Britney Spears brings Femme Fatale tour to Vancouver

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**1/2 (two-and-a-half stars)

If I said that Britney Spears is not at the top of her game, would you hold it against me?

The pop princess/tabloid fodder favourite brought her Femme Fatale tour to Vancouver Friday night for its first Canadian stop and by rights it should have been a killer show. If you're into that sort of thing, her new record is really good, full of classic Britney over-the-top dance tunes (whatever you may think of the processed vocals, and content such as this ancient pick-up line-inspired lyric: "if I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me").

The show itself dazzles in a no-expenses-barred kind of way, with a people-moving conveyer belt, ever-changing sets, big-time props (ride-on car, ride-on guitar, floating swing, etc.), costumes and pyrotechnics. The dancers amaze, and the acrobatics are out of this world. Ninja warriors? Check. Ancient Egyptian boats? Check. Laser beams? Check.

And yet there was something fundamental missing from the show: Spears herself. And I don't just mean the apparent absence for much of the night of her live singing voice.

Oh she went through the motions: did the dance moves, wore the glittery barely-there costumes, and yes appeared to lip sync her way through many of the songs. But often she seemed low energy, and tentative in her movements - even a bit awkward. (Did she fall in rehearsal, I wondered.) And here's the thing: she did not look like she was enjoying herself.

Contrast that to Nicki Minaj, Spears's hip hop sensation opener. Minaj tore the place up with a superb performance: rapping like she meant it, owning the stage, having, it would appear, a blast. Confident and sharp, she killed it on numbers such as Monster and Check It Out (the Video Killed the Radio Star sample seemed oh so apt as the night progressed). Yes, it was a Pink Friday. For Spears, it's got to hurt to be upstaged by your opener (and your dancers, sets, etc.)

Where Minaj's set fell down - and Spears's even more so - was the use of a narrative as a framing device. In her story (complete with voice-over), Minaj was tooling around the universe, trying to restore peace, I think (the sound was problematic).

In the movie clips that played (seemingly endlessly) throughout Spears's set, she was a "not-that-innocent" (funny) femme fatale, on the run from the good guys (the police) and a lollipop-sucking bad guy, whom (spoiler alert) she ultimately defeats. These film clips are clearly meant to give the crew a chance to deal with the show's elaborate set and costume changes, but they slowed everything down and frankly weren't that interesting. Maybe if the sound had been better ... But probably not.

(An aside: can we talk about the crowd for a moment? OMG. The only thing more concerning than the teenagers and early 20-somethings teetering in impossibly high heels and the tightest, we-changed-on-the-bus-so-our-mothers-wouldn't-see-us outfits was the under-12 set who were exposed to some fairly raunchy lyrics (Minaj) and dance moves (both). You could almost feel their mothers blushing. LOL.)

While we're on skimpy outfits, Spears is the queen of this sort of thing and the many Femme Fatale costume changes did not disappoint. Spears, I can report (thanks to my companion's binoculars), has clearly been working out and is extremely fit. Did I notice a couple of tiny tummy rolls when she got on and off that giant guitar? Yes. Is the woman a human being who has given birth to two children? Yes.

Back to the performance.

I realize with a Spears show, you have to manage your expectations so you're looking for more of a spectacle than a great musical experience. (There was no musicianship to speak of, really. The one time it seemed sure that Spears was actually singing live, into a hand-held mic (while up on a swing) on Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know, she didn't sound great.)

But there's got to be some wiggle room for the artist to inject a bit of spontaneity, even in a carefully choreographed event like this. Other than the requisite shout-out to Vancouver and finally, during the encore, a "Happy Canada Day" (which each of the three opening acts - Minaj, Nervo, and Jessie And The Toy Boys - remembered to wish the audience), nothing felt unique or remotely personal about the night. You get the feeling that this show is pretty much sticking to script. Even the big audience participation number, the Rebecca Black-meets-Greased Lightning onstage convertible treatment of I Wanna Go, when one lucky guy was pulled from the audience for a Britney lap/pole dance, felt very much like an only-the-names-have-changed kind of moment. Will this would-be show-stopper be any different in Winnipeg or Toronto or Montreal? The lap dancee won't look the same, but I imagine that's about it.

All of that said, the show had its moments. When Spears launched into Baby One More Time, the place came alive. She seemed confident in her biker get-up, the crowd was loving it - and then it was over, way too soon. This was one song she should not be cutting short. I'm a Slave 4 U was another highlight. But she really seemed to hit her groove during the encore, with a fast-paced Toxic followed by a rousing Till The World Ends. Everyone was on their feet singing along on that last song and Spears herself finally seemed to let go: moving with ease across the stage and really dancing (like everyone was watching). Here was the magic that had been missing all night. I would have loved for her to do it again; to capture the spirit of that performance and apply it to the entire set. But oops, the night was over.

The Femme Fatale tour hits Winnipeg on July 4, Montreal on August 11 and in Toronto on August 13 and 14.