First of all, when you go to a Britney Spears concert, when you even contemplate buying tickets to a Britney Spears concert, you are taking into account several factors. For me these were 1) Britney's songs are catchy and fun to dance to 2) it's no secret she lip syncs so there is no built up expectation of singing 3) her shows are known to be great spectacles 4) the nostalgia factor of a bunch of late twenty somethings getting together to see an idol they have grown up with and 5) the nerd-media factor of attending a concert and unraveling the spectacle-ness of it.
So taking all of that into account, I really enjoyed myself. The ambiance was great, the show was over the top, and Britney was interesting to observe. The show was structured around "plot" videos of Britney, trying to link the album's Femme Fatale theme. They were faux grainy bits of Britney trying to escape from prison, being handcuffed and captured (handcuffs featured prominently in the show). And then the videos introduced a male character, who was a mix of prison warden, CIA agent, and stalker. He was a very scruffy detective type trying to pin down Britney as a "sexy assassin"- those were literally the words on the screen to get the point across.
All of this was intermixed with dance sets and medleys that were very thinly attached to the video plots. There was a great jazzy remix of "If U Seek Amy" where Britney had a Marylin Monroe skirt and a good breeze. There was an Egyptian themed set, a Biker Chic set, Ninjas, Cops and Strippers, rainbow gangs. The big bang was the end of the world and Britney's resurrection as a flying angel.
So much fun! I'm still very intrigued by Britney's (or rather her minders and producers) infatuation with her as an object of surveillance. It's this trope that has become an integral part of her celebrity narrative unlike any other contemporary star. That surveillance is coupled with her desire for masquerade which I think is still qualitatively different from her predecessors and counterparts. Madonna and now Lady Gaga do it, but there's a sense of play about it where you ultimately know that it's a part of their identity. Whereas with Britney, it almost seems as if she tries to evade identity or detection at every turn. I don't know...I never get narrative closure with Britney but for me, that is part of her allure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, what Brandy said, except that I would add that Britney basically has nothing to say. She's all form and no content. Spectacle with no talent (except for spectacle). So spectators get to project just about anything onto her (much like the staging does, literally, in her shows). When Gaga uses masquerade, she's owning the masquerade, as masquerade, no? Just my 2 cents.
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