Estelle & Solange

Solange and Estelle are on tour together and have hit up Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans on Wednesday where we were able to catch them! Solange is such a rockstar and Estelle jammed- it was such a fun show.

Acrobats, magicians and a bit of erotica: Britney Spears’ ‘Circus’ opens in New Orleans

The pop star pulls out all the bells, whistles and clowns in a sparkly New Orleans show that dazzles fans and sets her up for a big comeback.

On Tuesday's opening night of her "Circus" tour at the New Orleans Arena, Britney Spears, the mighty Aphrodite with the troublesome tawdry streak, nonetheless renewed her claim as one of the world's pop princess. Powering through a 90-minute show that integrated her impetuous teen hits with the more perverse material from the albums she released after a very public breakdown that made her a constant in the tabloids, the Louisiana native flashed her famous good ol' girl smile at the fans, mostly female, who still find her a worthy patron saint of the erotic arts.

The intensely bespangled show -- which sticks closely to the big-top theme that also defines her latest album -- featured a huge array of tricks and extra players, including jugglers, clowns, magicians, martial artists, acrobats and rings of fire. Somewhere in there was Spears herself, looking hearteningly happy as she took on the role of ring mistress, clearly relishing the chance to prove herself healthy and in control.

The evening began with a performance by the Big Apple Circus that included a female acrobat who stumbled once on the beam but got right up and performed a stunning back flip. The faux pas wasn't staged, but might have been; Spears has similarly stumbled, nearly losing her children in a custody battle, and then losing control of her own affairs after her father was declared her legal guardian last year. This tour is her all-important comeback; if it fails, her career will effectively be over.

It will not fail. She is back up on the beam. The director, Jamie King, has made sure of that. If your star is a bit unstable, the best solution is to surround her with a backing troupe that can step in when she fumbles. Much like her music, the "Circus" tour is all about added value. Instead of purchasing the coolest new beats and synth-pop augmentations, King and Spears signed up those experienced carny stars to not only fill in the gaps between numbers but enhance her own time onstage.

One constant challenge for Spears and her collaborators is how to adapt the soft-core erotica at the heart of her self-expression to the family audience that's somehow stuck with her since she left "The All New Mickey Mouse Club." The circus motif proved ideal. Circuses are magical and creepy, home to pink-tutu-wearing high-wire princesses and creepy bearded ladies, loved by children but famously run by flim-flam artists and freaks.

In the circus, Spears finds her perfect metaphor for her own life as the world's favorite fallen angel. This particular iteration of a theme that Madonna and Mariah Carey have also explored neatly balanced the wholesome with the downright nasty; though its scenarios were obvious, they still worked well under Spears' command.

Most daring was a sequence that began with a video that showed masked interlopers borrowed from the Stanley Kubrick film "Eyes Wide Shut," who writhed about on divans as Spears mouthed the Marilyn Manson version of the Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This"). Spears then emerged to reenact the scene wearing two versions of a white-gold gymnast's leotard with her erogenous zones highlighted in black. She gave a lap dance to a clown; she was lifted aloft by a pair of acrobats and did some simulated heavy petting.

This sequence wasn't quite as much fun, however, as the Bollywood version of "Me Against the Music," based around some well-choreographed group dancing, complete with Spears making mudras with her hands in a gorgeous green and gold harem pants ensemble. The night's take on "Hot As Ice" was especially playful, with Spears serving as an assistant to "the Misfit of Magic," Edward Alonzo. He even made her disappear.

But anyone who thinks her lackluster would do well to remember what she really is: a burlesque performer, a carny's dream born a century or so too late to be fated to ply her art upon the midway, but able to fulfill the realm of a circus.

Britney Rehearsing

She's back!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!

Watch rehearsal footage above!!!!!

This looks soooooo good!!!!!!!

We Got Info!!!

Source: onlyvipmedia.blogspot.com
Exclusive!
We have learned that Wade Robson was fired over Britney wanting to take a different direction with the tour and they ended up with Madonna's Tour director Jamie King. There is also no confirmation that Madonna will be on during the "If U Seek Amy" video capture. There is no confirmation, just some talk about it. Britney is set to be filming video segments for the tour from February 4th to 11th in Los Angeles, during four days in between of those dates.

The so-called "House of Mirrors" will contain over 150 mirrors and there is a lot of undertoned imagery projected on the screen as well to create certain moods throughout the show.

The Tour WILL NOT END in London on June 14th. Instead the international dates has been worked on to get a Australian leg due the huge demand, as well as Paris, Lisbon, Milan, Cologne, Amsterdam, and Barcelona that are set to be announced EXTREMELY shortly.

Exclusive New Setlist:
This is it! After all the rumors, we can finally bring you the official set list for Britney's Circus Tour.

CIRCUS

Perez/Parade Intro

Circus (Funky Remix)

Piece of Me

Thunderstorm Segue

Radar

HOUSE OF FUN (Anything Goes)

Martial Arts Segue

Ooh Ooh Baby/Hot as Ice

Boys

If U Seek Amy

Me Against the Music (Bollywood)

FREAKSHOW/PEEPSHOW

Everybody's Looking for Something Segue

Freakshow

Get Naked

Britney's Hotline

Breathe on Me/Touch of My Hand

ELECTRO CIRC

Break the Ice Segue

Do Something

Slave

Dancer Solo Segue/Heartbeat Segue

Toxic

Baby One More Time (Remix)

ENCORE

Womanizer (Extended Remix)

Circus Reprise: The Bow