The much-awaited Manila concert of American pop star Katy Perry [real name, Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson], which was originally scheduled Oct. 3 finally pushed through on Nov. 14.

The event was postponed because its organizer MTV Philippines deemed the original date ‘inappropriate’ as it fell at the time the country was still reeling from the devastation caused by tropical storms Ondoy and Pepeng.

It is for this reason that the concert was turned into a fund-raising event and redubbed “Katy Perry Rocks for Relief.”

The concert opened with an earnest performance from little-known rock band MAE or Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience, whose ‘middle-of-the-road’ rock was warmly received by the mostly teenage crowd.

Next was local boy Jed Madela who wowed the crowd with his robust vocal calisthenics that’s honed through years of singing covers of songs by Ben E. King all the way to Queen. Madela admitted right after his rendition of Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love” to feeling out of place given the rock tone of Katy’s concert.

Arnel Pineda and Neal Schon, two-fifths of Journey, trailed Madela with their blistering version of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” The duo proceeded to perform popular Journey songs including “Faithfully” and Don’t Stop [Believing].”

The crowd went wild as soon as stagehands came out with giant pink flamingoes and inflatable strawberries. Perry’s band, all dressed in white, making like a lounge act, then trooped center stage to the strain of the Beach Boy’s classic “California Girls” – a salute of sorts to one of Perry’s influences.

Perry rushed to the stage wearing a ‘50s-inspired attire colored pink and velvet and complemented with a feathery collar.  She was a bundle of energy from the get-go; jumping, twirling, dancing, rolling, crawling—all the while singing as fluidly as she does on her records.

Not that she’s all about just performing her songs as thoroughly and as cleanly as she can: Perry made sure she made that all-too important connection with her fans by urging them to go “crazy” with her.

To emphasize her point, she plucked a fan from the crowd – a certain “Tommy from Ateneo”---and made him dance onstage. She rewarded him with a smackaroo right after the number; no doubt, a memory that the boy probably wouldn’t get over with in his lifetime.

From then on, the crowd was as malleable as clay on Perry’s hand.

Used to titillating her fans with songs that deal with touchy topics---not unlike similar-minded predecessors like Madonna, among others---Perry continued the mischievous tone of the concert with her onstage banter.

“How do you say penis here?” she asked at one point.

When she finally got her answer, Perry seemingly wouldn’t stop saying it—letting the syllables roll off her tongue.

“Pooh- toe-toy,” she said, giggling.

As playful as her stage moves were, Perry hinted that she's an artist with more than just a good number of shock-and-awe gimmickry in her arsenal. She delved into singer-songwriter territory with back-to-back confessionals "Lost" and "Thinking of You" en solo and backed by just an acoustic guitar.

Her encore consisted of a competent cover of Queen’s 1979 hit, "Don't Stop Me Now." Her climactic closer---the big hit, "I Kissed a Girl"---had the singer bravely getting up-close-and-personal with lucky fans in the VIP section.

In all, the show was an enjoyable affair – good enough to convince non-fans to take heed of the concealed artistry beneath the fluffy posturing and innuendos.