The world's biggest new pop star played a 200-cap King's Cross pub — then came back nine years later and cried into the mic.

Katy Perry played The Water Rats on 10 September 2008 — a ~200-capacity King's Cross pub — five weeks after "I Kissed a Girl" hit UK #1. She was already the country's biggest new pop artist and chose one of London's smallest rooms to promote "One of the Boys" in; contemporary reviews (Londonist, the Guardian) played on that mismatch between her scale and the venue.

The callback: she returned to the same room on 25 May 2017, fronting the launch party for Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp — three days after the Manchester Arena bombing. She broke down mid-set, led the crowd in a moment of silence, and dedicated "Part of Me" to the victims. Coverage framed it as a return to the venue of her first UK show; some outlets said "ten years," though the actual gap was closer to nine — worth not repeating that figure as fact.

Recording note: linked video is fan-recorded (UGC) footage of "I Kissed a Girl" tagged to the 2008 show, matching on title/channel per our usual screen. Hasn't been watched end-to-end to confirm it's genuinely Water Rats/London and not mislabelled — verify before Publish.