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| Britney Spears |
She went to Egypt, rode a giant guitar and battled a stalker while lip-syncing her way through a set of Femme Fatale tracks and remixes of old hits. Britney Spears put on a tremendously produced show with so many distractions that it was easy to let your eyes wander from the previous pop queen. In fact, throughout most of the show, she was hardly the most entertaining thing on stage.
Rumor has it that the crew built the set throughout the course of the night. It was elevated, so Brit and co. could drop into the floor, and cages could rise and fall with ease from the hidden basement space. Smoke, fireworks and video screens completed the metal set (a far cry from Katy Perry’s candy land from a few nights prior), complete with windmill-looking objects and staircases.
But as Britney made her way through each well-rehearsed number, I couldn’t help but flash back to being a kid at Sesame Street on Ice. Deep down, I knew that wasn’t Elmo whipping around on skates, but I was able to let my imagination run wild and enjoy the show. That leap of confidence was necessary last night as Britney “sang” and “danced” the night away.
Of course, that’s part of the deal. You don’t actually expect to hear Britney say more than “I can’t hear you” while pumping up the Milwaukee crowd twice throughout the evening, but back when her lip-syncing was widely accepted, it seemed to be because she was so breathless from the dancing. Well these days, unless constant walking from one side of the stage to the other combined with lots of hair flipping leaves the star short of breath, I’m not sure what the need for it is.
But alas, I made the Sesame Street-style leap of faith and watched the show. After sitting through Nervo’s DJ set (could the Aussie duo be more adorable?) and the absolute brutal renderings of Jessie and the Toy Boys (really?), Nicki Minaj rapped her way through her tracks to wild applause, donning several outfits and a cute platinum bob wig.
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| Britney Spears encore |
After a 45-minute countdown (that was a nice touch, Brit), Britney took the stage. There was a ’20s-style remix of “If U Seek Amy” and a shortened “Baby One More Time,” which segued into Rihanna’s “S&M.” When “I’m a Slave 4 U” began, I shot back to the days of the snake and secretly yearned for Britney, version 1.0.
Regardless, the crowd stayed mega engaged, even taking short breaks during video clips to sit down and rest. Britney left the stage after “I Wanna Go,” as the crowd jumped in unison, screaming each word.
After a quick jaunt off stage, Britney reappeared for a pretty stellar encore, ending the night with “Till the World Ends.”
A show of that magnitude is one you can be happy you saw. And if anything stays true throughout the years, it’s that it’s always best to live in the moment, not wishing for the way things were. So with that mindset, it’s nice to have you back in any capacity, Brit. You still know how to entertain.
Updated: Summerfest posted this video showing how they set up the stage. Pretty wild.
