Singer (and likely San Francisco crowd) startled after prop abruptly descends a few feet during “Roar” performance
Katy Perry had a near-disastrous moment at her San Francisco concert Friday as the singer’s giant butterfly prop plunged several feet while the singer was riding on it.
One of the set pieces of the Lifetimes Tour features Perry saddled atop the butterfly prop as it floats above the audience during her performance of “Roar.” However, at the Chase Center on Friday, the prop suffered a brief malfunction and suddenly descended several feet mid-flight, startling Perry and likely the crowd below her:
After the initial scare, Perry calmly collected herself and — once the butterfly steadied — jumped back into “Roar.” The rest of the performance continued incident-free.
Perry later joked about the near-disaster on Instagram, sharing a screen-grab of a close-up of her face the exact moment the butterfly dropped. “Goodnight San Fran,” she quipped.
Screenshot
The “Roar” incident marks the second time this summer that a floating concert prop nearly put the artist and the audience at risk: In late June, Beyonce faced a similar situation when her flying car tilted and stalled above a Houston crowd during “16 Carriages,” causing a brief delay (and the song’s temporary removal from the Cowboy Carter Tour set list, until the car was replaced with a horse).
As People notes, Perry endured a previous stage malfunction during the tour’s Australian leg when a flying sphere she rides in began tilting mid-performance, forcing her to cling to the cables connected to the sphere.
