Katy Perry has become the latest artist to announce an arena tour whereby for every ticket sold a donation is made to small venues.
She arrives in the UK next October for what is being billed as ‘The Lifetimes Tour’ and has lined up five dates at Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, before finishing up at London’s 02 on October 13.
These will be the singer’s first UK shows for seven years and Perry sounded positively ebullient about the prospect of returning to our shores, peppering her statement with a succession of exclamation marks: “I’m so incredibly chuffed to bring The Lifetimes Tour to the UK! I can’t wait to have a big sing-along of all the songs you love and more! It’s going to be a giant dance party, and everyone’s invited!”
And yes, for every ticket sold for the tour, £1 will be donated to the Music Venue Trust, the UK charity which acts to protect, secure and improve UK grassroots music venues. Perry played her first UK show at the tiny Water Rats in King’s Cross in 2008, before upgrading to the Scala Theatre up the road for another show later that year.
In a statement, the Music Venue Trust sounded pleased too: “We want to say a huge thank you to Katy and her team for stepping up to support grassroots music venues, artists and promoters,” said Mark Davyd, the CEO of the MVT. “The contribution from these shows will keep venues open, get new and emerging artists out on tour, and enable promoters to bring the best in new music to our communities.”
The idea of a £1 grassroots levy on arena and stadium shows is certainly in the ether at the moment. Perry follows in the wake of Coldplay, who are donating 10% of the proceeds from their 2025 UK stadium shows to the MVT. A £1 levy on all stadium shows could yet end up becoming a recommendation that comes out of the government’s current review of secondary ticketing in the UK.
It’s been a difficult few months for Perry, who could badly do with some good PR. First of all, Woman’s World, the lead single from her new album 143 flopped both here and in the States.
The video for the second single Lifetimes was the subject of an investigation by the Department of Environment in the Balearic Islands after it was alleged the shoot there caused damage to the protected dunes of S’ Espalmador. Then when 143 did finally come out in September it was ripped to shreds by critics, scoring a succession of one- and two-star reviews.
