Britney Spears Live from Las Vegas

Only because a friend loaned me this and I had never seen Spears sing (hey, I am a fairly old geezer, long past being in the Britney generation), I decided to take a look. It surprised me; it wasn't bad. It actually was very entertaining and some of the skits she did were pretty funny. I have to admit; I was impressed....at least to a point.

This is a feast for the eyes, not just male eyes on Britney, but the wild special effects, lights, colors, explosions, dancers....it's quite the Las Vegas show. I expected "bubble gum" type songs, and some were, but not most. What I saw that I've never seen before on DVD in a live concert is someone lip-syncing! That doesn't say a whole lot for her singing ability if she has to resort to that. However, to be fair, she is dancing so much that it would extremely difficult to do both at once. Nonetheless, it takes away from the credibility of the whole thing. On the plus, at least her songs sounded the way she wanted them to. If done live, they might have been....well, not so good.

Since this concert was done two months after 9/11, there is a nice dedication to our troops and a simulcast to four military bases. I'm sure the guys enjoyed looking at her. Anyway, this whole thing was a lot better than I anticipated. I'm not too impressed with her personal life but she puts on an entertaining show, even with the lip-syncing.

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

She always lip-synchs everything except for the ballads when she just sits or doesn't move. The rest is not live singing, and it was totally obvious in this 'concert.' People defend her by saying it's hard to sing and dance at the same time, but plenty of other artists do it. And it's not like she's a great singer either. I guess you'll like this concert if you're a fan though.

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."

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.