• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

GAFPOP |OT8| Don't Forget the self-clockiesT of 'em all_

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Aguila

#ICONIC
lyuszgi.jpg
 
C

Cynosure

Member
LAS VEGAS -- The show is called “Piece of Me,” and that’s exactly what it delivers -- no more, no less.

Clad in a version of the bedazzled bodysuit she wore a decade ago in the video for her song “Toxic,” Britney Spears launched her much-discussed two-year residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino by emerging from a giant metal globe suspended over the stage of the Axis Theater. “Work Bitch,” the lead single from her latest album, thumped through the venue’s booming sound system as an army of masked dancers marched around her. Smoke swirled, fans hoisted miniature bottles of Moët & Chandon.

For a few tantalizing moments Friday night, Spears -- the one-time teen-pop queen who’s spent much of the last few years inching back from the brink -- seemed ready to reclaim her once-vivid form. Then the bubble burst.

Scheduled to run through 2015, with Spears playing approximately 50 shows a year at the 4,600-seat Axis, “Piece of Me” represents a potential pivot point for the singer and the state of entertainment on the Las Vegas Strip.

For Spears, 32, the steady gig promises a path out of the turmoil and disappointment that have surrounded her since 2007, when she attacked a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella after shaving her head at a Tarzana salon.

Though Spears’ personal life appears to have stabilized, her career is still hurting: This month her album “Britney Jean” opened with the lowest sales of the singer’s 15-year career; it sits at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, well behind records by Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, both of whom showed up Friday night as a sign of respect to a trailblazer.

Filling the Axis, the thinking seems to go, might restore some of Spears’ luster without her having to engage in direct competition with her younger successors.

Las Vegas, meanwhile, stands the chance to further dismantle its reputation as a home for has-beens. Successful casino shows by the likes of Celine Dion and Elton John have advanced that effort, but with its jackhammering dance beats and recent-vintage radio hits, “Piece of Me” bridges the gap between those old-school extravaganzas and the superstar DJ sets that have increasingly come to define the city’s night life.

In terms of show-business strategy, it seems to make sense. Yet as a concert experience Spears’ opening-night performance came up awfully short.

Like most Vegas revues, “Piece of Me” moves briskly, packing two dozen of Spears’ songs -- from early smashes such as “… Baby One More Time” and “Oops! … I Did It Again” through last year’s “Scream & Shout” and the new album’s “Perfume” -- into a 90-minute sprint that offers the star only a few opportunities to catch her breath.

Plenty happens in that hour and a half. In “I Wanna Go” she danced with digitized versions of herself seemingly reflected in several faux mirrors -- think Snow White in Sin City -- while “Scream & Shout” featured a pair of neon-clad dancers running on gigantic hamster wheels.

For “Toxic” the stage transformed into a lush jungle tableau, a convincing attempt to keep up with the various eye-popping Cirque du Soleil shows in production across Las Vegas. And “Everytime” found Spears suspended over the stage again, a stories-tall gown flowing beneath her.

Smaller moments complemented the elaborate set pieces, as when Spears did a stripped-down rendition of “Lucky” set to a forlorn music-box arrangement.

Whatever the scale of the number though, the singer’s presence felt so diminished -- her dancing a tentative shadow of what it used to be, her vocals apparently lip-synced for the majority of the show -- as if to make the production’s title seem a taunt.

That was never more true than in the song “Piece of Me,” which on 2007’s “Blackout” -- perhaps Spears’ best album, released right in the thick of her public meltdown -- arrived like a searing indictment of the tabloid surveillance state. On record the track still stings, yet here it flat-lined, with none of the intensity, energy or strut that made Spears such a focal point of mainstream pop.

Throughout Friday’s concert the singer seemed merely to be marking the type of moves she once nailed to the stage; her boilerplate banter (“What’s up, Vegas? I can’t hear you!”) had a similarly uncommitted quality. To the extent that Spears had anything to say, it was overpowered rather than accentuated by the lights and the sets and the clips from her iconic music videos that played each time Spears ran offstage for a costume change.

You can understand her difficulty in meeting these demands. A decade (and two children) after her commercial peak, she’s in a dramatically different position than she was during the days of “Me Against the Music” and “I’m a Slave 4 U.”

Her life, one presumes, no longer allows for leaving it all on the stage.

But then why put her in this show, which neither revisits her old mode effectively nor presents a compelling new approach? “Piece of Me” demonstrates only loss; it suggests that instead of looking forward, Spears (and her handlers) are playing a dangerously cynical short game, exploiting the interest her name still inspires without regard for how the act’s shoddiness may limit her future options.
Click to expand...

it actually looks pretty good. :eli:

iCfjKIo3TzTK5.gif



Aguila said:
lyuszgi.jpg
Click to expand...

ahh.gif
 
Weapxn

Weapxn

Mikkelsexual
xaosslug said:
wait, is this real? Triley @ Britney's Vegas show?
Click to expand...
Did you read the LA Times review posted above? Yes, she was there. Glad she seemed to enjoy the puppet show more than Katy.

That LA Times review basically confirms everything I expected of this show, which makes me sad. At least it seems to be a step up from her last tour..? Maybe she'll continue to get better. The show schedule certainly isn't as hard as a typical tour. This could help her get back into real shape if she works on getting better. And if this schedule ends up breaking her, then we'll all just know she's done.
 
T

Touchdown

Banned
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team fucking here
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team here,
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now my whole team here,
Started from the bottom now we here
Started from the bottom now the whole team fucking here


o5MAnB2.gif
 
C

cory64

Member
Only the best gifs for Folesus

Highest passing rating for the 2013 season
Third-highest single season passing rating in NFL history
Tied for most TD passes in a single game in NFL history
Only lost 1 game
Only threw 2 interceptions

Your faves tried it.
iF5zsWPjEL6rX.gif
 
S

SouSouRocket

Member
DMeisterJ said:
Katy was there too. Clearly they were paid, and Miley could only enjoy the show under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, considering how she looks in the gif.
Click to expand...

Miley always looks drunk and high out of her mind lately tho. Katy definitely looks like she was forced to be there.
 
R

royalan

Member
botty said:
I won't

im03ltRiLswr3.gif
Click to expand...

You should.

I too tried to keep it cute once, Cyno-sis showed me the light. The Army has NEVER hesitated to throw shade at Xtina when she was down. Now the tables have turned and Britney's now the pathetic flop. The Army deserves every inch of dragging they get.
 
T

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Oop at that Britney review.

I'll let the Fighters have their fun dragging the only act within scalping distance of their fave I guess.
 
R

royalan

Member
godelsmetric said:
Double ooo, cyno nearly convinced me with that review she wrote on her internship

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25549124

Britney dazzles critics in Las Vegas

Resume fuming, Fighters.
Click to expand...

Looks like someone didn't read their own link.

"Her dancing, touted as the show's linchpin, was lackadaisical and - as has become the norm for Spears - reliant on arm movements," wrote Caryn Ganz in Rolling Stone magazine.

"Spears seemed truly frightened," during the number Slave 4U, Ganz said, "remaining safely on a throne, executing minimal choreography while her dancers did the heavy lifting".

"In general, the set design was more imposing than she was," agreed Jon Caramanica in the New York Times.

"Magical things are happening all around her — ornate sets, clever video displays, fiery dancing — but Ms Spears is there mostly to activate memories, to be a souvenir for the eyes."
Click to expand...

iRo8Jfg0WHXha.gif
 
A

AyaisMUsikWhore

Member
godelsmetric said:
I did, I was going to copy-paste it but it's long and I couldn't be arsed to do it on my phone.

Still the facT remains that the reviews paint a picture of something far from the travesty and mess you were hoping for.

O, the PJ readers poll is out, I hope some of you voted:

http://www.popjustice.com/interviewsandfeatures/2013-readers-poll-results/122789/
Click to expand...

Some of those were pretty fair. I'm so glad my fav was on nothing worst, bad, negative, crappy. Congrats on Gaga snatching the Best Album. Loving the MNEK and Robyn stanning as well. I wish I could of voted.
 
M

Mumei

Member
royalan said:
You should.

I too tried to keep it cute once, Cyno-sis showed me the light. The Army has NEVER hesitated to throw shade at Xtina when she was down. Now the tables have turned and Britney's now the pathetic flop. The Army deserves every inch of dragging they get.
Click to expand...

Her stans deserve some draggings, but I still find it a bit sad. Britney just seems like a broken shell of a person.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
KremlinChaos said:
What are your favourite songs on it? I was worried I wouldn't like it when I listened to the previews but once I heard the full album I was in love. The rock sound suits her much better.
Click to expand...

Marlboro Lights
Rabbit Hole
Daddy's Girl
Saturday Night
Problem

Overall the whole album is flawfree. Even controversy grew on me (On the car its on a whole different level) which was the only one that didnt click with me at first but the album version its superior to the video version.
 
Y

Yado

Member
I don't think things are that bad for Gaga but maybe I'm underestimating her missteps, there are whispers of a duet with Christina after all.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
I'm glad I'm indifferent to spiders
 
S

Soulscribe

Member
Yado said:
I don't think things are that bad for Gaga but maybe I'm underestimating her missteps, there are whispers of a duet with Christina after all.
Click to expand...

This is the reason Gaga "lost":

2013 was supposed to be the Year of Gaga. It wasn't.
Click to expand...

People expected her to sweep everything up, but she got crushed moreso by the high expectations the public had than her own promises. She actually wasn't really that vocal about ARTPOP until a few weeks prior to its release, but it wasn't a Born This Way situation where all this amassed hype toward it was generated mostly by her own positioned tactics. Kind of interesting that Gaga will fail if she doesn't monopolize, whereas most others can be called a "winner" just by doing adequately enough to surprise.

Beyonce wins for the simple fact that she eliminated all pretense; she came out of the blue and people were satisfied just because they didn't have time to set expectations.
 
A

Ardainian Soldier

Member
Gravelord_Nito said:
Marlboro Lights
Rabbit Hole
Daddy's Girl
Saturday Night
Problem

Overall the whole album is flawfree. Even controversy grew on me (On the car its on a whole different level) which was the only one that didnt click with me at first but the album version its superior to the video version.
Click to expand...

Flawless taste. I love pretty much every song on the album. Watching You is my least favourite but it has grown on me. I've always loved Controversy and she made it so much better!
 
A

AyaisMUsikWhore

Member
I just became a Blood Orange stan. Their album is a 10/10 like wow. Those 80's 90's bops are out of control. The fact that they stan Cherelle automatically makes me stan them. They slayed the “I didn't mean to turn you on“ sample.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Poll
Biggest launch disasters of the generation
2
69
10K
Fuz replied
  • x2
P.T. ( Silent Hills ) was released 5 years ago - Never forgive, never forget
2
91
17K
IbizaPocholo replied
Eiyuden Chronicles |OT| The 108 Stars of Kickstarter
|OT| 2
89
11K
saintjules replied
Hi. Let's talk about Off-Topic. And Each other.
2 3 4
180
30K
Mr. Grumpy replied
  • Locked
Magic: the Gathering |OT8| Eldritch Moon - It's only a paper (and digital) moon
143 144 145 146 147
7K
497K
charlequin replied
Top Bottom