Britney Spears leaves stage at Vancouver show By Stuart Derdeyn, The ProvinceApril 9, 2009
Britney Spears performs at GM Place in Vancouver April 8.
When: Wednesday night
Where: GM Place
Grade: Incomplete (Britney Spears); C (Pussycat Dolls)
VANCOUVER — She’s made as much recent fame offstage as on. Still, it came as a surprise when the big top collapsed on Britney Spears’ Circus tour Wednesday night at GM Place.
One minute, a dozen kung fu masters were nunchukau’ing themselves silly for a costume change interlude following a fabulous first few opening numbers. The next, the room went dark and, well, nothing.
After an uncomfortably long wait, an announcment came over the PA that GM Place had become too smoky for Ms. Spears and her dancers to perform. People were reminded that it was a non-smoking venue and that once the air cleared the show would resume.
This did not bode well as there wasn’t even the requisite quantity of pot whiff in the room you’d get at a Canucks game.
“We want Britney” was chanted loudly throughout the arena. So was “Bullsh-t, bullsh-t.” And, while a Guns N’ Roses riot was unlikely with a mostly female audience across all age ranges, whether the show could revive was questionable.
And it had been an exceptional production up until this point.
Spears returned nearly 30 minutes later to raucous response and it looked like all systems go.
The huge in-the-round stage with twin rotating side risers framed by VIP two-seater sofas complete with built-in drink holders was alive with multiple dancers framing the erratic star. But she just didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic as she did when the concert opened with “Circus” followed by “Piece Of Me.”
The well over a dozen dancers dressed right out of the extras stable from Fellini’s Satirycon kept kicking hard as ever, looking for a win.
While no one in their right mind would willingly build this kind of drama into a gig, it certainly made for an arena epic.
Amazingly, the well-oiled-if-poorly-ventilated production did get back on track. By the time she took to the skies for the ballad “Everytime,” all were singing along in love with the star and the show.
I don't know if Marilyn Manson gets royalties for Britney's band playing his version of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," but he should.
When she came back in yet another revealing leotard, it was all about following the set list and working in material from mostly the new album Circus and Blackout. These are, after all, the twin releases that marked her rebirth as a chart topper.
Judging from the renewed vigour with which the Britster tackled the choreography, the smoke had cleared.
But the effect of the break was that the initial rush never returned and it did feel like her dancers and band did an awful lot of the heavy lifting while she preened both on screen and on stage. Oh well, if you have that kind of brand loyalty, work it.
Opening act the Pussycat Dolls wasted no time gyrating down onto the stage as the group’s biggest hit, “Don’t Cha,” rang out. The crowd, many wearing hemlines that would have Kagome from Inuyasha blushing, were more than happy to get down with the once L.A.-based burlesque performers, who writhed around to every section of GM Place.
But nobody should ever mistake the quintet’s Spice Girls-as-envisioned-by-an-adult-entertainment-mogul act as anything more than the hyper-teased aerobics routine it is. But they do have some of those hooks that lock into your head — whether you want them to or not — and that is an essential part of the group’s success. And successful they are. When head doll Nicole Scherzinger implored everyone “feeling hot and sexy tonight” to shout out, the crowd definitely made some noise.
sderdeyn@theprovince.com
