Britney Spears has had a rough couple of years, if you keep up with the tabloids: multiple divorces, child-custody battles, public meltdowns, a potentially career-busting performance on the MTV Video Music Awards in 2007.
So her “Circus” tour is designed to restore faith in the franchise, which has sold more than 80 million records in the last decade. The Britney brand was trotted out Tuesday in the first of two sold-out concerts at the Allstate Arena, and it was choreographed to kinky perfection.
Dressed as a whip-wielding lion tamer, a baton-waving cop, a drill sergeant (do we detect a theme here?), Spears flitted on and off a three-ring stage with a cylindrical curtain in the center of the arena. Her face was often obscured by her copious hair, sunglasses, caps. She frequently turned away from the audience when it came time to actually sing, to make it less obvious that she really wasn’t. The voice coming out of the speakers was processed into a chipmunk chirp.
As for the dancing, Spears did a lot of it, but more as part of an ensemble rather than as a featured star. She was a remote, almost robotic presence throughout the show, kept at considerable distance from her fans as if she were some exotic species of entertainer that needs its privacy; she merely had to be in the building --- and occasionally remove some clothing --- to elicit cheers.
All the rest was distraction: showers of sparks and confetti, shooting flames, bondage-clad slaves, gymnasts, trapeze artists, clowns, a guitar-playing midget. It was a lot of … something.
Yet this audience was rooting for the person hiding behind all that entertainment make-up. Many fans were twentyish women who undoubtedly grew up with her songs. But Spears gave them little reason to embrace her. There was no banter, no smiles, not even any close-ups on the video screen. It was as if Spears’ handlers wanted to keep her a safe distance from anything resembling a spontaneous encounter, an unexpected turn of events. God help her if Spears actually had to improvise.
By that play-it-safe standard, mission accomplished, I suppose. But if fans go to concerts seeking a closer connection to their heroes and heroines, this missed the mark by a mile. Frankly, I wasn’t so much appalled as bored. This for tickets as expensive as $750?
Music? Oh, yes, almost forgot about that. It was more of a soundtrack for all the dancing, play-acting and three-ring tomfoolery on stage. Those tracks pounding out of the speakers (an actual band was tucked out of view from most of the audience in an orchestra pit) sounded just fine. Whatever one thinks of Spears as a singer (she isn’t) or a songwriter (ditto), she puts a face on some thumping, well-produced hooks that would energize any dance club: “Toxic,” the Bollywood mix of “Me Against the Music,” “Womanizer” and especially “… Baby One More Time.”
But Spears is a disappointing performer. She’s a prop, used to sell tickets. This may be a Britney-approved event, but Britney herself is barely there.
greg@gregkot.com
Here’s the set list for the 90-minute show:
1. Circus
2. Piece of Me
3. Radar
4. Ooh Ooh Baby/Hot as Ice
5. Boys
6. If U Seek Amy
7. Me Against the Music
8. Freakshow
9. Get Naked
10. Breathe on Me/Touch of My Hand
11. Do Something
12. Slave
13. Toxic
14. Baby One More Time
ENCORE
15. Womanizer
Photo: Britney Spears performs at Allstate Arena on Tuesday. (Dave Shields/Photo for the Tribune)
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