It has become abundantly clear, after only two shows, that Britney Spears is not actually serious about mounting a comeback.
Going by eyewitness reports, to call the performances "perfunctory" would be doing them a kindness. The first show, two nights ago in San Diego, featured Spears performing a bachelor party dance routine while lip-syncing a few of her popular hits. It lasted all of 14 minutes. The second show, last night in Anaheim, sported the same set-list, the same moves, the same Pussycat Dolls-like back-up dancers - except that it only lasted 12 minutes, and reportedly, Britney didn't bother even moving her lips with the songs, but chose instead to chomp gum while performing her awkward gyrations.
Still, there were people willing to give Britney a positive review. Said one optimistic attendee of last night's Anaheim gig:
It was short, it was good. She looked good, she did her thing.
Her thing being, apparently, gypping people who shelled out $500 for a single ticket. Then again, if you're any kind of Spears fan, you must be used to getting gypped. Her entire career has been a sham. She was never anything more than a product of studio fakery and music video glitz - a performing robot. Clearly, if one judges by the accounts of Spears's two comeback shows, the robot has become sputtery and in need of new software.
So, Britney Spears has thus far faked her way through two shows - but will she be able to fake her way through a whole resurgence? Unlikely. However, one assumes there will always be nitwits willing to pay money to see her. And there will also always be the morbidly curious, who want to witness a meltdown, or at the very least a catastrophic wig malfunction. Fakeness, in the current cultural climate, is no sin. Just ask Paris Hilton.
(source 1, source 2)
