American Pop Culture

  Over Thanksgiving break, my friend and I went to Los angeles for a concert. When trying to figure out how I was going to consume art this semester, I decided that this concert was perfect, with examining how pop culture has exploded in America, and many eccentric artists are born from it. So don't laugh but the concert we went to was Katy Perry.

  The concert was held at the Staples Center, and it was completely packed! There were so many people there, it was insane. Many of the people dressed up like in ridiculous outfits (which all seemed to have had much time and effort put into them). Just observing the different dynamics of people there was fascinating. The ages ranged from 8 or 9 up to couples in their 50s. I find it always intriguing the difference in crowds at concerts. I've been to my fair share of concerts and what I've observed is that the more flamboyant or "poppy" the performer is the bigger the age range. Some of the other concerts I've attended, such as Mumford & Sons or Keane, the crowd is more college aged and up, virtually no children. Interesting point...

  Anyway, back to Katy Perry...

  Katy's entrance was another unique aspect to this concert. It started with a pre-filmed movie that prefaced the performance with a story line of her in some kind of "candy land" place. Through out the concert (during costume changes), the film would continue and then lead into the next set of songs. It all seemed to correlate one way or another which I thought was a rather clever idea. The film aspect made the concert seem much more like a show rather than just a performer singing their songs.

 
  Overall the concert was filled with a really high energy level. It was really amazing to see such a mass of people who don't know each other to be having a great time all together. Even though the thousands of people in the audience weren't involved in the actual performance, tons of people were dancing around and singing, which made it much more interactive feeling, like the energy form the songs and Katy herself was flowing into everyone there.

  I went to this concert not expecting much, but coming out of it I'm glad I was able to experience it. It is a great example of American pop culture and I really think this kid of performance is one of the few truly modern American art forms.

(We were in the second to last row in the whole place so I didn't get any good pictures so here are the sources of the pictures I found online.)

Picture Sources:

http://www.picowl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Katy-Perry-Los-Angeles-Concert.jpg

http://celebshut.com/wp-content/uploads/celebrities/katy-perry/concert-photos-from-salt-lake-city/Katy%20Perry%20Concert%20Photos%20from%20Salt%20Lake%20City-09-520x812.jpg

http://marieclaire.media.ipcdigital.co.uk/11116%7C00004dbc7%7Cab6d_rexfeatures-1288922v.jpg