Just like a CIRCUS

Last Friday I was supposed to go bowling with TAG and Sunshine in the City. However, just as I arrived home from work at 6.45pm I received a call from a VIP I know offering me two extra tickets to that evening's BRITNEY SPEARS concert. I was told that the Pussycat Dolls opened at 8, and Britney went on at 9.30, so I had a limited window in which to:

• Offer my condolences to my bowling buddies (who decided to spend the evening together rather than split so one could take my extra ticket)
• Find a friend to go with me (I'm so glad MBM joined the fun!)
• Get glammed up (must be pretty for Brit!)
  
• Hustle to the UES where said VIP chauffeured himself, his wife, my friend and I off in their Mercedes to a distant land called Newark, NJ.

We probably arrived around 8.45 due to bad traffic leaving the City. Our tickets granted us access to the VIP lounge where there were cocktail samplers and gaggles of eager girls. The Pussycat Dolls were still onstage but MBM and I were STARVING since we hadn't had time to eat dinner! We snacked in the VIP lounge and then made our way to our seats once it was clear Britney was on her way.

Our seats were in the 13th row and, as it turned out, we were seated just behind Jessica of the Pussycat Dolls; talk about great seats! (In the interest of full disclosure: My party had no idea who she was but became curious after several tweens came to ask for her photo. We inquired to a member of her entourage who kindly identified her for us.)

I saw Britney's Onyx Hotel Hour in 2004. At that point she had experienced quite a bit of drama and I wasn't sure that she would ever tour again. I was so glad to see her back in action 5 years later. Her life has been difficult in many ways, and I was certainly full of bittersweet feelings thinking about some of the existential issues of Britney's life: Namely, what does it matter if millions of people adore you when you cannot connect with any of them? But I think some people are meant to be entertainers, and sometimes I want to be entertained out of the context of real life.

And the girl can put on a show.

The circus theme lends some really entertaining fodder for spectacular concert concepts.
There were contortionists, aerialists, jugglers, magicians, and a tightrope walker/gymnast who sprang high into the air from a flexible bar, completed a flip, and landed perfectly back on the bar.






I don't want to bore you with too many detail shots. Suffice it to say, the supporting acts were stunning. But here are some photos of the woman herself. Despite the lip-synching and less-animated dancing than in her previous concert (she's had TWO children since then!), Britney is still a showstopper. And bedecked in great costumes by DSquared!






Like a firecracker, she makes it HOT!


An unexpected but wonderful evening. Only in New York...or Newark!

Fondly,
Cxx.