MTV Canada released Britney Spears’ official The Femme Fatale Tour set-list today. I have never been more disappointed in a set list in my life. As someone who has followed iconic Divas all my life, I think I have a pretty good idea as to what works and what doesn’t work live. Please don’t get me wrong, I still don’t think Madonna and Cher know what the fuck they are doing in their live sets. They get it wrong all the time. From song performances at award shows, to a full-blown international tour, these bitches are dumb.
Let’s begin with Britney Spears. I know that most tours begin in promotion of brand new material and said brand new material will become the bulk of what’s performed in the new tour. However, I cannot imagine what Britney was thinking when, in less than three years, she’s gone on two huge world tours, and has neglected most of the songs that have made her who she is today. How dare she not perform “Sometimes,” a song that reflects insecurities and vulnerability that solidified me as a fan. How dare she not perform, “Crazy,” “Oops! I Did It Again,” “Not A Girl, No Yet A Woman”, “From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart,” and “Born To Make You Happy.” These songs made Britney’s early career and she’s completely forgotten about them in her touring and performances. And what about the songs that kept her afloat while she was semi-psychotic? “My Prerogative” and “Someday I Will Understand” have been murdered and neglected into music history. Britney has now become a marketing machine for work that she has little-to-no influence over. She’s been thrust into a world of electronic sounds (be them mediocre to “good” songs, at best), and is not touring for the fans, but for the money.
I am not defending Madonna’s set-list choices, either. Where has that bitch’s full “Something to Remember,” “Erotica,” “Bedtime Stories,” “Ray of Light,” and “American Life” tracks gone? Where has any non-Top-40 Sonny and Cher song been during Cher’s last three tours (which were all basically the same, with minor changes). And, not to mention well-known non-album, and B-Sides, too.
Fans don’t just want new material performed and fans don’t just want what was #1. We want the goods! There should be some sort of voting mechanism in place for tours, where fans can vote on what songs we want performed. We are the ones paying for tickets and paying for what we want, so why can’t we decide what we want to see? It’s up to us!
- Philip Tetro
UPDATE: Videos of Britney’s The Femme Fatale Tour have been flooding our inbox this morning, so we’ve decided to update Philip’s post with some BritBrit performances! – GGT
Intro
“Hold It Against Me” and “Up N Down”
“Gimme More”
“Womanizer”
“Toxic”
“How I Roll”
