TORONTO -- Britney Spears, reigning queen of the pop acts, didn't fill the Air Canada Centre with her famous bubble-gum presence and pre-teen giggles on Monday night.

Instead, she chose to create a dream-like opus complete with nightmare-esque video montages and thumping beats and breezy day-dreamy numbers featuring blue-moon lighting.

The concert kicked off after a seizure-inducing video montage of the pop diva and random film clips.

"It's a dream come true," whispered video Spears as the atmosphere morphed into a bad dream featuring startling pyrotechnics. Her back-up band emerged vampire-like from beneath the stage in what appeared to be coffins and clad in billowing capes.

Spears herself made a melodramatic entrance - suspended high above the T-shaped stage on a spinning wheel - warming up the audience with an old favourite instead of kicking off with brand new material from "Britney", her new album.

The nightmare setting lasted for three up-tempo numbers; "Oops I Did It Again," "Crazy" and then the new track "Overprotected".

Ever the glamorous popstar, Spears managed to make the first of many costume changes during the first three songs.

The lengthy changes slowed the pace of the show, allowing the audience to fall out of Spears' dreamy-trance for minutes at a time. "Comedic" video montages featuring Spears playing the role of a rock-star wannabe clocked in well beyond the funny mark and left the room restless and wanting more of the star herself in person.

But, when Spears did reappear (dressed in belly-revealing outfits), she did her best to fill the stadium with precise dance movements and elaborate sets.

Although the audience responded to her energetic numbers - a cover of "I Love Rock And Roll", "Stronger" and "What It's Like To Be Me" to name a few -- it was a heartfelt ballad that gave a glimpse into Spears' true potential and star power.

Sitting on the edge of a piano bench, the stage absent of dancers and bathed in a twilight lighting effect, Spears' photogenic face was beamed throughout the stadium. Looking sweet, sincere and genuinely happy to be there, Spears took a moment to thank the firefighters and rescue personal who helped with the September 11 tragedy before launching into her new ballad, "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman".

Unlike the music and attitude that has categorized her in the past, the performance gave Spears a depth she's previously lacked.

On the other side of the spectrum, the new track "Anticipating" was quintessential Spears and seemed to suit the star just as well as "Girl" did. Decked out in a neon cap, top, boots and a denim skirt, she and her dancers pranced around the stage in a bright-pink faux-car and skipped around neon and pastel cardboard houses.

The song was peppy and fun and aimed straight at the under thirteen crowd that may have been overwhelmed by the pyrotechnics and dark beats that peppered the performances of her new up-tempo tracks.

The sweet, bubble-gum pop was swiftly replaced by Spears' grown-up alter ego. The neon top and cap were thrown away and the denim skirt peeled off to reveal a barely there skirt, knee-high neon green boots and a tiny green bra-top.

"Anticipating" faded into her latest single - "I'm A Slave 4 U". The song, her outfit and the performance landed on the bad side of sleazy and Spears disappointingly abandoned the sheer likeability she revealed through "Girl" and "Anticipating" in favour of breathy moans and cleavage-revealing dance moves.

After climbing a pole above the stage and bending over to give the audience a shot of her (are they real or aren't they?) breasts while finishing up the last verse of "Slave", the show was over.

But it just wouldn't be a Britney Spears show without the song that made her the mega-star she is today.

In perhaps the most impressive stage-effect used by popstars (so far), the centre of the stage was transformed into a tornado/space-ship landing through lighting, lasers and noise. Then the atmosphere softened, and Spears emerged from underneath the stage for her encore.

As her platform rose, the tornado transformed into a rainstorm and Spears, writhing around in the water, serenaded the crowd with a remixed version of "Baby One More Time".

One-part Celine Dion power-ballad, two parts dance mix, the new version of "Baby One More Time" was fun and original. Coupled with elaborate choreography and sets, which included a suspended platform carrying Spears and her dancers, the finale was a fitting end to her dreamy, melodramatic show.

"It was just a dream. A dream within a dream," whispered video Spears from the large monitors.

Although flawed and overdone in places (the "dreamy" atmosphere could have been achieved without the lengthy video montages and the entire show could have done with a bit less cleavage), Spears gave the audience what they wanted.

The show was the visual spectacle pop fans have come to expect in the wake of *Nsync and the Backstreet Boys and Spears catered to her fans' expectations of elaborate dances and, of course, a rendition of "Baby One More Time". It also gave a glimmer of hope to those who want the pop diva to become the next Madonna. For a few minutes here and there, Spears showed actual talent and the potential to be able to truly perform and connect with her audience on an intimate level instead of acting as the pop-puppet and marketing tool for tweens that she's often accused of being.

NOTE: It appears as though "Party Of Five" star Jennifer Love Hewitt is a Britney Spears fan too. The actress was spotted in the audience before the show being mobbed by fans. It looked like she was being escorted to a more private seat just before the concert kicked off.