Britney Spears Review

WATCHING ONE of the biggest former teen pop stars having a meltdown in front of your eyes isn’t the most edifying thing in the world, but if that’s what being a public figure means these days then perhaps you’ve just got to like it or lump it.

Britney Spears brought her ‘‘Circus’’ show to Ireland at the weekend; it’s part of a European tour that has been riddled with speculation about the Louisiana pop star’s state of mind and body, while advance reports have noted various gaffs, notably the performer flagrantly lip-synching her way through the show from start to finish.

Such speculation, of course, is itself rife with prejudice, mean-spiritedness and the unfathomable need by some to kick a person when they’re down. And yet it has to be said while there was very little wrong with the extravagant bells and whistles, the impressive smoke and mirrors and clever sleights of hand of this show, the nominal star of it was hardly in the venue.

While the timing of Spears’ circus-themed concert was slightly off – arriving in Ireland less than a week after Take That’s similarly-themed open-air gig at Croke Park the actual performance is so fastidiously, rigidly choreographed that it’s less a live experience and more a gallery exhibition. There is no margin for one of pop music’s essential characteristics ­ connecting with the audience ­ and there certainly isn’t room for anything as time consuming as improvisation or adlibbing.

Yet that isn't the inherent problem here. As has been witnessed by other music theatre/Las Vegas-style shows at the O2 in recent months by the likes of Tina Turner and Beyonce, any true star of a show like this can disperse the smoke and break the mirrors by stamping their identity on it. Spears, however, came across as a string-controlled marionette, all smiles and no personality, stiff dance moves and, yes, blatant lip-synching. Another negative: some of the overtly sexual video backdrops and staged segments (from Eyes Wide Shut-like bizarro sex romps to Pulp Fictiongimp iconography) were wholly inappropriate for Spears' younger fanbase, and why this wasn't thought through properly reflects poorly on the decision-making processes of a mother of two young children.

There was undoubtedly some cracking pop music amid all the sideshow and visual panache ­ what's not to like about songs as good as Baby One More Timeand Toxicbut there was no sign whatsoever of the pop star.