Britney Spears brought us a circus, all right ““ and it wasn’t the train wreck that that term might have meant a short time ago.
It was just last February that we were housing the troubled pop princess in our own backyard at the UCLA Medical Center, and it was the February before that that she shockingly stumbled out of a tattoo parlor with a shaved head.
But on Thursday night at the Staples Center, Spears hit us with her big comeback. By no means is she back to her 2001 glory days of “I’m a Slave for You,” but she’s come a long way since the stunt she tried to pull at the 2007 Video Music Awards. One thing hasn’t changed: Spears is, and will always be, a put-on-a-show kind of girl.
The performance was full of crowd teasers and pleasers, beginning with Cirque du Soleil-inspired acrobatic stunts. But I’ll try not to ruin all of the surprises. Except that there was a special video visit from blogging diva Perez Hilton, who introduced the queen of the circus. Oops, I did it again.
Spears’ choreography was basic and somewhat dull at first, becoming increasingly sexy as the night progressed. I’m not gonna lie: The dancing diva shimmying and shaking it in the seat to my right could have given her a few pointers.
While Spears’ dancing may not have been excellent, the production as a whole ““ the lighting, the set, the special effects, the costumes, the circus performers ““ was awesome.
The stage was designed so there was not a bad seat in the house; all eyes witnessed the ring of fire, the smoke effects and the acrobats hanging from the ceiling.
Spears made her numerous costume changes at lightning speed, and with almost each song came a new rhinestone bra and panty getup. It was clear she’s been hitting the gym ““ her costumes really accentuated her killer bod.
The song lineup was decent. Old-school Britney inspired a sense of nostalgia among the audience, but many classics and stellar songs from her new album were missing. The majority of the songs she performed came from her old albums, almost as if it was a reminder of her fame and success prior to her “crazy” days.
The pop star got a little creative with her Bollywood episode to “Me Against the Music.” I guess with “Slumdog Millionaire” being so popular this year, she was left to do some cultural exploration.
One of the best scenes of the night came when Britney performed her most recent single, “If You Seek Amy.”
It would have been nice if Spears had interacted with the crowd more. Her die-hard fans ““ ever-so present in the audience with “Blackout” and “Circus” paraphernalia ““ would have appreciated that. Other than her lyrics, some sorry utterances of “What’s up L.A.!” were all that came out of her mouth.
Overall, the night was pretty predictable. The circus theme lent itself to some fancy magic tricks, jugglers and men in stilts. It may have taken a good hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic, half a dozen wrong turns, and some road rage to get there, but seeing and hearing a fanatical screeching audience and watching Spears dancing Bhangra was well worth it.
-Alene Tchekmedyian
E-mail Tchekmedyian at atchekmedyian@media.ucla.edu.