Spears spectacle

Britney gives 'em a show!

EDMONTON -- You can claim that Britney Spears has fake breasts, that she's a naughty girl for displaying her assets in Rolling Stone, that she acts too big for her britches, but you can't doubt her potential as an entertainer - not after last night's spectacle in Skyreach Centre.

Backed by as much production as money can buy and costume changes each more revealing than the last, the 17-year-old pop Lolita staged what was more like an hour-long music video than a pop concert. I could go on about the facile, boy-obsessed messages in her songs, the contrived, Disney-esque feel of the whole act, but I don't have the heart. For many of the 9,600 young fans last night, this was undoubtedly their first concert. Suffice to say that Spears wowed the crowd.

It all started with a crack squad of dancers playing a little schoolhouse shtick, setting the stage for Britney's Big Entrance. Resplendent in white pants and a pink tube top, Spears teased us with a truncated version of the title track of her album ... Baby One More Time. (The "..." stands for "hit me."), before launching into (You Drive Me) Crazy. And she did, too.

Shouts of "I love you, Britney!" soon erupted from the crowd. You see, there are two types of Spears fans: Little girls, for whom she is a role model, and older boys, for whom Britney is simply a model. Boy, what a model! By the time Spears went into the cover portion of the show - Madonna's Material Girl, Janet Jackson's Nasty, Sonny and Cher's The Beat Goes On (a song written 15 years before she was born) - she was wearing a skirt shorter than the attention span of a five-year-old on a sugar binge. A good portion of the crowd went wild in more ways than one.

The show was a fast-paced affair. One moment she's laying on the candy floss with From the Bottom of My Broken Heart to some hapless "cutie" pulled up from the audience. A moment later, she's cavorting with her solid gold dancers. Along with a mean-looking band (but was it live or was it Memorex?), the choreography was one of the best parts of the show. The dancers were terrific.

As I said, it was like a music video. This is an act that wouldn't be out of place in Las Vegas.

"This is the first tour of my very own," Spears told the crowd at one point. "And I made one rule: You have to have fun." Based on the ear-splitting cheers her first Edmonton show received, the rule remained unbroken.

Not much can be said about the first of three opening acts, Michael Fredo - a guy who must've failed the 'N Sync casting call. Next!

Up second, Steps was horrible in a perky sort of way: Up With ABBA. This co-ed fivesome is called Steps "because we have dance routines for each of our singles." Novel concept. Britney's dancers blew them off the stage. As for the music ... next!

Sky looked brilliant compared to the first two acts. The Montreal duo - James (the blond, singing one) and Antoine (the bald, posing one) - funked up songs from their debut album, Piece of Paradise with more cool than soul. The result was like Earth & Wind (not so much Fire), but the crowd loved Sky all the same.

Set List		Concert rating