for comment.) While Perry sings the song, pictures of hundreds of people celebrating appear behind her onscreen. Online, users called the potential use of AI “a new low.”

She performed choreography.

Toward the end of the show, during a dance break in “Part of Me” set to Tommie Sunshine’s “The Power,” Perry dances a jerky cheerleader routine that involves her violently rocking a baby, shaking her butt, and being lifted about a foot off the ground by two dancers. Then, she falls in a death drop and stays on the ground with one leg in the sky for 15 seconds, before finally getting up and continuing to sing “Part of Me.” The section was trounced online, with one person scoring over 1,000 likes on X for simply saying, “Somebody please explain what’s going on.” What’s going on is the Lifetimes Tour.

She went up in the sky!

It’s a bird — no, it’s a Blue Origin spacecraft. Perry spends a lot of time during this tour soaring through the air. P!nk better watch out. During the song “Nirvana,” a track off of 143 that kicks off the story’s third act, she’s pulled through the air in a harness, uneasily stepping on the literal backs of her dancers. “You make me feel so, feel so high,” she sings. Get it?

Then, while she belts out “Roar” during Act 5, she’s on the back of an unidentifiable winged animal machine, flying around the arena. She waves to the upper tiers in the theater, sitting on the metallic animal’s back as its wings slowly flap.

She wielded a lightsaber.

Luke, I am Mother. While she performs Act 4 opener “E.T.,” Perry battles Main Frame, a large, snakelike creature with a double-bladed lightsaber à la Darth Maul. While she fights, Matrix-style lime-green binary code flashes behind her. Save us, Katy Perry!

She let the audience choose a song.

Each concert, Perry will let the audience vote on a song for her to sing using their phones by scanning a QR code that flashes on the arena’s screens, like Taylor Swift’s “secret songs” before her. On April 23, the crowd decided on “The One That Got Away,” which she played with an acoustic guitar.

She learned that she is Mexican.

In one video, the crowd yells, “Katy, hermana, ya eres Mexicana,” a classic fan chant that basically translates to “Katy, girl, you’re already Mexican.” She twerks to the beat before intently asking, “What does it mean? What does it mean?”

Related

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• What Happened During the Blue Origin Celebrity Space Flight