Review: Ariana Grande brings fun stage show to Intrust Bank Arena

Back-up dancers. Fireworks. Glitter. A headliner with a four-octave voice who wears cat ears. At all times.

Pop music returned to Intrust Bank Arena on Tuesday night, courtesy of 22-year-old star Ariana Grande, who delivered the venue’s most choreographed, intricately staged production since Taylor Swift visited with her “Red” tour in 2013.

The show attracted around 7,800 fans – most of them teens and pre-teen girls capable of producing an eardrum-piercing collective shriek. And it included all the hallmarks of a 2015 pop show, from airborne scenery to smoke to dancers popping up from below.

Grande, who first rose to fame as a teenager on the Nickelodeon show “Victorious,” appeared on stage after an anticipation-building 60-second countdown wearing a short, black skirt; knee-high spike-heeled black boots; a heart-shaped bustier; and a cat ear headband atop her voluminous signature ponytail.

She opened the show with “Bang Bang,” a 2014 hit off Jessie J’s album “Sweet Talker,” a song that also featured Grande and Nicki Minaj. Grande handled the song fine on her own, aided by on-stage fireworks that erupted with the refrain and a group of nine back-up dancers.

Grande has only two studio albums to her name, and she performed nearly every song off her most recent release, 2014’s “My Everything.”

Somehow, her voice sounded even bigger live. Grande’s microphone was louder than the music, and her vocals stood out on the stage rather than being drowned out by the overproduction that plagues some of her radio hits.

Her show was youthful and high tech. At one point, she offered a demonstration of a pair of singer Imogene Heap’s high-tech Mi.Mu gloves, which Heap used to record her song “Me the Machine.” The gloves allow performers to use hand gestures to control music, visuals and lighting.

Visitors to the T-shirt stand also had the option of buying light-up cat ears for $40 a pop that were controlled by computer inside the arena and lit up and flashed in time to the music.

And a few of Grande’s collaborators, including Grande’s ex Big Sean on “Best Mistake” and Childish Gambino on “Break Your Heart Right Back,” appeared at the show at key moments, albeit via pre-recorded performances played on the big screen behind Grande. It worked.

The crowd went crazy for Grande’s on-stage stunts, which included a giant cloud that hovered above the stage with Grande on board and a giant chandelier that descended from the ceiling with Grande inside.

Though Grande had plenty of energy and lots of adorably bouncy dance moves, she talked very little from the stage, and when she did, she revealed little.

Four times she asked, “How ya’ll feeling Wichita?” Eight times she begged for the audience to “Let me hear you.” Twice she thanked Wichita for letting her come. About eight times, she professed her love for Wichita.

“I love ya’ll so much, but ya’ll already know that,” she said during one of her final declarations.

She performed all her big hits, which wasn’t difficult considering that it’s a fairly short list at this point in her career. The set list included “One Last Time,” “Break Free” and “Problem,” which was the encore and the most fun number of the show, complete with high-energy dancing and a confetti drop.

Opening act Prince Royce also was a hit with the young crowd and demanded attention from the audience usually reserved for a headliner. At one point in his short set, he invited a young concert-goer on stage, where he sang to her, kneeled before her and offered her a red rose.

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Review: Ariana Grande brings fun stage show to Intrust Bank Arena."