A sold-out crowd and a stripper pole

(Credit: Nathalie Voirin)

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Pop tease Katy Perry delighted a sold-out crowd Tuesday in St. Petersburg with her snarky lyrics, catchy melodies, and undeniable charisma. Alternating between naughty sexpot and cute nerd next-door, the singer/songwriter best known for the kinda-sorta controversial single "I Kissed a Girl" pleased about 1,000 concertgoers at Jannus Landing with a winning mix of well-executed songs and spot-on, funny stage banter that appealed to the highly eclectic, all-ages audience - even if some four-letter words probably upset the parents of tweens in attendance.

"What the fuck is up with this pole? Perry said shortly after taking the stage at 9 p.m., in reference to the support beam right in front of center stage. "I'm not a stripper!"

No, she wore a leopard-skin top cut moderately low (for her) and a puffy, glittering black skirt with knee-high fishnet stocking. For the encore, Perry did return looking decidedly more risqué: She confidently sported a form-fitting purple sequined kitty costume complete with pointy ears and tail.

A giant inflatable kitty head, strawberries and a very phallic banana that would later be joined by an even more phallic "cherry red Chapstick" joined the musicians on stage. The kitschy and mischievous, with a wink, setting fit Perry's "babies of the 1980s" shtick perfectly. The "hyper color" shirts being peddled for $40 at the merch table served as the perfect, decade-appropriate sign of silly excess.

Backed by an all-male quartet consisting of a drummer, bassist, lead guitarist and guitarist/keyboardist, the plucky, formerly Christian recording artist born Katheryn Hudson played a pink electric guitar, blonde acoustic guitar or simply gripped the mic and pranced back and forth across the stage. She jumped in place, lead hands-in-the-air chorus sing a-longs and dipped down to make eye contact with - or show her cleavage to (?) -  audience members.

"Obviously I can't dance," she admitted after clowning around with a goofy, so-called "butterfly" move. "And I don't care!"

The song selections mostly came from her chart-busting 2008 debut disc "One of the Boys." They included the hits "Hot 'N Cold," "Ur So Gay," "Thinking of You," the newly issued "Waking Up in Vegas" and, of course, the climatic closer "I Kissed a Girl." Perry augmented the album cuts with a pair of covers. The first was a faithful rendition of the irresistible mid-1980s hit "Your Love," by one-hit wonders The Outfield - something many thought Perry would before the success of her post-"I Kissed a Girl" singles. She later covered Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now." It wasn't the smartest move considering she doesn't have the vocal chops to venture into Freddie Mercury territory. But, Perry is a solid, rather nuanced pop singer who co-writes fairly witty, awfully grabby songs and knows how to sell them on stage - and be a most welcoming hostess. After dropping down to interact with the crowd toward the end of the night, Perry used the support beam to swing herself back on stage.  "I finally got to use the stripper pole!" she joked.

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