Literally ensconced in cotton candy – from baby-pink blobs framing the overhead video screens to the wandering concessioners shouldering trays of fluffy spun sugar – Katy Perry's "Candyfornia"-themed concert Friday night at the St. Pete Times Forum still had a decidedly grown-up flavor.
The pop phenom's The California Dreams Tour drew mostly from her latest album, "Teenage Dream," a fun, flirty record and likely lyrical nightmare for teens' parents.
Courting her adolescent audience masterfully, Perry deftly evaded vulgarity by pairing her overt sexuality with a gleeful goofiness. Preceding an acoustic lull, she chatted at length with the crowd and posed for a picture with two girls invited on stage. The audience ate it up.
A mostly-female crowd ranging from around fourth grade to mid-40s stood for most of the show, singing along and appearing across-the-board ebullient. Deservedly so, as Perry's attempts at endearment – Noting she once lived in Fort Myers, she said: "I kind of feel like I've got a little Florida in me. Don't take that the wrong way!" – had an authentic charm.
Perry seemed happy to be here, a kernel sans artifice amid a 15-costume-change, candy-themed production that concluded with shooting mounds of heart-and-candy-wrapper-shaped confetti over an audience of almost 12,000.
Contrived or not, Perry's silly-meets-saccharine earnestness softened her show from mature to a PG-13 experience. There's definitely sex, but it's the nascent, guileless stuff of teenage dreams. Opening act Robyn's comparatively minimalist set gave fans their pop vegetables before Perry's obscenely decadent dessert.