Strong libido, pity about the voice
ASHANTE INFANTRY
ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
Britney Spears has aligned herself with Madonna.
But it's too soon, way too soon, to know whether the Louisiana pop tart will replicate the long and varied career of the Material Girl with whom she has shared an MTV kiss, a duet and an interest in Kabbalah (a form of Jewish mysticism), and similarly enjoys platinum sales and trend-setting reputation.
In the meantime, with her widely reported liaisons and vamped-up image, it's the Sex book era Madonna that the 22-year-old ex-Mousketeer is presently emulating.
Gone is the sweet girl-next-door who debuted five years ago in a Catholic school uniform. Last night, she flaunted her libido-drenched adulthood before 15,000 fans at the Air Canada Centre.
Well, it all started off tame enough.
Spears emerged in a black vinyl catsuit singing (and I use the word loosely) "Toxic" from her current album In The Zone.
As she shimmied and gyrated across the stage, the first hour was most remarkable for the spectacle with which Spears surrounds herself.
But eight dancers, fog, flames, a belligerent ringmaster, video footage, fancy dance moves and a skilled five-piece band can't hide the lack in her voice.
You know how sometimes you can't tell when a singer is lip-synching?
Well, let's just say that even the 7-year-olds behind me knew that the microphone was live when otherwise bearable pitch turned grating on a handful of songs.
And just about the time parents may have considered slipping out for a refill, Spears ramped up.
On "Touch of My Hand," every young woman's ode to masturbation, she slid into a bathtub clad in a nude bodystocking and proceeded to act out the song.
Still, she wasn't as graphic as her dancers who feigned copulation behind shaded screens.
But the teen queen wasn't done.
The next track "Breathe On Me" saw her cavorting on a bed with a nearly naked male dancer who simulated a sex act, by placing his face in the part of her anatomy Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst had described to Howard Stern.
Then she sealed the deal with a lingering French kiss that was too much for Pickering mom Jennifer McGraw, who'd brought daughter, Kayla, 8, to her first big concert.
"There was too much sexual stuff for the kids, which I didn't expect," said the administrative assistant.
"I definitely wouldn't bring her to see Britney again."
Mississauga mom Tammy Wright had been forewarned by concert reviews she'd read in the U.S. papers.
"She's 8, so it kind of goes over her head," she said of daughter Madison.
"I tell her it's just entertainment," Wright said.
"Frankly, I was more disappointed in the sound content."