Last Tuesday night, on a school night (yes, yes it was), my mom and I took my two daughters to see Katy Perry at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. I had bought tickets months ago, thinking that it would be a really good birthday present for them (they both have birthdays in July). I also planned to just keep them home from school the next day, since it would have only been their sixth day of school this year.

The last time I went to the Sprint Center, I saw a concession stand with gluten free pizza, so I figured we could just eat supper there instead of trying to leave early enough to go to a restaurant first.

We managed to get a pretty good parking spot on the street about three or fours blocks straight up from the venue (made exceptional by the fact that it was free, and not $10-20 bucks like most of the parking close by on event nights).

I have written about Katy Perry before, and how inappropriate some of her songs are for the kids. HA. HA HA HA. And a few of them are, for real. But, we watched her movie last winter and the girls were positively entranced. And of course we sing all of her songs when they come on the radio (and one of our many Kidz Bop albums). And, maybe, possibly, I wanted to see her, too. So we went.

I had purchased the furthest possible seats from the stage, basically, for two reasons. 1) We could afford four of them. 2) I wanted to be able to leave quickly or sneak off to the bathroom easily. Yes, that railing, in the picture, is the TOP of the Sprint Center.

We hoped that because the tickets said the show started at 7:00 pm, we wouldn’t be out too late. HAHAHAHAHA. That wasn’t the case.

The first opener was a dude named Ferras. He was talented, and pop-y, and very dramatic in his performance. He was good, but we were ready to get the show going. Essie and I were a little bored (she asked, no less than 137 times, if Katy Perry was next. She was not.)

Kasey Musgraves was next. She had a pretty cool stage set-up with neon cacti; she was adorable and super talented, and kind of a naughty country girl…..like, if she was your friend in high school, she’d be getting both of you in a lot of trouble.

But, once again, she wasn’t Katy. And actually, while she was playing, Essie fell asleep….in her chair, in the Sprint Center. I just prayed that she’d wake up before Katy DID come on, because really….I hadn’t listened to her “are we there yet?” version of the concert scene for nothing. And she did wake up after Kasey was done, so I stuffed cotton candy in her face to get her good and sugared up so she wouldn’t go back to sleep.

The moms in front of us gave the girls what we managed to not pick up at the entrance….prism glasses. They’re like 3D glasses, but cooler because they turn light into triangles of rainbows, sort of. So the girls played with those for a while while we waited.

FINALLY she came on. My phone battery was basically dead, so I couldn’t take any pictures of the spectacle on stage. But suffice it to say, it was pretty amazing. She changed clothes many times (something Ivy had asked about since we saw her stage show in the movie and all of the costume changes she did). Of course, they were over the top, because she’s Katy Perry….that’s what she does. But she sounded fantastic and it was highly entertaining. (And the light show at the very end, to the song Firework, also known as “Prism Vision” time, was really fun)

Ivy didn’t dance around too much, but she also didn’t peel her eyes off the stage…at all. She was mesmerized. Essie enjoyed it, too, until she got tired. The woman sang and chatted for well over two hours, and our five year old didn’t last through it all. She fell asleep about 30 minutes before the end, on my lap.

I ended up carrying her down the gigantic escalators in the Sprint Center, which were steep and TALL and terrifying when you’re trying to hold a sleeping 36 pounder, until a block from her car, where I started to feel very, very old and in a lot of pain and handed her over to my mom.

(My back still hurt three days later)

We got home at 1:00 am, put the girls to bed, and I tried to sleep for the next five hours until my alarm went off. Believe it or not, I let the girls sleep an extra 30 minutes (they ate breakfast in the car) took them to school on time, and they were both bouncy and happy when they got home in the afternoon (Essie had a half day, Ivy’s was full).

All in all, I’m really glad we went. It was a great show, and the girls are going to remember it for  long, long time. Even if Essie was a bit too young. And hey, those glasses made fantastic souvenirs for the boys.