Tulsa World: Slide Show: Britney's Circus

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Slide Show: Britney's Circus
Spears goes over the top at Tulsa show

Britney Spears sparkles in "The Circus Starring Britney Spears" at Tulsa's BOK Center on Tuesday evening. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 9/16/2009 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 9/16/2009 1:18 PM

View an interactive timeline of the BOK Center’s first year. Find out who Tulsa World readers would most like to see perform at the arena, and view a calendar of upcoming events.

Britney Spears' "Big Apple Circus" started with Coney Island flair and freak-show charm.

A legless woman and a bald man traded tricks on a trampoline. A midget ringleader shouted encouragement from the sideline. Martial artists kicked and flipped in unison.

A near-capacity audience hooted with disbelief as a gymnast flipped and jumped on an inches-wide balance beam.

Then things got more surreal.

Nearly 10 minutes into Spears' Tuesday night show at Tulsa's BOK Center, the main attraction herself descended from the ceiling into the center of a gyrating circus.

Spears was nearly lost in the mix

Her dancing, caged-animal routine was sexy, but the masked men who danced around her wheeled golden cage during "Piece of Me" stole the show.

By stomping her heels and strutting across the stage in glittered bombast, she stole it right back.

The evening's show was an over-the-top big-top performance in every way. It had to be.

Spears is larger than life. Everything about her is gilded and glitzy, over-hyped and hyperspeed.

Her "Circus" tour show showcases those traits.

The three-ring spectacle was

filled with live choreography — Spears as its sultry ringleader, if not its full-time singer.

The five-act legion of illusion and bewitchment wasn't the only sleight-of-hand Tuesday night.

Much of her set was lip-synched — and Spears was too busy dancing and contorting to be bothered with concealing it.

The lack of "live" singing at a concert is controversial for many, but not for this crowd. The fans came to be entertained.

A magician appeared to cut the star into pieces and then made her lingerie-clad form disappear while she lip-synched and shimmied to "Ooh Ooh Baby" and "Hot as Ice."

And then there was another costume change and another hippodrome-ready vision of pomp and grandeur.

Half a dozen gold-plated low-rider bicycles rolled in. Dancers enveloped Spears, and then — a solo.

She covered Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know" sans fanfare, nearly alone on stage and dressed in rocker black spandex pants and bikini top. She traipsed out from the circus and into a house of fun.

Quite possibly the largest crowd response came with her live version of "Everytime" as she sat perched in a shimmering bird seat.

Following that song, she skipped, catlike, into another costume change and into the songs "Freakshow" and "Get Naked."

Masked men gave way to more than a dozen dancers on golden couches. "Breathe on Me" and "Touch of My Hand" followed in an electrified freakshow-peepshow segment.

That morphed into metallic props and welding sparks as a leather-wearing troupe launched into a tattoo and boom-beat segment with "Do Something," "Toxic" and a street-tough, amped dance version of "Baby One More Time."

The live band was lost in the pits for most of the show but gained momentum toward the end of the concert.

The organic sound of beating drums and wailing guitars added a sense of humanity — even if it was surreally Technicolored.

But, all that said, even with the sex, the innuendo, the crassness, the bombast and the million-dollar production, there's still a subtle naïveté about Spears and her stage presence.

It peeks from beneath her curtain of hair extensions and her torrid lash-batting, but it's there.

She didn't command her audience — but that seemed OK because everyone was already along for the ride.

In many ways, Spears is still the childlike Disney Mouseketeer. She's choreographed; she's beautiful; and her timing's perfect.

Maybe that's why, weirdly, it all worked.

Slide Show

To see all of the Tulsa World slide shows, go to tulsaworld.com/photos.

Jennifer Chancellor 581-8346
jennifer.chancellor@tulsaworld.com By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Spears' "Big Apple Circus" comes to town," which was published on 9/15/2009.

	Report Comment H_Harl, (9/15/2009 10:49:05 PM) :)
	Report Comment Bill Hader, Jenks (9/15/2009 10:50:04 PM) the best show i have seen in tulsa, now the red eye to ny
	Report Comment my view, Sand Springs (9/15/2009 10:56:48 PM) I hate to admit it but my granddaughter and her mother went. Two tickets $130 each. Wow!
	Report Comment mgsooner, (9/15/2009 11:12:31 PM) Hader LOL
	Report Comment T.B'Ville, Bruins (9/15/2009 11:18:17 PM) I am happy for the fans of hers that are in this area got a chance to see her without going far off.
	Report Comment Murano902, (9/15/2009 11:19:59 PM) Queen B came to Tulsa and brought a Circus with her! This show was fantastic! Britney looked beautiful and she danced her &$% off! Her dancers and performers were top-notch...awesome show at the BoK Center!!
	Report Comment dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (9/15/2009 11:30:06 PM) Good for Britney and good for her fans. You obviously had a good time. Good for the BOK. What it's all about.
	Report Comment AdMan, (9/15/2009 11:35:15 PM) We had a great time!
	Report Comment owl, Tulsa (9/15/2009 11:53:22 PM) Britney was trim and gorgeous and gave generously of herself,the sets and lighting were spectacular, and I found my self entertained to a quite unexpected degree. The BOK is one of the best things to happen to Tulsa in a long while.
	Report Comment Centrist, the burbs (9/16/2009 12:17:24 AM) I can't believe people actually paid money to see her circus freak show which seems aptly named for her. Personally I could not support someone that has the history she does of not taking good care of her kids while using drugs and alcohol. Sorry to be the lone dissenter here, just my opinion.
	Report Comment Sunshineinttown, (9/16/2009 12:44:02 AM) While she may not be my cup of tea, I am happy the BOK is here now so we do have the opportunity to see shows of this nature, be they pop, country, rock or rap, at least we have a decent venue now to view them at.
	Report Comment okmark, (9/16/2009 1:51:48 AM) It sounds like it was another successful show for the BOK. Thanks for the review.
	Report Comment okieborn95, (9/16/2009 4:25:48 AM) Centrist we all get lost at one point or another in our lives. It looks like Britney has found her way back. We all deserve a second chance. I'm glad the concert was a success.
	Report Comment justiceawaits, Claremore (9/16/2009 7:31:25 AM) Good for her and good for the city. Tulsa can use the sales taxes and the surrounding venders providing hotel rooms and food could sure use the business.
	Report Comment Mr. Mxyztplk, A Van, Down By The River (9/16/2009 8:49:45 AM) Back in the summer, a week into her London shows, that had to give away seats for $5 to "fill up" the arena. The reviews were mediocre. Then those old "topless photos" were released, dropping the bad reviews out of the media. Pays to be "dating" your publicity manager, I guess. She either revamped the show amid that criticism, or Tulsa just loves Britany. Either way, it's just "Mo Money" for Tulsa. As for the article comparing her to the Mouseketeer she used to me...pulez...she's not that innocent...
	Report Comment Few Clothes, America (9/16/2009 9:14:24 AM) I don't mean to be glib about it but that and her porn flick is the only opinion I have of her. She is still trash in my book.
	Report Comment Ryanoceros, Tulsa (9/16/2009 9:23:43 AM) Glad the BOK is thriving and major artists are coming and being supported. ...that said, my wife sad it was sad and weak. We've seen tons of concerts, we love them, but she came home disgusted. Maybe people were blinded by the pyrotechnics/lights/etc.
	Report Comment Ryanoceros, Tulsa (9/16/2009 9:24:14 AM) grrr, why can't we edit our posts to fix our typos.
	Report Comment dustyoutlaw, Tulsa (9/16/2009 9:26:16 AM) I see the negative about everything crowd has checked in this morning. You people don't like anything do you? What business is it of yours who Tulsan's want to go see? I didn't go see Britney but I did go see the Eagles and the Eagles are from the "everybody smoke pot" generation. So what. God you never ending negative people are a bore. How much money have you contributed to the BOK? How much money would YOU appearing at the the BOK bring in in related city income? Get a life.
	Report Comment SS_Hippy, Tulsa (9/16/2009 9:33:16 AM) Negative ninnies
	Report Comment CHEM E, jenks (9/16/2009 9:33:50 AM) I was at the conert last night with my kids. our seats were "Ring Side" seats, in other word right next to the stage. our seats afforded us the opportunity to "SEE" her directly infront of us. She not only lip-synched but she messed up the lines, at least her mouth did't look like she saying the words we were hearing. She even went so far as to NOT sing certain verses (I assumed she was exhausted at that point.) I have been to approx 40 concerts total and this concert was more like some of the vegas shows I have seen, its just entertainment, a show or a performance to watch not participate in. She did not connect with the audience in the least that was a Shame.
	Report Comment Ric, Broken Arrow (9/16/2009 9:42:27 AM) Looks kind of bondage style... she looks good, I knew I should have gone. I am a little baffled about the lip syncing though. I guess music concerts that involve high action dancing don't actually perform with their own voice anymore?
	Report Comment wildcat, Glenpool (9/16/2009 9:46:18 AM) There are posters on here who never go to shows at the BOK, yet they moan their negative spews the loudest. If you aren't going, aren't interested, great. My mother taught me if you can't say something nice, don't say anything. If you don't want to pay to see a show that is fine. Just don't spew negativity about the shows that others enjoyed. Didn't go, not my kind of music; however, we all deserve a second chance and I am glad she is doing better.
	Report Comment Darkstar, (9/16/2009 9:52:13 AM) Performing on a stool we've a sight to make you drool Seven virgins and a mule Keep it cool. Keep it cool. We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown were exclusively our own, All our own. All our own. Come and see the show! Come and see the show! Come and see the show! See the show
	Report Comment Arbythree, Tulsa (9/16/2009 9:56:20 AM) I do not approve of lip-synching and the fact that she barely tried to hide it is even worse.

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