Britney lip syncs and flashes her way through show

SIMON COLLINS, MUSIC EDITOR, The West Australian November 7, 2009, 9:44 am

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Pop diva Britney Spears kicked off the Australian leg of her Circus world tour at Burswood Dome last night, lip-syncing her way through nearly two hours of high camp in front of a sold-out audience of 17,000.

The fans could not have cared less that she was not singing live, screaming as the comeback queen minced through her hits accompanied on stage by 15 circus performers.

YouTube footage from the concert here

And it was the real Spears, not a decoy, strutting around amongst acrobats, clowns and latex-clad dancers in the middle of the Dome.

The 27-year-old mother-of-two's first ever Australian concert was visually spectacular but the sound was woeful - an ear-splitting bombardment that made objections to her miming a concern secondary to worries that your head might explode.

While the crowd of mostly young fans went wild for remixed versions of favourites such as Toxic, Slave 4 U and her 1998 debut single …Baby One More Time, the first half stuck to recent songs off 2007's Blackout and last year's comeback album, Circus.

The show veered close to soft-porn on several occasions, and Spears may have fallen out of one of her skimpy costumes during Toxic.

One can only assume that the combination of Spears' train-wreck off-stage life, epochal pop songs and the stadium-sized concert spectacular drove Circus to be the highest grossing international tour of 2009.

Frankly, it's not much chop - 16 songs not even sung by the star, with plenty of filler and Spears barely engaging with her fans. She may as well have sent the decoy out in a blonde wig.

Did you see Britney's second show? Have your say below.

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fan1ofwceagles 05:06am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Kathy your so mean with those comments. I would like to see you dance & sing & entertain 18,000 fans at Burswood. No wonder she holed herself in the Hyatt with nasty comments like your saying about Brits and her fans. Melboune & Sydney will have thier minds blown away with Brits vibbing them love & she will be treated heaps more better in Syd and Melb to.
Kathy 04:22am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Please, I just want one fan to actually help me realise why Britney is the celebrity she is to the world. She is hardly a dancer, she hardly sings music without it being studio enhanced, and she really does not do anything for that matter. Please, I just want one of her fans to help me understand this appeal for Britney without using words like "stupider" for stupid and "fell" for feel and "boughten" for purchased.
Kathy 04:06am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
After watching the Youtube post a second time, I realise she is making money on the side, working for Hungry Jacks, using her earpiece with their take away service since the earpiece is not being used for singing. Of course, this is in additon to dancing fast and furious, like Flashdance, while she mimes to her own cd music. Fan1ofwceagles it seems Brit is at least not as stupider as a cow since you fell . I have to work two jobs for living and she makes millions with this dance routine tour. I am the stupider one. Although, by even giving her attention, we are probably just as stupider as you fell about us.
Kathy 04:06am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
After watching the Youtube post a second time, I realise she is making money on the side, working for Hungry Jacks, using her earpiece with their take away service since the earpiece is not being used for singing. Of course, this is in additon to dancing fast and furious, like Flashdance, while she mimes to her own cd music. Fan1ofwceagles it seems Brit is at least not as stupider as a cow since you fell . I have to work two jobs for living and she makes millions with this dance routine tour. I am the stupider one. Although, by even giving her attention, we are probably just as stupider as you fell about us.
Kathy 03:33am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
The YouTube performance posted here is ghastly. She makes millions of dollars a year for this? Crikeys! Fans are defending her by saying she needs to mime so she can dance. She is hardly dancing that hard in this YouTube segment to need to mime. Speaking of fans, fan1ofwceagles not to say anything against a Britney fan as you put it, but you really should use a period after your initial statement I donot think. Sorry hon, I know you tried to correct yourself by the looks of things (but possibly people who are not fans of Britney are not stupider than you fell they are)
fan1ofwceagles 02:35am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
I donot think that any one who acutally had boughten a ticket to Brits would be saying these cruel things. Thier just wanting to be cruel to a superstar who gives her heart out to her fans until it breaks over calling her these names. Stop being stupider than cows on the side of road before you cast stones at her! You would not like people being mean to you to.
fan1ofwceagles 02:24am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
I donot think that any one who acutally boughten a ticket to Brits would be saying these cruel things. Thier just wanting to be cruel to a superstar who gives her heart out to her fans until it breaks over these names. Stop being stupider than cows on the side of road before you caste stones!
Beliza A. 01:43am Monday 09th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
For those of you who are sooo negative about Britney... I guess your life is so perfect; or very dull that you feel the need to put down someone whom you never met nor did you any harm in order for you to feel good about yourself. I'm no great fun of hers but, let's face it. NO ONE IS PERFECT!
matthew_antoni 04:30pm Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
The youtube link on here makes her look like she was performing in a grammar school production. I am not sure why people are defending her for dancing so hard that she cannot sing while doing the steps. P!nk dances and sings. Beyonce, too. Britney is not touring a dance contest. She makes her money from music she sells. The comment concerning going to a concert and having the music turned off? I have never heard such a thing.
lisabigelow 03:23pm Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
I loved the concert!!! The costumes were beautiful. The male dancers were stunning. The circus atmosphere was fun. My daughters and I loved the different props. I think she looked pretty up on stage. I am not sure why most are giving her hell over a stunning performance. The only thing that I felt was off was the overwhelming loud music. I could have done without the music and just watched the lovely costumes.
fan1ofwceagles 12:58pm Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Any one who was their Friday and did not love Britnny are really stupider than any cow. So she gave up her kids because she had a mental breakdown with how mean everyone is. At least she didnot just dump them off in the street. She looked at me & smiled at me during Womanizer & I will never forget her being so sweet. Britnney listen to youre fans. WE LOVE YOU, Brits!
courtney.adams63 11:59am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
My 14 year old cousin went to the concert. She loved dancing to the music. She didn't pay for the concert. I am sure if she would be working and earning her own money she wouldn't have been so quick to jump up and down. Who knows. She seemed happy being near Brit.
jbourke86 11:30am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
My girlfriend and I went to the first concert. It was formula. It was possibly just a little less than expected. It would have been nice to acknowledge Perth. I got the feeling she really could care less about being here compared to setting her sights on Sydney. So, when I hear she is holed up in her hotel it is pretty easy to guess she has no desire in the least to walk around our city. She would have been holed up if every review was positive if I were punting the odds. I am sure the Sydney (and possibly Melbourne) concerts will have her interested in their city.
jackbesimplyjack 10:40am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Right-o! She has people creating the circus. Fair Dinkum. Any superstar creates publicity positive or negative. They all fear apathy. If she could give up her kids she will do anything to make sure every headline through this tour is overblown and to the limits of sanity. Would we want a person like this trolling around our city? Hell, keep her locked up in the hotel room for our safety! Once we keep her locked in then we can take a look at the media's new sensational story they are churning out: Rihanna poster girl for the women who have been abused. She had quite a while to come this conclusion. She picked her timing right as her new cd is coming out. So, everyone of you whinging fools start focusing on your family and caring what goes on in your own houses. Or, these superstars will destroy each and everyone of us.
bethseamus 09:56am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
C'mon People. Let's get serious here. You cannot be all taken by any of this, can you? The only one making sense is mdc1919 by admitting he goes to a concert and enjoys it for what it is. Britney Spears will never be considered a performer who can sit down and sing with natural ability. So, if she banked on that she would not get any sort of publicity with the media who are fueling this frenzy. She needs them to build up momentum. They need her for front page news. How many other acts get so much attention out of limited natural talent when it comes to live performances. Hell, the inside joke is she even calls this tour a "Circus". If anyone did any research into Brit, before she came into Perth, you would all realise she is not wanting positive publicity as negative publicity into her nonsense keeps us all at the edge of our seats interested in keeping her a celebrity. She is not going to walk around Perth because she enjoys being here. It is just another stop on a tour. When she does step out after decoys lure us into the "grand scale" of her arrival it will be in something shocking to keep the media feeding her celebrity. She, in fact, has people from the States who are to create negative publicity for her stirring up her wackiness and close to the edge of another disaster in every town she lands in when it comes to a tourdate. They write into the papers fueling "Ooops, she did it again". And, so she gets us into her show and buying her albums. And, she does a good job of it. She wouldn't get by with headlines that tell us to turn out for a concert of vast natural talent. She draws us in as people needing the feel of being in the same vicinity as the media machine BritCircus. Yes, her family are shameless into selling tabloid stories for their bank accounts even regarding Brit's sisters pregnacy. If this story came out of the Kimberleys we would be so sad f ...
Sillyb 09:19am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
teach ya kids to respect talented musos who can play live music! 17 000 tickets x $200? Crikeys
kdupont63 08:45am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
It was what it was. It wasn't the best. But, it was more about being part of a show. I knew what I was getting before buying the $$$. She really never went above or below what is already published in the reviews. She will be back in Perth again and people will pay again.
myklfootlicker 08:25am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Stop your whingeing , you all knew she was a balloon head before you brought your tickets .
beckymcmullins 08:24am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
I went to her concert. She wasn't really into any of her fans. I paid a lot for crap. I was a fan of her dance fun songs. I just want her to prove she can sing by having an outside party set up a stage and Brit sings five songs without any sort of electronics. She did not sing that ballad live. It was clearly pre-recorded and just sounded less produced than the dance songs. BRITNEY SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! You care about your fans here in Australia. Then, prove once and for all you have spent this long as a performer to actually SING LIVE just once in your life!!!!! BRITNEY SUCKKKKSSSSS!
mdc1919 08:15am Sunday 08th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Burswood is always to blame when it comes to the sound. Through lack of alternative venues this will always be the case. I have many friends who refuse to go see shows because of this even though the artist is someone they would want to see. As for Britney...I am a 42 yr old bloke who has seen concerts from Iron Maiden , Ozzy , Metallica , Daft Punk ( probably the best I have ever seen ), Guns & Roses ( at their peak ) & countless others & I can say that Britney put on a great show from start to finish. Some may say I lost some street cred last night but I will always be proud to say I enjoyed her concert immensely. Probably goes to show that out of the 17,000 odd people there each night their is only a handful of people who didn't like it & half of those on this page are people who weren't even there but just delight in having a pop at other peoples taste. More fool you.