Our look at the closing lines to the biggest music reviews continues today with a roundup of reactions to the opening night of Britney Spears‘ comeback tour, a circus-themed production that kicked off last night at the New Orleans Arena:
• “But anyone who thinks her lackluster would do well to remember what she really is: a burlesque performer, a carny’s dream born a century or so too late to be fated to ply her art upon the midway, but able to fulfill the spectacle of blond ambition now.” [Ann Powers, LA Times]
• “When she wrapped the concert about 90 minutes after emerging, she seemed more relieved than anything that it was all over.” [Chuck Arnold, People]
• “And by the time she said good night with another great one-two wallop (’Womanizer’ and a reprise of ‘Circus’), dressed in a sexy policewoman outfit, she looked exhausted. But happy. And why not? She brought the circus to her hometown, and it was a huge, sold-out, screaming success. It probably just would’ve benefited from a little more Britney Spears, that’s all. ” [James Montgomery, MTV]
• “But all the sex, fire and stomp-and-slither choreography can’t disguise the fact that the production needs a bigger, purely musical core (a few more songs from the current album would have helped) - and some spontaneity. It wasn’t until Spears finally called out “Thank you, New Orleans” after finishing her Womanizer encore that the crowd got a glimpse into the heart of their homegirl from Kentwood.” [Jerry Shriver, USA Today]
• “woah.” [Andrew Kuttler, [britneylive @ Twitter]
From the LA Times review:
“Her physical form, still beautiful, didn’t take one’s breath away the way it did when she was 17.”
I mean, I get what he’s saying. But that just seems really, really creepy.
@propaganda-artist: even scarier–the writer is a woman.
@propaganda-artist: even scarier–the writer is a woman.
It always amuses me when people expect humanity from androids.
Will she be singing live on this tour?
@King of Pants:
Right on the money thank you…
@T’Challa: I am not sure why, but I have been reading LA Times criticism a lot lately - it is really awful. Catty and irrational and insane.
@Thierry: Quoth Perez: “Yes, she lipsynchs during the entire concert. There is no live singing. None!. She recorded vocals to “sound like” live, but they were all canned, pre-taped.” … “In exchange for the miming, you do get Spears doing what she does best, dancing.”
Sometimes I think I would never have had any issues with Britney if she could just have always been sold as a dancer. But, no.
@ObtuseIntolerant: From the clips that I saw, she still isn’t much as a dancer either (token stripper moves and lots of stomping in high heeled boots do not amount to “dancing”), especially when compared to videos from Madonna doing intricate steps numbers AND singing live at 50. And sure, Michael Jackson may have been lipsynching more often than not, but the dancing was on a whole other level…