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Celeb News: Femme Fatale Tour reviews
Member Since: 10/18/2003
Posts: 3,119
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 at her stans thinking she's singing live 
it was obviously pre recorded and her dance skills still sucks ass 
BOYS and SLAVE remixes in this tour are good though 
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Member Since: 10/4/2009
Posts: 16,075
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Britney Spears hits fans with engery, elegance at UC
BY BRYANT MANNING July 9, 2011 12:44AM
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In what would’ve been an epic crosstown tussle, Britney Spears and Katy Perry were to have vied for Chicago’s affections on Friday night. Perry fell sick and canceled, and so the golden-locked Louisianan — now a mother of two and pushing 30 — served up an electric 90-minute reminder about who’s queen.
Everyone loves a survivor and at 29, Britney seems to have made a fashionable comeback. At a sold-out United Center she looked fit and fantastic, bearing no trace of the tabloid baggage of recent years. You could even see her maturing into a classic Hitchcockian blonde: elegantly seductive, headstrong and possibly dangerous. Her current “Femme Fatale” tour, now after her seventh studio album, plays this up as video shows a scruffy stalker pursuing her throughout the show. This corny cat-and-mouse narrative might have provided commentary on fame’s oppressive grip, but no one was really paying attention.
Even with rumors that Brit was cracking under tour stress, she lurched energetically into two cuts off the new album, the anthem-laden “Hold it Against Me” and the jail-cell orgy of “Up and Down.” The crowd erupted loudest as Will.i.am joined her via video for “Big Fat Bass,” all while Britney lap-danced an enormous vibrating 5-foot speaker. The production in general was ambitious, packing in a stream of cinematic scenes: Britney partying on a pink Mini-Cooper; Britney hounded by press in a noirish Marilyn Monroe getup; Britney as a bikini-clad princess in Hollywoodized Egyptian and Oriental locales.
Even with her vocals sounding more processed than a box of Twinkies, it’s difficult to say what was sung and lip-synched. The general rule is she’ll sing her ballads (“Don’t Let me Be the Last to Know”) and let technology handle the rest: After a small dose of acoustic Britney, this was probably for the best.
It was as a denim-clad biker chick where Spears seemed most assured and comfortable, parceling out favorites like “Hit me Baby One More Time” and the Madonna cover “Burning Up.” “Toxic” was a morsel of perfection, as interesting as any dance-pop song from the past decade.
For those itching for a more urban sensibility, the opener featuring New York-based rapper Nicki Minaj proved a curiously eclectic experience. Surrounded by a sextet of dancers, Minaj alternated between Enya-fueled folklore to violin-synth hip hop. Yet lackluster sound design soon became a distraction and would yield pedestrian production values.
For sheer force of energy and inventive choreography, Spears was untouchable. The mantra at the beginning of 2007’s “Gimme More” crassly said it best: “It’s Britney, bitch.”
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http://www.suntimes.com/entertainmen...nce-at-uc.html
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Member Since: 10/4/2009
Posts: 16,075
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Last Night: Britney Spears and Nicki Minaj at the American Airlines Center
By Laura Mann Wed., Jul. 13 2011 at 11:03 AM
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Better than: most shows by folks who actually sing, dance and write their own music.
Here's the thing about Britney: She's a mediocre singer and dancer who got very, very lucky and very, very famous by singing songs that she contributed very little, if anything, to.
As such, analyzing Britney as a singer -- as a singular human being, even -- is completely missing the point. Last night's show at American Airlines Center was the result of combined efforts by the best producers, songwriters, choreographers, set designers, videographers and lighting designers in the business. It was a performance by Britney, Inc. -- the corporate entity that makes up 99 percent of this show.
Sure, these people are, in theory, around to support Britney herself. But if one only considers Britney when analyzing her performance, that means missing 99 percent of what's going on.
Twin girl DJ duo Nervo got onstage first, to a completely unresponsive crowd. The AAC similarly remained at minimum capacity throughout the second opener, Jessie and the Toy Boys. It would be easy to feel bad for these acts if one forgets that they're playing AAC, which isn't a bad gig at all.
The crowd immediately started packing it in once Nicki Minaj began, and was at capacity for the rest of the show. Nicki showed no signs of the fat lip she reportedly received during a fight at the Hotel Palomar the previous night. Either her makeup artists were very good, or she wasn't hurt very badly.
Although it seems like Nicki's been around for a while, she released her debut full-length album a mere eight months ago; most of her hits have been collaborations with other artists, and this proved to be an obstacle that Minaj was not able to successfully overcome during her set. Even though the entire AAC was on their feet during "Bottoms Up," Nicki was relegated to the status of dancer for much of the song, as she only contributes one verse. Her skill as a rapper was lost in the video screens, backup dancers, guest vocalists and strange theatrical plotline. Many of these huge pop shows have some sort of theme, and Nicki's was no exception. There was narration during the costume changes, and we were supposed to be following some sort of plot that pitted Nicki, as some sort of sci-fi/fantasy heroine, against a dancer in a Saw mask. Although Minaj's live singing voice was better than expected, it's difficult to discern how much, if any, of her vocals were flown in.
There's no guessing on that front when it comes to Britney. We know it's lip-synced.
Brit's show also had a sort of theme: During costume changes, the gigantic video screens showed a nefarious-looking fellow who was apparently stalking Britney, the sexy lady criminal. Britney appeared onstage on a metal throne to the opening chords of "Hold It Against Me," surrounded by backup dancers dressed as sexy cops. The sexy cops were a running theme -- apparently, Britney the Femme Fatale is wanted by legions of officers in tight shorts doing backflips.
Go figure.
This is where Britney the singular human being gets drowned out by Britney, Inc. The show's choreographers and set designers are well aware of Britney's flaws. She can dance a little, so the backup dancers would mimic her moves and embellish upon them to make it look like she was dancing with them, and dancing better than she is able. Britney moved around more than anticipated -- anyone looking for the catatonic VMA-era Brit can look elsewhere because she ran up and down the runway in front of the stage, was hoisted above the crowd on a small platform during "Piece of Me" and flipped her extensions back and forth (for the record, her real hair appears to be chin-length) enough for one to believe that she was seriously working up there. And it appears that she actually sang live on "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know"; her voice was shaking and went off-key enough during this plaintive ballad for one to believe that Britney, Inc. is trying to offset everyone's assumptions about lip-syncing by allowing her to sing one song unaided.
After playing 19 songs, Brit came back out for a two-song encore. The final tune, "Til The World Ends," saw Britney, Inc. pulling out all the stops: pyro, huge mobile art-deco set pieces, confetti, 16 backup dancers in LED-laced light-up clothing, Nicki Minaj coming back out to do a guest verse and Britney flying above the audience with angel wings strapped to her little podium.
And you know what? It worked. The entire AAC screamed along, hands outstretched, as Britney flew above them.
The giant corporate engine that is Britney, Inc., did its job at AAC last night. It put on an amazing show. It was a bit like a toy commercial at Christmastime, a colorful cacophony of festive fun that makes the toy look way cooler than it really is.
But unwrapping the sparkly gift that is a Britney show is completely unnecessary. It's really the thought that counts.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I've always liked Britney -- and when she went crazy and started hitting the paparazzi with her umbrella, I liked her even more. Britney is great because she is one of us, a normal girl with normal problems. If I were thrust into the limelight at 16, I would've done far worse than her.
Random Note: During Britney's cover of Madonna's "Burnin' Up," the guy sitting next to us (who happens to be a certain music critic for The Dallas Morning News), got super excited and sang along to every word.
By The Way: I kept a running count of pink Nicki Minaj-style bob-with-bangs wigs in the audience. Final tally? Eleven.
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http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/...spears_and.php
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Member Since: 12/29/2010
Posts: 1,035
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Originally posted by evan93
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What an idiot who wrote this review. 
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Member Since: 10/4/2009
Posts: 16,075
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Originally posted by Mayline
What an idiot who wrote this review. |
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Member Since: 7/9/2010
Posts: 28,061
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I hate when people say she is lip synching the whole thing when they have no receipts.
She is singing, at the Dallas show she held out a note after the end of Up n Down.
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Member Since: 12/29/2010
Posts: 1,035
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Quote:
Originally posted by JonnyϟLightning
I hate when people say she is lip synching the whole thing when they have no receipts.
She is singing, at the Dallas show she held out a note after the end of Up n Down. |
And they're never satisfied! They complain about her lip synching all the time but then when they acknowledge that she does sing they ALWAYS have to add that it didn't sound good. 
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Member Since: 10/4/2009
Posts: 16,075
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Britney Spears surrounds herself with spectacles at Nashville concert
Posted on July 19, 2011 by Dave Paulson
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One of the more spectacular shows currently playing in Las Vegas is Cirque du Soleil's Love, in which a team of world-class acrobats and dancers perform amazing feats to the strains of the Beatles' music, taking decades-old recordings and making a brand-new, visceral live experience.
It's not unlike what Nashville got when Britney Spears' "Femme Fatale" tour came to town Monday night - except that Spears wasn't just being piped in through the speakers. She was there in the flesh, the calm eye of a storm of frenzied dancers, laser lights and stage machinery.
She didn't walk on stage as much as she was delivered to it, as one of her latest hits, "Hold It Against Me," thumped oppressively in Bridgestone Arena. One platform pushed her through a crack in the massive video screen backdrop. Another brought her down to the stage's lower level, where, between a few quick dance steps, she sat on a metallic throne that slid her a few feet closer to the squealing crowd.
The following tune "Up N' Down" had Spears in a mechanized cage that handled all of the rising and falling action, and a conveyor belt on the catwalk then helped her move towards the center of the arena. At a close distance, fans could see that Spears was definitely singing. Whether or not that voice was the same one we heard coming through the speakers remains up for debate.
The 2011 Britney Spears live experience is thoroughly artificial - fitting for a girl that was labeled a cookie-cutter pop product since her breakout 1999 hit "...Baby One More Time." But unlike in the ultra-glossy days of "Baby," all of Monday night's added sheen and spectacle seemed absolutely necessary.
Nearly four years ago - when Spears first began restoring order to a very turbulent personal life - she made a disastrous "comeback" appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards and was quickly ripped to shreds for her transparent lip-synching and turtle's pace choreography. Since then, the bar has been drastically lowered as far as what audiences expect from a Britney Spears performance, but she's continued to rebound.
Spears isn't catanotic on stage these days, just a lot more casual. She's more than happy to sit back - literally, some dance routines had her sitting down, shaking her hair in leiu of her hips - and watch everyone else have a good time at the party she's hosting.
That leaves a lot of work for her dancers, who not only wowed/distracted the crowd with moves worthy of an Olympic gymnast's floor routine, but acted as Spears' personal stage assistants, guiding her into position for choreographed routines and handing off pieces of clothing for onstage costume changes. The throngs of fans in the nearly full Bridgestone Arena chipped in with plenty of energy as well, many of them only standing still long enough to take a steady shot of Spears when she strutted their way.
But one member of the audience was actually encouraged to take a seat, albeit with Britney and her crew onstage. It was none other than Tennessee Titan Kenny Britt, who found himself handcuffed to a pole and draped in a pink boa with Spears sitting on his shoulders. It's a nightly ritual during Spears' performance of "Lace and Leather," though the audience participant isn't usually a public figure. Thanks to Twitter, photos of Britt and Brit were all over sports sites before the show was over.
The rest of Spears' fans had to settle for an increasingly quick-hitting trip through her catalogue - a collection that any mature, self-assured music lover will admit includes some of the most finely crafted pop songs of the last decade. A few of them - "Baby" and "Toxic," for starters - lost their original magic to pointless disco-thump updates, but others - "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Womanizer" - sounded as saccharine and sultry as ever.
Spears' inevitable encore was capped with her latest chart-topper, "Til the World Ends," which featured an appearance from the tour's current opening act, hip-hop sensation Nicki Minaj. But Minaj didn't return to the stage she'd performed on less than two hours before - she appeared during Spears' encore via a pre-recorded video rap.
Between that and a night of dubiously "live" vocals, it might seem that Britney Spears' fans couldn't care less about the human touch in music. Still, on Monday night, they were sending some very sincere waves of adoration and gratitude towards Spears - who, through some forgivable flaws, seems more human than ever.
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http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2...ville-concert/
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 11/22/2010
Posts: 10,782
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Toronto Reviewer: Britney's Like "A Dead-Eyed Stripper"
Britney Spears gave up being much of a presence on her own recordings three albums ago, but it's starting to look like she can't be bothered with the live shows, either.
To that, I say: Godspeed, darling. Get off the bloody stage and take a little time to yourself away from the spotlight I'm not sure you crave anymore. Disappear for a few years and come back with a really good role in a John Waters movie or something because it's plain to see you don't particularly want to be doing this.
At the first of her two nearly sold-out Femme Fatale tour dates at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night, anyway, the 29-year-old former teen queen came off as a performer very nearly bled of whatever spark she once had. She barely sang a note — her voice has been processed well beyond recognition on every record since 2007's Blackout so, really, there's not much sense in turning the microphone on at this point — and ran through her rote dance moves like a dead-eyed stripper going through the motions on the early-afternoon shift. Half the time she wasn't even dancing, just being moved around on moving sidewalks and rotating pieces of the stage and various contraptions hanging from the ceiling. Her stage banter was perfunctory and, if not quite insincere, then totally vacant. T here doesn't, horror of horrors, even seem to be much energy put into the outfits, basically a handful of bikini variations to show off Brit's taut bod. What's going on?
None of this mattered too much to the crowd, which was either female or gay, with very little latitude in between. Girls' nights out tend to be uncritical times, after all, and gay men love to dote on a beautiful basket case — even more so when she comes surrounded by dancers and sound-tracked by thumping club beats.
And, to be fair, Britney brought the thumping club beats. Most of the set list came from the tech-heavy new Femme Fatale, 2008's Circus and Blackout, and delivered enough crowd-pleasing oomph on danceable ear candy like “Hold it Against Me,” “Big Fat Bass,” “If U Seek Amy,” “Womanizer” and “(Drop Dead) Beautiful” to get the place going off in reasonable fashion. The latter, by the way, is a bit of a rip of Lady Gaga's “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” but it might be a good choice for the next single if the way it sets the boys a-dancin' is any measure.
Weirdly, though, for such thoroughly modern digital music — so modern that Spears no longer tours with a band, just two dudes pushing buttons and punching the odd keyboard riff on a ramp above the stage — it wasn't selling itself very well through the P.A. The mix sounded remote and flat and pumped out far too much top end at the expense of the low end for material so reliant on the aforementioned big, fat bass. Can't anybody be bothered to at least get the sound right on this tour?
The most effort appeared to have been put into the interstitial video segments that featured a handsome stalker dude watching creepy peeping videos and plotting Britney's demise. I'm not sure what that means, but it says something. Take some time off, Brit.
Source: http://www.toronto.com/article/69525...me-out-britney
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Stans go IN!!!!
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Member Since: 7/19/2009
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Member Since: 10/28/2009
Posts: 26,465
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why would you post this? 
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Member Since: 11/17/2010
Posts: 12,926
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Thats the biggest Newspaper in our city
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Member Since: 5/11/2010
Posts: 19,489
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The Toronto Reviewer building is about to be burned down.
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Member Since: 3/18/2008
Posts: 40,057
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Originally posted by GeezusHaberdash
why would you post this? |
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 11/22/2010
Posts: 10,782
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No one rocks a pole better than dead-eyed stripper Britney 
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Member Since: 3/21/2010
Posts: 19,112
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“(Drop Dead) Beautiful” to get the place going off in reasonable fashion. The latter, by the way, is a bit of a rip of Lady Gaga's “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,”
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I stopped there.
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Member Since: 6/3/2006
Posts: 51,724
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Im pretty sure the 15K people that attended the show disagree 
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Member Since: 8/4/2009
Posts: 10,735
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Well I mean I Love Britney..
But he's not lying.. She's totally checked out
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Member Since: 7/19/2009
Posts: 16,809
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Shawn you did not just post a gif of SiXo.
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Member Since: 11/6/2010
Posts: 27,791
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Quote:
Originally posted by Gui Blackout
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