REVIEW :: I was privileged enough to experience Britney Spears’ two-stop performance of her Femme Fatale Tour at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre this past weekend.
I know what you’re thinking: twice? In a row?
I would have thought the same thing about 48 hours ago, but please hear me out. This concert was one of the absolute best concerts I have ever seen, and I have seen plenty in my day. Spears was in top form as she went through a non-stop, almost two hour performance of a slew of her hits from the past decade and a half. She looked amazing, and had state-of-the-art technology incorporated into the set design, lighting, video screens, and stage itself. Laser-beam flashes, pyrotechnics, lifts, a movator, and flying set pieces, mixed with some unexpected celebrity appearances made the Femme Fatale concert one for the books.
From Jersey Shore fame, DJ Pauly D (Paul DelVecchio) got the crowd going (only Sunday August 14th), spinning some beats as people began to trickle in. Teenage girls and their mothers alike were in a state of heat I’ve never experienced to that capacity. If you think that didn’t get the crowd excited, up next was Nicki Minaj, with her big, blonde wig that can be seen for days. Her high-energy, long-winded set made the crowd go nuts. She performed all of her top hits, and even brought out Toronto’s own Drake out for two songs. Immediately following her set, I was already drained and exhausted from it all. Spears hadn’t even made the stage yet.
Spears opens the night with a very visually-stunning video/light/smoke trifecta. She looks visibly healthier and happier this tour, seeming genuinely much happier to be performing again. Spears went through a vast majority of her hits, from her first album “…Baby, One More Time,” to her most recent studio album “Femme Fatale,” in a flawless sequence that left you at the edge of your seat. A storyline about The Sexy Assasin gave you something to watch while Spears was changing for the next section of the show. And she actually sang a majority of the songs live (due to a slip-up here and there). Some may argue that this is only because the Toronto shows were filmed for the tour DVD (to be released in November), and so she would have to go above and beyond her limits to impress the home viewers. More research needs to be done as to whether or not Spears does this in every show, or if she simply is much more comfortable singing live these days. Either way, Toronto captured Spears’ best live performances as of late. Spears’ dancing has also vastly improved since her last tour (The Circus Tour 2009), and it’s almost like she doesn’t stop moving the entire duration of the concert. Although I wasn’t originally impressed with the set-list of the tour (see here), Spears amazed me with the song arrangements and interpretations. From trancy club hits, to Egyptian voguing, to R&B, to pure, fun pop – the show was a great mix of worlds. The stand-out performances on both nights were definitely “Up and Down,” “3,” “Gimme More,” “Womanizer,” and the very last song of the show, “’Till the World Ends” (where Spears is joined with Minaj).
It was definitely worth the double-viewing. Like most concerts these days, it’s hard to fully absorb the entire show in one sitting, but here are the things that you do remember from the concert that you may want to forget: Spears only recently cut Madonna’s “Burning Up” from the set-list. I was looking forward to this performance the most! Perhaps the large guitar that she rides while performing it was too large to tour with any longer, but it was disappointing to have no Madonna points of reference. Oh, wait: Spears clearly takes an entire Madonna performance from her Sticky and Sweet Tour 2008 with “How I Roll,” and basically recreates Madonna’s “Beat Goes On (featuring Kanye West and Pharrel Williams).” I guess that’s what happens when you work with Madonna’s long-time tour director/choreographer (Jamie King). There are also some filler songs on the set list that make you wonder why they were even included in the first place. “Piece of Me” and “…Baby, One More Time” were less than two minutes each, and didn’t serve any purpose in the concert whatsoever. She also cut the only ballad of the show short, “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know,” which doesn’t leave too much of a gap between emotions. Nonetheless, the concert was very well-done, and I applaud Spears for her endurance, stamina, stage presence, live singing voice, and spectacular concert performance.
What made the night even better was how engaging Spears was with the audience. She threw out a couple “What’s up, Toronto?” ‘s and made sure to giggle, scream, and make sure we were paying attention to how hard she was working. She was in amazing spirits, and I wish this tour nothing but the best of success. If there was a third performance of the show tonight, I’d be there, too!
Philip Tetro is our resident Madonnaologist, and sometimes remembers that there are more musicians than Madonna out there. He is also a resident panelist on MTV’s 1 girl 5 gays.
