Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Spin Britney Spears w/Nicki Minaj at Bridgestone Arena, 7/18/11
Posted by The Spin on Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:43 PM
The Spin & Co. arrived early to Bridgestone Arena Monday night for the Nashville installment of Britney Spears' Femme Fatale Tour, which we were glad of — we heard there were Groupon purchasers lined up half the damn night trying to get their tickets sorted out. But no such problems for us. We sauntered in, happily accepted a free sample of cloyingly sweet Spears-branded perfume, and settled into our seats to catch the show.
It began on the dot at 7 p.m. with a pair of lip-syncing Australian DJs who, according to our date, looked like Kristen Wiig characters. Our thought about pre-show crowd-pleasing is this: If you’re not going to actually do anything but stand around and fumble with your headphones, cut out the pretense of “DJs” altogether and just play tracks while kids run around with Ribbon Dancers. We sorted out drinks for most of Jessie and the Toy Boys — the Toy Boys being, as far as we could tell, Evan P. Donohue and Johnny Galecki.
We pity anyone still stuck in line during Nicki Minaj’s performance, easily one of the best pop performances we’ve ever seen. She’s a hyper-feminine Freakazoid, and Tina Turner-tiptoed around stage with her impressive group of all-female backup dancers. Dressed primarily in poofy pantaloons and what looked like Uggs, Minaj ran through some of her best: “Your Love,” “Save Me,” and no duh, everyone’s favorite, her verse from “Monster,” complete with Banshees flying around stage.
Something we think we’ve only seen once before — and that was with Jay-Z — was the countdown clock, ticking off the minutes until the start of the performance. The dedication to professionalism was on point, though, and the clock was still running down to the second as the “Femme Fatale” sign lifted to reveal the set of Stargate. Opening with the delightfully Eurotrash “Hold It Against Me,” Britney ran through the motions of engagement before sitting upon a chain-link throne, claiming her title as Queen of Garbage Mountain.
- Photo: Diana Lee Zadlo
- Brit on Britt
It’s hard not to be very, very aware of her personal troubles while watching the show. There are some genuine crowd-pleasing numbers, including The Spin’s Mom’s favorite, “Womanizer,” but there is also the Rihanna and Madonna covers cover — it is probably not the best idea to remind the audience of performers whose hearts are actually still in it. At one point, Spears pulled Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt onstage, cuffed him to a chair, sat on his shoulders and sang to him ... so that was something. The truncated version of “Baby One More Time” was a total cop-out, but we were happy to finally hear some legit Brit in “I’m a Slave 4 U.” The encore, on the other hand, was what the entire show should have been. “Toxic” and “Till the World Ends” are truly extraordinary dance songs, and the combination of levitating with angel wings in front of a pyro curtain was impressive indeed — we only wish we didn’t have to wait until the end of the night to see it.
Comments (15)
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Queen of Garbage Mountain? really? and they pay you for this lazy biased review?
i think the very near sell out crowd would disagree.
The best show i've seen in Years!
TELL THE FUCK?? WHY THE HELL YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT HER, AND THAN INSULTING HER. you little no life cunt. go back to the shit you came from..asswhole..O:O
Black and Blue - She did actually cover Madonna's 'Burning Up'.
"It is probably not the best idea to remind the audience of performers whose hearts are actually still in it."
I'm sorry, but how does having over 100 million records sold, being the #1 top selling female artist of the first DECADE of the 21st century, as well as being fifth OVERALL, 8 grammy nominations, 1 grammy, 4 VMA's, 16 Teen Choice Awards, as well winning more awards across the globe, being the the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States with 33 million certified albums and the only female artist ever to have six number one debut albums, and have seven albums debut in the top two spots not make her heart still "in it"?
Femme Fatale alone has debuted at number 1 in several different countries, recieved generally excellent feedback, has gone platinum in both the US and Canada and the Femme Fatale Tour was voted BEST TOUR against Lady Gaga's The Monster Ball and The Femme Fatale Tour isn't even finished it's first leg across North America.
I'm sorry if Britney can't please you, but she's turning 30 at the end of the year, has gone through a hell of a whirlwind - three knee injuries in the past 10 years, two children, a divorce, and a bitter custody battle, as well as her public mental breakdown (which is a constant reminder for her since members of the press decide that just because Britney can't shake her ass like she did 10 years ago, we gotta bring up the head shaving occasion) but she still gives it her best. I don't understand why you people expect for her to get up on stage and dance like it's 1999 all over again. She's not the young girl we once saw up on stage with a snake around her neck.
The young girl has now transitioned into a beautiful woman, and if that's not good enough for you, then you don't deserve to attend one of her magnificent shows because I'm sure as hell people would DIE to have a chance to see GODNEY. As for the queen of garbage comment, that's you m'dear.
I actually saw the show myself and thought Britney pulled it off successfully. Great production, she looked happy, and was full of energy. If your purpose was to sit through a show and look for flaws so you could write a bullshit blog review - maybe the Nashville Scene needs to find a new writer. If you don't like her that's your business not mine. Remember that next time you decide to write an article based on the fact your not a fan.
"How dare anyone make fun of Britney after everything she's been through..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc
Every local concert review on this tour has agreed: she is the least interesting thing on the stage, can't keep up with the backup dancers, and basically wanders around for 60 minutes waving her arms with her heart clearly not in it.
And every comments section is full of stans insulting the reviewer. I've never seen a lower class of people than the Britney fans such as those commenting here. Your idol is a puppet with the mind of a child. After over a decade, I'd expect you'd have come to terms with this by now.
>stans
Had to look that up. Thanks for helping me keep in touch with youth culture. :)
This is a very ignorant and wrongly opinionated article. Not only should you not write for a relatively important public relations company, you certainly shouldn't be writing posts about topics you know nothing about. Britney Spears' heart is still in it; if it wasn't, she wouldn't be on this tour of massive proportions. She loves her fans, and loves what she does: do not belittle her for being famous while you write a crappy article. Get your facts straight or please stop bothering us with your pathetic attempts at being different.
Having actually paid full price for my ticket versus the reviewers possibly sitting in a
free front row seat, I enjoyed the concert very much as did those sitting around me.
Far too often you "paid professional" reviewers go in with a pre-set opinion that
could have been written without actually attending as this one sounds like!
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