Gimme Less

Like a lot of others, I too was anxiously awaiting this show, specifically to see Britney perform for the first time in years. While I wouldn't consider myself an actual fan of hers, I do think she's done some great music videos in the past, and some of her recorded songs are good. I've always thought she was a decent performer and I was rooting for her to do good on Sunday night. When the number first started, signaled by "It's Britney, bitch" , I was thinking it boded well, that she was gonna have to back up that brazen statement with a kick-ass rendition of her new song, "Gimme More." That, however, was hardly what followed.

Britney's always been a high-energy performer, with attitude to spare, but none of that was present on Sunday night. It was like she was an amateur, thrown on stage for the first time in front of a huge audience, with all the bright lights, and she just couldn't get a handle on it. The lip-synching was off completely, the dance moves looked, as one critic wrote, "as if they were choreographed for a nursing home" and her choice of outfit was severely misconceived. She would've served herself much better to have worn any one of the outfits her female dancers were sporting, which were not quite as revealing but extremely sexy just the same. She blew this one on every count, although I liked the song itself.

People have been speculating about why this happened, why she would blow her big chance at a "comeback" - I chalk it up, at the bottom line, to the fact that she just doesn't have the mentality it takes to perform at a high level consistently. And along with the mentality comes discipline, which she clearly lacks as well. She's no Madonna, is what I'm saying, although I do think she might still have a shot at at least partially resurrecting her career if she starts hiring people who will give her some seriously honest input. It seems she doesn't want that though, from what I've been reading; she seems to prefer surrounding herself with "yes men" to indulge her obviously insecure nature. I don't see her, as many do, as a victim.

The rest of the show was OK, I guess, if you go for mostly over-indulgent rock and rap stars who really have nothing to say, either on the podium or off stage afterwards. Alicia Keys were great, as always,which was the high point for me. During the last hour, I didn't see it all, I was watching the rerun of "Damages" on Fx.