Britney Spears Live from Las Vegas

I happened upon this at blockbuster the other night,and figured "what the heck!" After all, one can always turn the sound off and just watch her wiggle, yes? Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. While I don't listen to bubble gum pop, I have to admit the show itself was great theatre. Yes, she lipsynched, but don't we expect her to? And yes, the "support the troops" bit was nauseating, but once again, it's trendy. All in all, if you've nothing better to do, give this a watch.

This is one hell of a show. Britney is my generation's best performer and dancer hands down, and this is arguably her best tour. What she is capable of at 19 is mind blowing. The way she can dance is absolutely mesmerizing, and even surrounded by extremely talented dancers you can only see her. How she was able to push herself to dance to that ability for an hour and a half is incredible. Her energy and stage presence are still unmatched to this day. Britney's adorable personality shines through the whole time, and you can tell she is having so much fun. Although not all her singing is live, it genuinely doesn't bother me at all. There's no one who could move like that for that long on a huge stage and be able to sing well. It's smart for her to do one or the other, plus we all know naturally her voice is much deeper and it's straining to manipulate your voice for that long.

Aside from how impressive Britney is, the entire show and everyone involved did an incredible job. The costumes, choreography, pyrotechnics and stunts were amazing. A lot of what was done first for this show has been copied over and over by other artists. The skits were cute and funny, too, even though they look very early 2000s compared to what's possible today.

And above everything else, FREE BRITNEY.

As with Paula Abdul back in the day (the day in question being the late 1980s), I enjoy Britney Spears both for her entertainer aspects and for her cute face, stunning abs, hypnotic legs and buns etc - as attractive as someone like Samantha Mumba is, I would sooner chew off my feet than listen to her output, something I can't say for little Miss Spears. (Which means yes, I'll probably like "Crossroads.") I'm even staying on her side after her PR mishap over here - it's not like she's killed anybody...

Having enjoyed her other TV specials (including Sky's broadcast of one of her London concerts - "Oops! Sky One did it again!" as the girl said in one of the show's promos), it was a given that HBO's "Britney Spears: Live In Las Vegas" would be a must. And the show does deliver for her fans; visually it's enthralling, with the choreography, the set design, the effects (like "Lonely" featuring Britney in action with a closed-circuit TV twin) and Miss Spears' various outfits keeping the attention - "It's getting hot in here," she says prior to removing several clothes at the start of "I'm A Slave 4 U" - and the songs themselves, though odd in some cases (what possessed her to do "I Love Rock'N'Roll"? Ah well, still beats Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman doing "Something Stupid"), are proficient bubblegum pop at worst - even "Boys," her current single at the time of writing, is still preferable to most songs that get to #1 in Britain - and almost art at best.

Britney herself is a delight as always; never the world's greatest singer but she does do her best to give value for money, and on the ballads she can make you go "Aaahhhh" with the best of them. Although reducing "Born To Make You Happy" (my favourite of her songs) to part of a childhood medley doesn't quite work - and the framing device with Jon Voight is just embarrassing - the biggest fault with this show is dependant on where you see it. Your humble writer saw it on British TV's Channel 5 in a 75-minute slot (with commercial breaks); the show has an official running time of 90 minutes on video and HBO, meaning that the members of the Britney Brigade who saw it on TV here missed at least 20 minute - see reviews on Amazon.com for an idea of what's missing. The UK TV version also has an additional credit tacked on after the HBO one, calling it "A Carlton Production for Channel 5." At least the culprits admit responsibility (Carlton has a well-deserved reputation in this country for poor quality programming).

If it had been the full version, I would have rated it the full 10. (And had Britney allowed the cameras to watch her change between acts a la Janet Jackson's Hawaiian concert, I'd have given it 11.) But even in a cut version this is a gem.

Like the one the old lady threw in the water at the end? "Like that."

Oops...Britney Spears Did It Again! She played with our hearts got lost in the game. Ohh Baby, Baby. Oops you think she's in love. That she's sent from above! She's not that innocent! Ohh Baby. Yes she is not that innocent with her little 'shower' at the end of the show. Since I'm a Britney fan once again this is great (See My 'Crossroads' Review). Enough Said. MPAA Rating: PG for sexual material including brief nudity

From what I've seen, a Spears concert is not only simply singing, but a theatrical production of sorts. Props, sets, the occasional special effects and background videos, not to mention Spears trying on a new costume with nearly every song. With her HBO broadcast from Las Vegas, it was obvious that Spears and company were going to try to take this all to another level. While Spears looks terrific in costumes that continue to cover less-and-less as the concert continues, there are some decisions that are just plain strange: for no apparent reason, Jon Voight turns up about halfway through to read a poem. The between-songs chatter is often corny and occasionally unintentionally funny (I think Britney even started a conversation with the audience with "Can we talk?" I'm suprised I didn't hear, "No! Sing, dammit!" from the crowd noise in the surrounds in the 5.1 audio mix). A "Behind The Music" skit about halfway through is terribly unfunny, which is dissapointing, given the fact that Spears has shown that she has solid comedic timing on "Saturday Night Live". In fact, the skit comes off like the worst of SNL. She opens with former No.1 single "OOPS I DID IT AGAIN", tied to a spinning wheel she rotates for the first verse, before coming on to the large stage to finish. She follows it up with (YOU DRIVE ME) CRAZY,.... OVERPROTECTED follows. Dressed in a very ... catsuit-type attire she puts plenty of oomph into one of the freshest and funkiest tunes of the show. Next is the enjoyable medley of BORN TO MAKE YOU HAPPY / LUCKY / SOMETIMES. She is dressed quite scantily, and that's always appreciated. BOYS, one of her more different sounding tunes, allows Spears to put her ... to good use, as she writhes around on stage and interacts, quite intimately, with her dancers. STRONGER and NOT A GIRL, NOT YET A WOMAN come after this. I LOVE ROCK 'N' ROLL is one of the more energetic performances as she pips away on a raised platform, before she hangs from the ceiling mid-air, in a stunt you could see the Backstreet Boys or NSync pulling off. Her urban influenced track WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE ME has plenty of synchronized dancing and energy. LONELY would have to be one of the better performances as she interacts with a computer generated version of herself, seen on a big screen. The song is almost like a duet. Very cool. Ballad DON'T LET ME BE THE LAST TO KNOW gives Britney time to breathe in a rather uninspired performance which is very lifeless and in this she sounds like a drag queen. Sorry Ms Spears, this was the shows' downfall. She picks up the pace with the cheery pop tune ANTICIPATING. Plenty of colour, this peformance is vibrant and very much for the young. She incorporates the audience into this one, by asking them to sing along and clap their hands to the chorus. This all changes when she strips off to a tiny, shimmery skirt and green bra top,for the pumped up performance of I'M A SLAVE 4 U. This is an awesome performance with plenty of heat and no doubt her male fans will have a field day, thanks to Spears' bust and her attire. You'll see what I mean. After thanking everyone for coming out, she appears back on for an alternative take on her biggest hit to date, BABY ONE MORE TIME. This is where she is drenched in a shower of rain for the performance which is not the ...BABY, we remember hearing. But seeing a wet Spears is satisfactory enough. I strongly recommend this to any Britney fan. You'll have fun. Top of Form 1 "Britney Spears - Live from Las Vegas" is a feast for the eyes and ears. 8/10