The blogs have spoken loud and clear about Britney Spears’ would-be “comeback performance” at the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday night. The verdict can be summed up in two words: Train. Wreck. 

The performance (YouTube video of which is here) was supposed to be a return to the spotlight for the singer, who is currently embroiled in a custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline, but it quickly became a lightning rod for criticism as the somewhat pudgy Spears forgot words and stumbled through a lacklustre routine. 

-- Heckler Spray: said that Britney -- who in previous years has danced with a snake and French-kissed Madonna -- chose to wear “a skimpy outfit that showed off her twice-pregnant gut” and then spent the rest of the performance “lurching around miming her new single, while dancing like your Dad at the end of a wedding reception.”

-- PerezHilton: the king of celebrity bloggers thought the routine was so bad that he wrote an open letter to the singer in which he said that he was “insulted, offended and disgusted by your “performance” at the VMAs. Are you f…ing serious??? What you did was disrespectful to your few remaining fans. And it was disrespectful to MTV! You didn’t even try!!!!!” Hilton went on to say that Britney should have cancelled her show if she wasn’t ready to perform, that her routine was “beyond pathetic,” and that “the old Britney Spears” would have been embarrassed. He added that she “seemed dead on stage” and “couldn’t even get good hair extensions.”

-- Jossip: the gossip site said Spears’ “lethargic” performance was “a lackluster sight to behold. Picture, if you will, the slightly overweight washed-up pop star, clad only in an ill-fitting black bikini, lip-syncing lazily to her brand new hit single while halfheartedly gyrating.” 

-- Seriously OMG: said that instead of the surprise everyone was expecting, “the only thing that was surprising is how boring it was,” while a blog called The Moderate Voice said it was “like watching the Fat Elvis.” 

-- Maureen Ryan: the TV blogger for the Chicago Tribune called the routine “the most painful train wreck in recent memory” and “jaw-droppingly bad,” and Celeb Guru called it “shocking.” The blog Glim Glom wrote that “it made me feel pretty uncomfortable to watch an out-of-shape fat chick huffing and puffing on stage while trying to lip-sync and dance.”

-- Lainey: Canada's gossip queen said that if Britney's performance had been a train wreck it would actually have been interesting to watch, but "instead she just stood up there and sucked."

-- Gawker: One commenter said “it was like watching a handicapped child at a State Fair talent show. You really wanted to root for her, but it was just sad, and you ended up wondering who was cruel enough to let her do that to herself.” 

Several reports said that Spears had been out late partying, while another said the singer had overheard host Sarah Silverman rehearsing her monologue before her performance, and was visibly upset at a reference the comedian made to Spears’ two sons as “adorable mistakes.” 

Another report at PopCrunch said that Britney and magician Criss Angel (rumoured to be Britney’s current love interest) had planned an elaborate performance involving mirrors and levitation, but the Palms Hotel balked, and so the dance routine was quickly put together as a substitute. 

Not everyone was critical: Celebrity Cowboy wrote that while the performance wasn’t great, “I’m going to give Britney her props for going out there and getting it done. Girlfriend’s been under the microscope lately and it took a lot of guts to go up there and do it, probably knowing that we’d all be out here this morning talking smack about her. So respect to Britney for that.”