Muzic Magazine

Katy Perry brought her roadshow to a sold-out Rod Laver Arena to kick off her first Australian tour in two years, and few seemed disappointed.

Despite a limited vocal range, few dance moves to speak of and that strangely soulless stare, 26-year-old Perry has already nailed global pop superstardom, the budding film career and the reformed bad-boy hubby.

She merrily bounced through her hit list - Firework, Teenage Dream, Hot N Cold – in a range of comic book and candyland-themed outfits that were not so much figure-hugging as figure-asphyxiating.

I Kissed a Girl, the notorious ode to experimentation that catapulted her onto every radio station on the planet, got the burlesque treatment to good effect and E.T. was nothing less than impressive, even without Kanye.

The obligatory ballad was a drag, there’s obviously a good reason why the non-hits don’t get released and the less said about I Wanna See Your Peacock the better.Ditto her attempts at an Aussie accent between songs.

After a karaoke segment, it all culminated in a candy-coatedCalifornia Girls, capping a show that was a decent riposte to those of us who presumed Perry didn’t have the chops to outlast a novelty pop classic.