It’s been an incredible success story for pop princess Britney Spears. Back on March 3 in New Orleans, she kicked off her Circus Tour, and now after stops through Europe and Canada, she ends its run right here in Las Vegas tomorrow night. It’s a remarkable comeback for the 27-year-old singer who was written off by the tabloids and their lurid headlines after her emotional breakdown and collapse.
Circus ends its run as Britney gets ready for her Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and in the past few days, Britney was hailed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest female artist to have five of her albums reach No. 1 on the Billboard music charts. Her tour has been a massive revenue winner, selling millions of tickets for sold-out performances and well over half a million Circus albums!
Britney landed in the No. 6 slot of Top Concert Event rankings ahead of Miley Cyrus and Kenny Chesney and behind Jonas Brothers and AC/DC. In Britain, six Circus shows were added to her run at the 02 Arena after 100,000 tickets were sold the first weekend for her original eight performances!
Britney is now celebrating a decade of once again being at the top of the charts, and her new single “3” will be released to radio stations on Tuesday, with a collection of her 10 Years of Hits to be released in November. There were wild rumors circulating in Las Vegas this week that she would be shooting the “3” video here this weekend between her two nights of shows starting this evening at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
“Totally untrue,” said her manager Larry Rudolph when I reached him late yesterday en route here from San Diego. “It will be filmed in about four weeks’ time in Los Angeles.” Larry also cleared up the mystery of “invitations” that suggested Britney would be filming an ABC special on Tuesday here in Vegas.
“We tracked that one down,” he told me. “Somebody started it as a joke. Then it became a rumor. Somebody then sent out fake invitations to attend the taping, and suddenly it all became solid fact. There is no TV special taping while we are in Las Vegas. Please print that and end the rumors.”
Larry reinforced that Britney’s visit to Las Vegas tonight and tomorrow is the last time we’ll get to see Britney in concert for quite a while. He didn’t know if the Australian tour would go ahead this November or be delayed for a few years.
Britney’s return this weekend is an encore of her visit here last April when the Pussycat Dolls were her guest opening act. Click HERE for our April 24 story, and click HERE for our April 27 concert review and backstage tour. This weekend at Mandalay Bay, Britney’s guests are Jordin Sparks and Kristinia DeBarge.
Circus is the largest pop concert tour of all time. It cost $50 million to stage, with $10 million just for construction of the massive three stages that make up the Big Top performing areas. It has taken 32 semis to haul the equipment throughout the country at a cost of $6 million per week in transportation alone.
As tomorrow is the tour’s final American night, I’m told there will be a huge blowout bash for the wrap party. I’m not revealing any advance details of where it will be, but we’ll have that report and all the photos of Britney’s weekend visit here at Vegas DeLuxe on Monday.
lasbegasweekly.com