Red, White, and Britney: The Femme Fatale Tour Stops in Washington, D.C.

I saw Britney Spears in concert this past Sunday July 31st at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. It was my second time seeing the Living Legend live. I attended the D.C. stop of The Circus starring Britney Spears Tour back in March of 2009. That was a life-changing show. Even so, I am beyond pleased to proclaim that this tour was even better than the last.

The Femme Fatale Tour was a night of glamour and fun beyond my wildest dreams. I was truly impressed with the production as a whole and with Britney Spears herself as a seasoned performer and a pop star with staying power.

Arrival and Openers

We arrived at the venue during the Jessie and the Toy Boys set. I should note that the place was mostly empty at this point, so I didn’t feel too bad showing up a little late because apparently most people were skipping her altogether. I had recently purchased Jessie’s Show Me Your Tan Lines EP and found that the songs, while nothing groundbreaking, were fun enough. So, I was willing to give the opening-opening act a chance, but what I saw did not impress me.

Jessie herself was energetic and dancing pretty hard, as were her two backup Toy Boy dancers. But there were some things that disappointed me. First, her baby talking voice. Whenever she said anything between songs, I cringed. I didn’t and I still do not understand why she wanted to sound like a six-year-old. Then there was the constant self-promotion. Every other word out of her mouth was about how we need to buy her EP, it’s for sale at the venue, we should take out our cell phones and download songs she just performed if we liked what we heard, her Facebook web address, and so on. It was so grating and it actually made me uncomfortable because I started feeling bad for her. The woman is on tour with Britney Spears, but she was acting pretty desperate. This isn’t a no-name club where you’re playing for less than 50 people. I’m sure she’s done plenty of that. But now you’re performing at some of the biggest stadiums in the country playing for thousands. I just felt like she was better than that.

Last, but not least, her butt cheeks. The Femme Fatale Tour stage is a pretty elaborate setup, as is to be expected. There is a main stage, a long aisle that extends into the audience, and a mini stage right in the middle of the crowd. Jessie was relegated to the mini stage, which put her past everyone who had paid for super amazing seats for Britney’s show. This meant that Jessie spent however long her set was (thirty minutes?) with her back facing the front rows so all those people got to see was her butt jiggling throughout each song. Not exaggerating. In other words, Jessie has a poor understanding of how to utilize a stage in the round, and most people ended up losing interest a few seconds after each song started. Their attention turned to the crew and security readying for Britney’s show and to their cell phones. I tried to get into it, I even tried craning my neck up to see the screen footage of what Jessie’s show looked like from the front, but it just wasn’t holding my attention. The honest truth was that everyone was there for Britney.

After a short intermission, Nicki Minaj and her group of combat-ready dancers stormed the stage. Unfortunately, I had to leave a little more than halfway through Nicki’s set to make the rounds of the Britney merchandise stands (otherwise, I never would’ve made it back to my seat in time for Britney), but what I got to see was very impressive. Nicki is a great performer, very dramatic and engaging. She made good use of the stage and her dancers. The only thing I would say is that her transitions between songs were really long and drawn out. I know she was going for making it a SHOW, but I just wanted to see her hammer out some songs and kick ass on stage. Not practice her acting skills. But for real, girlfriend should go to Hollywood at some point.

Nicki’s set was a little shorter than I expected. Either that or I was gone shopping for longer than I realized. After we returned to our seats and Nicki had exited the stage, a countdown appeared on the screens above announcing that Britney Spears would take the stage in 45 minutes. I was really excited there was a countdown. Setting expectations—nicely done, Britney.

During the wait, I scoped out the backstage activity. I saw dancers bringing family and friends backstage, lighting guys climbing rigging and having water bottles sent up to them in their seats above the stage with a pulley system, and the preparation of some of Britney’s most elaborate stage pieces. Just an average evening for a road crew, I’m sure.

Britney Takes the Stage

The 45-minute wait went by fairly quickly. When the countdown reached the two-minute mark, the entire audience started going crazy all at once just at the prospect of being 120 seconds away from being in the presence of Britney Spears. The screaming did not subside, but rather intensified when the lights went down and the opening video started playing.

As with most Britney tours, Femme Fatale was brought together with video clips that were played during the longer costume and set changes. These clips showed Britney as a classic Femme Fatale, playing roles like “The Temptress” and “Sexy Assassin” while escaping from and evading capture—themes that were present during the live performances, as well. Some of the video clips showed German actor Rudolf Martin (24, NCIS) in some sort of lair pontificating about Britney and taking her down. I thought these were phenomenal touches that added just the right amount of mystery and drama to the production as a whole.

Toward the end of the opening video, we saw Britney, surrounded by a SWAT team, being handcuffed. She looked defiantly into the camera and proclaimed, “I’m not that innocent!” Then the stage opened up and Britney came sailing out on a silver throne and the show began with a rousing performance of “Hold It Against Me.”

Up until this point, I wasn’t sure what to expect since my seat was in a bit of an awkward location. It’s hard to describe, but I was third row to the left of the main stage. So, my eye level was actually below the stage when I was sitting down. Luckily, no one sits down during a Britney concert, so I was basically eye level with the stage the whole time. But, like I said, it was from the side, so I was a bit nervous about being able to see anything when I got there. But I had faith (unlike a few people I saw who had seats in the first row in my section who went to exchange their tickets to get seats that were higher up—INSTANT REGRETS FOR THEM!). During the HIAM performance, I quickly realized that not only could I see everything perfectly, but I was ridiculously, insanely close to the performers. Even when they were in the middle of the main stage, I could still see their makeup lines. And don’t even get me started on when the dancers and Britney herself came over to our side of the stage. I was in awe of how close these people were to me. It really brought the experience to a whole other level. I felt like I was deep in the show instead of suspended above it—in both a literal and figurative sense.

It took me a little while to get a handle on my shock and excitement, and in the meantime the show went on. The HIAM performance was very similar to the television performances Britney did when she was promoting the release of Femme Fatale back in March. It was so crazy seeing the dubstep throne breakdown in person. At the end of the song, Britney and her dancers are surrounded by the authorities (really, other dancers) and brought over to a line of jail cells. Once everyone got inside the narrow cages, the music launched into “Up N’ Down” (a bonus track from the deluxe edition of Femme Fatale). During this show, the cages actually moved up and down in alternating patterns. I know it’s a little on the nose for the song, but it made for a really great visual performance. As the cages moved, so did Britney and her dancers.

Eventually, they tricked the policemen dancers into climbing in the cages with them and were able to cuff them to the bars of the cages and escape. Britney and her dancers ran down the catwalk to the middle stage and donned trench coats, fedoras, and sunglasses before kicking off a two-song medley consisting of “3” and “Piece of Me.” Of course, at this point, the paparazzi found them and cameras were flashin’ while they were dirty dancing, but they kept on rockin’. They kept on rockin’.

While singing POM, Britney climbed into a silver pedestal and was hoisted in the air and floated backward over the crowd back toward the main stage. She then disappeared and another Rudolf Martin clip played before the stage once again burst open. This time an array of colorful light beams and dancers clad in neon outfits wheeled out various speaker box sets. Britney banged open the front of one speaker and came out to perform “Big Fat Bass.” Just like her album release performances, she climbed all over the speakers and rolled around to various parts of the stage. During Will.i.am’s rap, a video clip of the man himself played on the screen on the main stage while Britney and her crew brought it for the dance breakdown.

How She Rolls

After BFB came to a close, the dancers disappeared backstage and left Britney sitting alone on a speaker under a beam of white light. She had ripped off her red jacket to reveal a nude leotard covered with black lace accents. After taking in the crowd for a few moments, Britney shouted, “Do you wanna see how I roll, D.C.?” and began performing fan favorite “How I Roll.” During this set, the colorful dancers reappeared with a glittery pink Mini Cooper. They picked up Britney (literally) and started driving around the stage. You had to be impressed with the way they danced on the hood of that car.

The show then segued into a raucous performance of “Lace and Leather” from Britney’s 2008 album Circus. At this point, Britney asked her dancers to help her find a volunteer from the audience. After a grueling search, a gentleman named Scott was brought up to the middle stage and seated in the back of the Mini. Britney and her dancers proceeded to finish “Lace and Leather” while giving Scott a serious lap dance. As the music played on, the car turned around and started heading back to the main stage. Britney shouted maniacally, “He’s never coming baaaack!” as the car sped away and the set closed behind them. As one news report stated, Scott was never heard from again (that night during the concert; I’m sure security escorted him back to his seat to enjoy the rest of the show).

Soon after making off in the Mini, Britney came sauntering back out onto the main stage wearing a billowing white pleated skirt. She performed a cabaret-style mix of “If U Seek Amy” with choreography that paid homage to Marilyn Monroe’s classic skirt-over-grate scene from The Seven Year Itch. The entire show was a really spectacular visual experience, but this choreography and costume was particularly stunning.

The Golden Age

After another video interlude, we were taken into the past to study the femme fatales of ancient times. The main stage set once again opened and bright golden light spilled out. Dancers clad in warrior-themed outfits marched forward as they wheeled Britney out on an elaborate—there’s no better way for me to describe this—peacock boat. Making use of the peacock, the catwalk, and the middle stage, Britney knocked out a killer performance of “Gimme More” that was complete with pink fireworks.

The crowd went absolutely nuts when they heard the opening notes of “Gimme More” and that energy kept up right into the next song, “(Drop Dead) Beautiful”—one of my favorites from Femme Fatale. This performance saw Britney weaving her way through her large group of dancers and slinking in and out of golden picture frames all around the stage. In the middle of the song, without warning, Sabi appeared from underneath the middle stage, rapped her verse, and descended below again. I was still trying to figure out if it was really her and POOF! She was gone. It was a surprise cameo and a good one at that.

While the crowd cheered nonstop, Britney’s dancers helped strap her into a metal swing and raised her up above the main stage. This was her only mellow number. She performed one of her signature ballads, “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know,” while swinging back and forth as one male dancer used black ropes to raise her up and down and perform some acrobatics underneath her swing. The performance was breathtaking and a real treat for longtime Britney fans (the song is from her 2000 sophomore album).

Britney didn’t let things stay calm for too long. After DLMBTLTK came one of my favorite performances of the night—an Arabian mix of “Boys (The Co-Ed Remix).” Britney wore a golden cape over her gold two-piece and worked snake-charmer style magic over the crowd. It was such a fun, powerful new twist on one of Britney’s hits; it was a perfect way to end that segment of the show.

She Loves Rock n’ Roll

In the next video clip, we saw Britney preparing to flee and change her identity as she rifled through a pile of passports. Then Britney and her dancers, dressed in enough black leather and studs to rival a Guns N’ Roses concert, stormed the stage and revved up a few motorcycles as they performed a kick ass mix of Britney’s first ever single, “…Baby One More Time.” Britney then transitioned between BOMT and her next song by performing her part of the duet she did for Rihanna’s “S&M” remix earlier this year. And then—I was so excited about this—they performed “Trouble For Me,” which is another one of my non-single favorites from Femme Fatale. I was so excited because everyone was singing along. I know it’s from her latest album, but it just made me happy that so many people love that song, as well, even though it isn’t on the radio.

The next performance was a definite highlight of the entire experience; seeing Britney performing the original choreography for “I’m a Slave 4 U” live was an absolutely epic moment in my life. I was in complete and utter awe from the moment she stepped onto the elevator that brought her down from the top of the main stage and she started saying, “I know I may be young, but…” I’m pretty sure I stopped breathing and my eyes immediately bugged out of their sockets. And Britney was so fluid in the steps; she’s been working those moves for years. It was absolutely amazing.

The next song had some more audience participation. While performing her current single, “I Wanna Go,” Britney brought up a handful of people from the left and right sides of the stage and each group got to dance for a little bit alongside Britney and her dancers before going back to their seats. I’m sure most Britney fans were busy envying the lucky people who got to go up, but I have to be honest—I would’ve been too mortified to move. So, I admire the courage of those Britney fans who got up on stage with one of the most renowned pop stars in the world and danced in front of thousands of people.

The last rock n’ roll number was “Womanizer,” which Britney performed on the middle stage surrounded by backup dancers dressed as police officers harkening back to The Circus starring Britney Spears Tour. After an energetic performance, Britney thanked the audience and ran off with her dancers. Unfortunately, I think some people made the mistake of thinking that was the end of the show and left. Too bad they didn’t know the best was yet to come with the two-song encore.

Give Us More

For her first number after returning to the stage (to deafening applause, of course), Britney wore a kimono and twirled a pink parasol for a Japanese-themed performance of “Toxic” in which she and her dancers battled a group of ninjas. I was really looking forward to this performance because I had watched a behind-the-scenes making of The Femme Fatale Tour video earlier this year and got to see some of the rehearsal footage for this number. In the same clip, the choreographer, Rino Razalan, talked about journeying from being a backup dancer for Britney to choreographing a number for her on what will become an international tour. So, it was really fun getting to see something like this go from the early stages to the finished product.

The final song of the evening was, of course, “Till the World Ends.” After “Toxic” was over and Britney had knocked out the last ninja, she disappeared beneath the stage. When she came back, she was wearing a black leotard that glowed with red lights. She and her dancers pounded it out for TTWE. Toward the end of the song, Britney climbed up the set on the main stage and her dancers strapped her back into the pedestal, which had been outfitted with a giant pair of white wings. She ascended above the crowd and floated higher and farther away until she was directly over the middle stage. Then glittery confetti exploded over the arena. Britney was lowered back down and ran off the stage with her dancers, waving and smiling through the cloud of shimmering silver and purple the whole way. And that was the end of the show.

I sat back in my seat in total awe of what I had just seen. It was very jarring when the lights came up in the arena and I was pulled back into the real world. I felt a little bit of sadness that the concert was over. It honestly did go by so fast—I can’t even tell you how long the show was. It was all a blur, a beautiful, amazing blur. My feet never ached and I never had a moment where I was whining to myself about wanting to sit down or leave to go home to bed. It was just one hard-hitting, killer performance after the other and it was over in what felt like a flash.

I am already crossing my fingers and hoping that she does a second North American leg at some point. That is how amazing this show is—I want to pay to see it again. Not just because Britney is a professional performer who knows how to command a stage and entertain a crowd, but because this show was made for the fans. It was a truly wonderful experience and I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it.