First off, coming from some fresh $1 Million sound upgrades, the Target Center is actually starting to sound pretty good, the reverberation of the massive amounts of sound were fairly minimal, and everything was crystal clear. Yes, the entire show was most likely contained on some digital format, and some fat roadie just pushed play, yet they still made it sound great and packed a real punch with it.
Now, onto the center ring of the show. When I entered the arena The Pussycat Dolls were strutting their stuff all around the stage, in the typical pop fashion manner. though I cannot say that I am a huge fan of their style of music, the diversity of music put into their backing tracks is actually quite surprising. The songs contained hints of Middle Eastern and Indian tones, yet were still brought into the pop arena.
Well, thankfully that got done quickly, even though I spent most of their set waiting around 20-30 minutes to get a hot dog. Yes, a hot dog. Perhaps it was stress on the vendors, or the fact that they had one single credit card swiper in their whole stand, and a slow one at that. But once I regained my position amongst the around 90% female crowd, I realized that the Target Center was more crowded than I think I have ever seen it. It was nothing but screaming women, yelling at the top of their lungs for Britney, and it was women of all ages, young and old. When we first arrived at the venue, I though a riot was going to break out in the main entryway when it was nothing but women trying to make it through first.
Before Britney came on many circus acts performed around the two outermost "rings" of the circus, which can be seen in the posts below. It was probably one of the most original ideas for a tour I have seen yet, and was actually pulled off very successfully, and I was very surprised to see that actual circus caliber performers were hired to perform on the whole tour. Once the circus acts were over, and after saying hello to some friends in attendance, the lights went down. Pandemonium ensued. A strange intro video is displayed on a 360 degree screen, which is lifted over the stage, and Britney is seen descending onto the stage. Cue ear-drum shattering screams from thousands of women. But once the music started I got a very pleasant surprise. This was bar-none the most organized, well-planned, choreographed, and most fluid stage show I have ever seen. the stage, 3 "rings" all had multiple trap doors or elevators, which could be lowered or raised, and were used for exchanging dancers and props. The amazing thing is that the workers below the stage never seemed to miss a beat. Everything went according to plan, and Britney didn't have to worry about her kitty cat hanging out.
All in all I was surprised at how energetic lip-syncing along to a track could be, and the lights, stage, and backup performers all made the show a cohesive spectacle, or circus, if you will. It's amazing how almost no musician of my sorts would ever seem to end up at a concert like this one, but it also amazes me how some people don't even bother to give it a chance. I can honestly say it was one of the better concerts I have attended, and has helped me give a little more credit to the all-deserving road crew that puts something like this logistical nightmare together every night.
