Welcome to the Circus!

After ten years of anticipating, six albums of great hits, and countless hours of dancing and singing along the time has finally come- The Circus has come to town and the ring leader is The One, The Only, Mrs. Britney Spears.



Britney has a total of eight shows in London. The original tour schedule, had her stage set up at the “02 Arena” in London for two days before calling the show finished and the Circus tour complete. After those two shows were booked solid instantly and fans continued to plead for more shows and tickets more days were added to her program. It was apparent Britney was in high demand in the UK, but the rest of Eurpoe continued to cry, “Britney come to Dublin, come to Paris, come to Berlin, come, come, come.” In April three months after her tour was announced and a month into her show being on the road in the U.S. Britney’s tour would now include 21shows all across Europe.



On Friday June 5th, the morning after Britney’s first show in London Britney’s concert was an advertising tag for a full review to be found on page three, in all the major papers. All around the streets, girls were grabbing the papers to flip through what the reviews had to say about the show. With initial appearances of hope and excitement faces changed to disappointment. The eager readers would find disappointing words about the show- mocking her “lip synced routine”, and “lack of luster dancing” throughout the show. The reviews initiated a stream of apprehension and nervousness through those who had plans to see her show in the upcoming days.



When walking up to the “02 Arena,” the crowds flocked in with jovial excitement and after approaching the arena, the crowds immediately knew that this would be a show like none other. The entire arena had been entirely transformed into a circus. There were girls on platforms performing acrobatics, vendors selling popcorn with the boxes displaying the name and face of Britney Spears, Jugglers, carnival rides, and blasts of Circus music setting the tone of the evening. Once inside the arena the themes of the night continued to be displayed throughout all the details.



Each girl (and boy) came to this concert dressed to impress. Some were wearing outfits to match some of Britney’s most famous music videos, while others looked like they were dressed for the biggest night in the best of towns. Over the top high heels of all fashions, tons of bright pink and black out outfits, and makeup that would have put any of these girls right up on the stage. Each person had come ready to join in the circus fun.



While talking to several people before the show the topic of lip syncing continually came up and each Britney follower had the same reaction. It was unanimous, clear and apparent- not a single person cared whether or not Britney would lip sync her way through the night. Britney was “awesome” and that was all that mattered. To each fan, Britney performs at a higher caliber than others on the pop scene and cannot simply be expected to sing every song while running the stage and dancing to the quality her show requires. In reality, if Britney had cut back the dancing and promenades across all three rings and four sides of the arena to sing each lyric, there would have been vast disappointment from the crowd in regards to the show. The show and performance of Britney is why each fan has gathered. It was the performance they paid for not the voice, they came for the show only Britney is able to put on.



In the restaurant/bar of the “02 arena” many people gathered to spend their time before the show. This restaurant continued to set the stage and boost up the excitement by playing a mix of all of Britney’s big time hits. Customers gathered around tables talking among one another and singing hit after hit energized for the night to come. The drink special of the night was called a Britney cocktail and was ordered continuously as then girls would snap pictures of them holding the drink next to the sign that advertised the Britney cocktail. The buzz of excitement continued to climax as the time drew closer to the show, cameras continuously flashed to capture the moment, girls began to dance, and continuous squeals of, “I am so excited” rang through the room.



After an opening performance by Ciara and an acrobatic Circus routine filled with talented advanced jugglers and acrobatics of all kinds, the room grew dark and a red curtain fell around the center circular stage. A large screen came down that encompassed the stage. A fanfare of trumpets played as lights flashed all around the room and the screen lit up displaying light bulbs of the word, “CIRCUS” as the fanfare peaked, static took over the screen and on came Perez Hilton dressed as the queen of England doing a three minute intro the show with slightly psychotic clowns, men of great strength, and circus music blasted in the background as the words come out, “Enter one, Enter all, the circus of the Bazaar. The greatest show on earth, Welcome to the Circus!”



Instantly the veil is lifted and Britney is revealed standing in a red, blue, and black ringleader costume. Cheers are silenced as Britney begins, “There’s only two types of people in the world,” pause “The ones that entertain and the ones that observe” followed by a slashing whip held by the ringleader, the fans go wild and a night full of screams and dancing is set ablaze amongst the crowd. For the rest of the evening Britney will continue to have possession of the center stage and dance floor.



A show is the exact thing that Britney has perfected since the young age of 17. She has the “it factor” that grabs a crowd and keeps them engaged. Whether in a cage, dancing in a picture frame that was hanging in air, or dancing with her amazingly diverse and talented back up dancers she kept the entire arena high energy, on their feet, and screaming or singing along. She worked the stage with her dancers while never missing a beat. She transitioned smoothly and stunts of disappearing acts, dancing in rings of fire or being lifted and twirled around by two other acrobatics in air, left the crowd wanting more. Each of her dance moves were hard hitting and the show continued to display show parallel to none other, but to be best described as a Cirque du soleil goes Moulin Rouge in pop culture fashion. The festive masquerade was verified as each fan who bought a program was given a free mask souvenir.



While keeping up the pace of each song and while working the stage of circus acts and transitioning, Britney went through numerous extraordinary and fabulous costume changes to fit each act accordingly. Outfits varied from being a ring master, wearing sparkly diamond encrusted bustieres and corsets, and even going back to her style a few years ago when she wore lose pasts and a black and white cropped top and a top hat as she performed the much loved song "Toxic." Each of these outfits naturally came accessorized with either knee high laced up boots or mile high stilettos, and fabulous jewelry to match.



The best outfit of the night was actually the one that kept Britney the most covered up. Britney came out in a turquoise and gold Arabian Princess costume adorned with jewelry and a matching head piece to perform a Bollywood version of “In the Zone.” The following song was the most engaging part of the evening. Britney’s microphone was audibly turned on as she greeted her London basted fans. She then sat on a large gold and turquoise fantasy dream like umbrella, where she was then taken to float in the air and around the stage as she sang her ballad “Everytime.”



While the rest of the show was very up tempo, fun, and very Britneyesque- “Everytime” brought in a new part of Britney for the night, a part that hopefully will be seen more of in the future. During “Everytime” you could hear the sweet, and by this time breathless, voice of Britney. But even more in her voice you could hear, her openness and vulnerability. Most of the show and most of Britney today tends to be oversexed. Britney is beautiful and sexy but that is not who she is. In her search for love, trust and affection it would be a great demise if it were all lost in the sea, of only finding her identity in being a sex symbol. This Britney singing a song that captivated and silenced the audience was a representation of a more unadulterated, soft, and honest side to a girl who is still growing in the midst of the real life circus she lives daily. As “Everytime” came to a close, Britney softly descended below stage and once again re-appeared as the world claims her identity to be- sexy.



After five years of waiting from Britney’s last appearance and performance of her “Onyx Hotel Tour,” London had throngs of people cheering for the pop princess’s performance. The entire evening had consisted of all her mega hits and additionally singles from her last two albums. The shows finale Britney’s first hit “Baby one more time” and ended with Britney standing in a shower of sparkling lights all around the stage as the crowd burst out in approval.



To introduce the encore the large screen splashed in a chaotic rhythmic pattern of pictures and scenes of Britney’s great performances of the past. For her encore performance, the Circus evening was fulfilled, with one final number one hit, “Womanizer,” followed by an instrumental version of “Circus” while Britney and team took their bows.



As the sea of people exited the area, ecstatic reviews were shared amongst one another. When asking if the show was what they had expected, the response would be, “and so much more!” For those who are fans of Britney not just journalist for the local area paper- the show was exactly what they came for and what they expected. The show’s success is due to seeing Britney once again rise to the top. There is adoration for the entire production, where not a single detail was missing. From beginning to end it was one fantastic charade to the next.



Each fan had come to see what they loved so much- Britney. What mattered to each fan was seeing Britney be back to life, to be back on stage, and back in the light. The best part for each adoring fan was simply seeing Britney be Britney once again.