Britney Spears Live: The Femme Fatale Tour

Background

On August 12, 2011, Spears announced through her Twitter account that the Toronto shows at the Air Canada Centre would be taped to air on the Epix television channel, and for release on DVD. Within minutes of her announcement, traffic to EPIX social sites doubled and Britney Spears became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter. The show, initially titled Britney Spears: Femme Fatale, was shot in 2D and 3D by 3ality Digital to premiere in November on Epix, as well as on EPIX on Demand and EpixHD.com. Epix president and CEO Mark Greenberg said, "EPIX is dedicated to bringing fans closer to the talent they love and we are pleased to connect this truly iconic American star to her large and passionate fan base." It was her first televised concert since The Onyx Hotel Tour was broadcast on Showtime on March 28, 2004. The show was announced to premiere on November 12, 2011 at 20:00 EST (01:00 UTC). On September 9, 2011, it was announced by the BBC that BBC Worldwide had attained distribution rights of the show outside the United States. The 2D version will be available for broadcast from Christmas Eve 2011, with the 3D version available in February 2012. Along with concerts by Alice Cooper and Elbow, the Femme Fatale Tour is going to be one of the first 3D music offerings by the BBC Worldwide, and was available to broadcasters at the 2011 edition of Mipcom. Two teaser trailers for the show were released on September 13 and October 10, 2011, respectively. Clips of some of the performances, including "3", "(Drop Dead) Beautiful", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Boys", were released days prior to the premiere.

Content

The show, divided in five segments, portrays a story in which Spears is a secret agent, who is chased by a stalker; played by Rudolf Martin. The first section begins with "Hold It Against Me" and features her escaping from prison along with other female inmates. The second segment displays upbeat dance numbers, including "Big Fat Bass" which features will.i.am on the backdrops, and "Lace and Leather", in which she interacts with a member of the audience named Alex. The third section features an Egyptian/Indian theme with fireworks and acrobatics, and Spears is joined by Sabi during the performance of "(Drop Dead) Beautiful". The fourth segment, set in London, displays energetic routines and motorcycle costumes. The encore begins with a video interlude of Spears capturing the stalker, and continues with a Tokyo-inspired performance of "Toxic" in which she defeats a group of ninjas. The show ends with "Till the World Ends", which features a guest appearance by Nicki Minaj performing her verse from the Femme Fatale Remix of the song.

Reception

Jocelyn Vena of MTV stated, "Look out for cameos from Nicki Minaj and Sabi, killer dancing, beautifully designed costumes, elaborate stage setups and a set list that even the biggest Britney critic couldn't help but shake their groove thing to." Tanner Stransky from Entertainment Weekly gave the special a B+, and said that the live show "is a pop-music pleasure and a lesson in how to stage an arena tour. Watching it on TV — here in unbeweavably glorious HD — is certainly the next best thing." Stransky added that the special "conjures up a detail-focused experience that allows you to see the little things, from Spears' poor attempts at hiding her bad extensions to the sinewy wonders that are her dancers." Neal Justin of the Star Tribune said the special "proves once and for all that Spears has lost the ability to dance. The expensive set pieces are impressive, but the 'singer's' inability to shake her tail feather is downright criminal." Kelsea Stahler of the New York Post criticized many elements of the show, including the storyline and the costumes, and added that "you [know] you [are] headed for disappointment, but it's Britney. You have to watch. [...] Your pimply, adolescent self said you'd love Britney forever no matter what; and part of you still believes that."

Charts