'We Only Want Your Bangers': Katy Perry & AFL Divided Over Grand Final Entertainment Setlist

Katy Perry and the AFL are reportedly butting heads over her Grand Final pre-game entertainment setlist, with the AFL allegedly telling her to stick to her hits.

Perry released her new album, 143, last Friday (20 September). According to a recent Fox Sports News report, Perry’s team reportedly pushed back against the AFL’s request—the Teenage Dream singer wanted to perform two new songs, likely the controversial first single, Woman’s World, and the second single, Lifetimes.

Appearing on SEN Breakfast on Monday (23 September), AFL journalist Tom Morris revealed that the AFL and Perry’s team had reached an agreement for her to perform just one new song.

Discussing the movements on air, AFL great Kane Cornes said, “The AFL are saying, ‘We only want your hits. We only want your bangers. We only want your best stuff.’”

And the hits are? Roar, Teenage Dream, and, of course, Firework. “They want all the songs we know and love,” Cornes said. “And she’s pushed back and said, ‘No, no, I want to play two of my new songs.’”

Cornes continued, “You know when you go to a concert, and maybe they’re old, and all you want is their good stuff? You just want their greatest hits. That’s what the AFL have requested with Katy Perry. And she’s gone, ‘I want to promote some of my new music.’”

Adding to the chatter, AFL legend and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said that if the AFL wanted a say in Perry’s setlist, “they should have written it into the contract.”

Buckley continued, “It’s too late to ask her something if it’s not written into the contract. If, in fact, it is, then Katy, you’re just going to have to come to the party.”

Asking what “we only want your bangers” actually means, Buckley added, “According to who? So, Katy Perry has to sing what [AFL CEO] Andrew Dillon thinks is the bangers?”

Yesterday, The Music reported on some other drama regarding the AFL Grand Final and Katy Perry: contenders Brisbane Lions were hoping to train on the ground for an extra day before the big day on Saturday (28 September), but they were denied because Perry needed the ground for rehearsal on Thursday (26 September).

Last year, the AFL secured KISS to headline the pre-game entertainment after Crowded House reportedly dropped out.