Terrific accompaniment bolsters a lackluster Britney ‘Circus’ Remember that scene in Fargo when Steve Buscemi’s character was chopped up
with an axe before his severed body parts were scrupulously offered into a wood chipper?
There’s a fine parallel to be drawn between the resulting spray of blood and bone
and the recent state of Britney Spears’ career. Just like there was no reconstituting the
body of Carl Showalter, Britney Spears has gone to great pains over the last two years
to ensure that her public persona was mutilated beyond all recognition. Her march
toward self-destruction crescendoed around the time of her custody battle, as she managed
to do what many thought impossible: make Kevin Federline look competent and
equable in comparison.
Fastforward and Spears has regrown her hair — at least on her head — along with releasing a new album of some her best-received material in years on Circus, which stands at the center of her most extravagant tour ever. Her handlers have embraced the public spectacle she’s made of her private life and turned it into an allegorical stage show with — if it weren’t obvious — an over-the-top big top theme comprising four movements: “Circus,” “House of Fun,” “Freakshow/Peepshow” and “Electro Circ.” Even more amazing than the waves of psychedelic imagery within is the fact that Spears has made it into the sprawling tour’s third leg without an epic meltdown, though there is plenty of time left for that.
As the giant countdown clock on the circus top’s panoramic LED screens wound down, parasitic celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, clad in an Elizabethan dress and appearing via video, concluded the opening aerial and juggling routine to introduce the star herself. Spears descended from above in naughty ringmaster attire (later: naughty cop, naughty genie, naughty dominatrix, etc.) to open with her new album’s title track. The three-ring stage was at all times littered with the cast of dozens of dancers, aerialists, clowns, magicians, little people and martial artists, all cycling in and out with ruthless efficiency, and there was even some semblance of a live band tucked off to the side and out of view. The supplementary performers were generally incredibly skilled and highly entertaining to watch, particularly the aerialist doing donuts while tucked inside the hula-hoop, though some of the passe circus gimmicks could have been excluded.
The inclusion of a transpelvic amputee on a trampoline as the show was barely underway was a Jodowroskian grotesquerie that no-doubt unsettled the stomachs of many. The visual clutter on-stage was a plus, not only for the bedazzled, largely female audience, but as a diversion from Spears herself, as her pedestrian shaking and shimmying might not have even won her a job at a local strip club. No one really seemed to care that the well-traveled 27-year old mother of two was evidently mouthing all of her lyrics over a vocal track, either. It was a dead giveaway that vocal shenanigans were afoot when the star went from seamlessly from belting out “Toxic” to inaudibly chatting with performers in the same breath.
Despite the smoke-and-mirrors used to cover the fact that Spears herself was simply mailing in her effort, the performance as a whole was a strong, entertaining affair with a set list that couldn’t have left many of her most loyal fans wanting, save for possibly the exclusion of Oops! Those few guys who were dragged there at the behest of their significants weren’t exactly bored at the revelry, though Spears’ dancers are more gawk-worthy at this point in her career. The show’s musical apex for the non- Spears fans in attendance was easily the band’s spine-tingling tease of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” that segued cleverly into a cover of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”
As much as I wanted to see the train wreck that only Britney Spears seems capable of giving, the performance was, as a whole, a pleasant surprise. Yet, in the hierarchy of all-time pop-culture comebacks, consider this the antithesis of Elvis’ ’68 Comeback Special. Whereas the King made his grand reprisal an intimate, yet masterfully-orchestrated performance that put Presley’s substantial performance prowess at the center of attention, Spears’ “Circus” was a grandiose spectacle arranged to mask her own noticeably diminished stage presence. !
Fastforward and Spears has regrown her hair — at least on her head — along with releasing a new album of some her best-received material in years on Circus, which stands at the center of her most extravagant tour ever. Her handlers have embraced the public spectacle she’s made of her private life and turned it into an allegorical stage show with — if it weren’t obvious — an over-the-top big top theme comprising four movements: “Circus,” “House of Fun,” “Freakshow/Peepshow” and “Electro Circ.” Even more amazing than the waves of psychedelic imagery within is the fact that Spears has made it into the sprawling tour’s third leg without an epic meltdown, though there is plenty of time left for that.
As the giant countdown clock on the circus top’s panoramic LED screens wound down, parasitic celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, clad in an Elizabethan dress and appearing via video, concluded the opening aerial and juggling routine to introduce the star herself. Spears descended from above in naughty ringmaster attire (later: naughty cop, naughty genie, naughty dominatrix, etc.) to open with her new album’s title track. The three-ring stage was at all times littered with the cast of dozens of dancers, aerialists, clowns, magicians, little people and martial artists, all cycling in and out with ruthless efficiency, and there was even some semblance of a live band tucked off to the side and out of view. The supplementary performers were generally incredibly skilled and highly entertaining to watch, particularly the aerialist doing donuts while tucked inside the hula-hoop, though some of the passe circus gimmicks could have been excluded.
The inclusion of a transpelvic amputee on a trampoline as the show was barely underway was a Jodowroskian grotesquerie that no-doubt unsettled the stomachs of many. The visual clutter on-stage was a plus, not only for the bedazzled, largely female audience, but as a diversion from Spears herself, as her pedestrian shaking and shimmying might not have even won her a job at a local strip club. No one really seemed to care that the well-traveled 27-year old mother of two was evidently mouthing all of her lyrics over a vocal track, either. It was a dead giveaway that vocal shenanigans were afoot when the star went from seamlessly from belting out “Toxic” to inaudibly chatting with performers in the same breath.
Despite the smoke-and-mirrors used to cover the fact that Spears herself was simply mailing in her effort, the performance as a whole was a strong, entertaining affair with a set list that couldn’t have left many of her most loyal fans wanting, save for possibly the exclusion of Oops! Those few guys who were dragged there at the behest of their significants weren’t exactly bored at the revelry, though Spears’ dancers are more gawk-worthy at this point in her career. The show’s musical apex for the non- Spears fans in attendance was easily the band’s spine-tingling tease of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” that segued cleverly into a cover of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”
As much as I wanted to see the train wreck that only Britney Spears seems capable of giving, the performance was, as a whole, a pleasant surprise. Yet, in the hierarchy of all-time pop-culture comebacks, consider this the antithesis of Elvis’ ’68 Comeback Special. Whereas the King made his grand reprisal an intimate, yet masterfully-orchestrated performance that put Presley’s substantial performance prowess at the center of attention, Spears’ “Circus” was a grandiose spectacle arranged to mask her own noticeably diminished stage presence. !
