Ringleader

Merry Christmas! What? But it's April. Well my story starts on Christmas: John, for Christmas, bought us tickets to see Britney Spears' latest tour LA. As the concert date approached John was summoned to Switzerland for work and, unable to go, gave me his ticket to take someone else in his place. I called Eldon, one of my best friends and he gracefully accepted. Let's get to it.

Eldon and I get to the Staples Center around 8:00pm, showtime, but of course concerts always run late so we were not bothered. After zipping through the rather short line the guard utters, "I'm sorry this isn't you're line. You need to enter of there, pointing at a "VIP Entrance" sign. I love signs like that. We scurry to the appropriate door and parade through the gateway, tickets in the air and spirits high. Speaking of spirits it was time for a drink. The VIP tickets also grant us access to a VIP lounge where cocktails are served. We run into the VIP lounge and notice there is all sorts of noise coming from the stadium hall--the concert started! It was only 8:15! At any rate we thought a drink was more urgent than seeing the opening act, Pussycat Dolls, sober. Drink we did and arrived at our seats with drinks in hand. The Pussycat Dolls... frankly... stunk. Their costumes were fun, they looked great, but the "singing" and the "dancing" was awful. It explained to my why they--a very, very popular group--would open up a show, rather than be the headline themselves.

Once the Pussycat Dolls finished their lackluster performance, the house lights went up and intermission began. Rather than an uneventful intermission, various performers came out and performed: hula hoopers and jugglers and tightrope walkers and ribbon dancers and a midget and all sorts of characters. It was fun, I really enjoyed it. Another drink and a couple circus performances later, the show finally begins.

I wont go into too much detail, but even saying that I'm sure I will. Firstly the concert itself was set-up like a three ring circus (one large circular stage in the middle and two smaller circular stages flanking the main stage). The stages were in the center of the arena as well, not pushed against a wall like most concerts. The show opened with her song "Circus"--she came down on a rotating pedestal from the ceiling dressed in a sparkling, radiant ringleader's costume. She played all her hits from her last two CDs with a couple of other fantastic songs like "Baby One More Time" and "Me Against the Music." It was really a great show. Keeping in line with the circus theme they had aerialists and magic and the whole nine yards during her show. The dancers were fabulous, the costumes were dazzling, and the music was great--sure it was all on a track, but I don't feel short-changed--when she's dancing her booty off on-stage, running around like a crazy person... err umm like... a Britney, I give her a little slack on the singing.

It was a fabulous weekend, a fabulous concert with fabulous friends and fabulous memories. Love to all.