Britney Spears Live from Las Vegas

This is one hell of a show. Britney is my generation's best performer and dancer hands down, and this is arguably her best tour. What she is capable of at 19 is mind blowing. The way she can dance is absolutely mesmerizing, and even surrounded by extremely talented dancers you can only see her. How she was able to push herself to dance to that ability for an hour and a half is incredible. Her energy and stage presence are still unmatched to this day. Britney's adorable personality shines through the whole time, and you can tell she is having so much fun. Although not all her singing is live, it genuinely doesn't bother me at all. There's no one who could move like that for that long on a huge stage and be able to sing well. It's smart for her to do one or the other, plus we all know naturally her voice is much deeper and it's straining to manipulate your voice for that long.

Aside from how impressive Britney is, the entire show and everyone involved did an incredible job. The costumes, choreography, pyrotechnics and stunts were amazing. A lot of what was done first for this show has been copied over and over by other artists. The skits were cute and funny, too, even though they look very early 2000s compared to what's possible today.

And above everything else, FREE BRITNEY.

Our favorite blond, nubile, performing sex symbol brings together all the many and disparate elements of her considerable repertoire into the definitive and ultimate Britney Show. And what a statement she makes!!! She sings, dances, prances, smiles, pouts, cries, flies (yes, flies!), takes a shower!!!, and treats us to a patented Britney Spears Fashion Show as only she can do it. And all done in the big-arena, state-of-the-art, exploding, smoke-filled environment of Las Vegas glitz. One gets the distinct feeling that this show represents a watershed moment, a compendium of all that is Britney to this point, a statement of virtuosity in which one can almost see her in a mortarboard and gown, proud to receive her degree and ready to proceed on to postgraduate work. She's absolutely done it all at this level. The movies are next and one just knows absolutely that she's going to knock us all dead at that level, too! A great, great show!!! She did it again. Hail, Britney!

I happened upon this at blockbuster the other night,and figured "what the heck!" After all, one can always turn the sound off and just watch her wiggle, yes? Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. While I don't listen to bubble gum pop, I have to admit the show itself was great theatre. Yes, she lipsynched, but don't we expect her to? And yes, the "support the troops" bit was nauseating, but once again, it's trendy. All in all, if you've nothing better to do, give this a watch.

Catching this on TV was an odd experience- it was like a Rob Zombie concert, but instead of cool music and monster imagery it was a salute to a "Cherry 2000"-esque robot which lurched and jerked about the stage, belting out pre-recorded, pre-formed pop songs with all the skill and precision of Teddy Ruxpin.

The high point of delirious stupidity is when drunken "Noah's Ark" star Jon Voight (who must sit during his whole appearance, save he stumble off the stage and land head first in the orchestra pit in a puddle of his own Scotch-flavored vomit) appears, slurring a bedtime story to a "young" Britney.

The rest of the show is spastic, sub-"Mickey Mouse Club" dancing briefly seen between pre-recorder video bits. Appearing lost and queasy in this multi-media propaganda event is the clueless sex-puppet Britney (who is made of 85% recycled materials). She seems like one of those cherubic young girls whose soul-less, bitter moms force to prostitute themselves up for subhuman beauty contests, only this beauty contest is lasting Britney's whole life and the grand prize is having middle-aged fathers fantasize about her in the shower.

As with Paula Abdul back in the day (the day in question being the late 1980s), I enjoy Britney Spears both for her entertainer aspects and for her cute face, stunning abs, hypnotic legs and buns etc - as attractive as someone like Samantha Mumba is, I would sooner chew off my feet than listen to her output, something I can't say for little Miss Spears. (Which means yes, I'll probably like "Crossroads.") I'm even staying on her side after her PR mishap over here - it's not like she's killed anybody...

Having enjoyed her other TV specials (including Sky's broadcast of one of her London concerts - "Oops! Sky One did it again!" as the girl said in one of the show's promos), it was a given that HBO's "Britney Spears: Live In Las Vegas" would be a must. And the show does deliver for her fans; visually it's enthralling, with the choreography, the set design, the effects (like "Lonely" featuring Britney in action with a closed-circuit TV twin) and Miss Spears' various outfits keeping the attention - "It's getting hot in here," she says prior to removing several clothes at the start of "I'm A Slave 4 U" - and the songs themselves, though odd in some cases (what possessed her to do "I Love Rock'N'Roll"? Ah well, still beats Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman doing "Something Stupid"), are proficient bubblegum pop at worst - even "Boys," her current single at the time of writing, is still preferable to most songs that get to #1 in Britain - and almost art at best.

Britney herself is a delight as always; never the world's greatest singer but she does do her best to give value for money, and on the ballads she can make you go "Aaahhhh" with the best of them. Although reducing "Born To Make You Happy" (my favourite of her songs) to part of a childhood medley doesn't quite work - and the framing device with Jon Voight is just embarrassing - the biggest fault with this show is dependant on where you see it. Your humble writer saw it on British TV's Channel 5 in a 75-minute slot (with commercial breaks); the show has an official running time of 90 minutes on video and HBO, meaning that the members of the Britney Brigade who saw it on TV here missed at least 20 minute - see reviews on Amazon.com for an idea of what's missing. The UK TV version also has an additional credit tacked on after the HBO one, calling it "A Carlton Production for Channel 5." At least the culprits admit responsibility (Carlton has a well-deserved reputation in this country for poor quality programming).

If it had been the full version, I would have rated it the full 10. (And had Britney allowed the cameras to watch her change between acts a la Janet Jackson's Hawaiian concert, I'd have given it 11.) But even in a cut version this is a gem.

Like the one the old lady threw in the water at the end? "Like that."