Britney Spears - 4/3/2004 - Montreal, Canada
Ahh La Brit. That was poptastic and writhetastic perfection. Much with the writhing. There was also fake naked ballet. Although, note to costume designers everywhere, if you have African American dancers, you might want to get body suits that actually match their skin color. Just a thought.
The show was over the top in all the best ways. And since practically all of it was lip-synced there was no issue with her sounding bad whatsoever! Katie and Kel say that the ballads are when they turn Britney's microphone on and that, in these moments, the unprocessed horror that is her true voice is revealed, but it sounded pretty much the same to me.
They attempted a theme. (The Onyx Hotel tour, in fact.) In keeping with this theme, there was a very very creepy and strange MC person that appeared throughout. I believe he/she/it was supposed to be out host(ess?). Allow me to repeat that this person was CREEPY. This person appeared occassionaly and then introduced a cabaret sequence in which Britney and Co. redid all the older hit songs in a kind of faux-cabaret style. It was quite enjoayable. It was.
An amusing detail from this section of the performance is the part where Britney performed all of this while singing into an old fashioned microphone, sans base-- instead there was a little pink feather dangling from the end-- and while singing into this "retro" microphone for the retro section, she was wearing her head mic. The whole time. All, also, while lipsyncing the performance. However, I'd rather dwell on the breathy, swanky, version of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" that was performed for us at this time.
I try to live in a world where Britney doesn't sing a song with the line "she may have made it rain", or that "without her wings she feels so small", or "this song's her sorry" but every time I hear the song I discover that she says not one, but all three of these things, and more. At this point, I think I'm beginning to quite adore it. Particularly since she takes the time to talk to the audience so sincerly about how much the song and performing for us means to her.
Really my only complaint with the show was that during the crucial moments in "Toxic" where Britney was writhing in a clear bathtub in her nude body stocking, alas! The view was blocked by a lighting rig! That was tragical and there were complaints all 'round.
However, I live in hopes of getting the Showtime concert taped for me so I can see it. In fact, I plan on multiple viewings of the Showtime concert. Because really, this isn't about deep musical experiences or lyrics beyond compare. It's about having a ridiculously fun time with your friends and reveling in the glitz of it all.
