Britney Spears’ big summer tour hits Atlantic City Aug. 6 at Boardwalk Hall. Nicki Minaj opens the show.
Original illustration of Britney Spears and Atlantic City by Andrew Miller (Drew Toonz). See his weekly comic inside the pages of Atlantic City Weekly (page 8) and on the Drew Toonz page under Arts & Entertainment.
ATLANTIC CITY — Britney Spears has proven that you can come back. The crazy successful pop singer, who has sold over 100 million albums, most of which were purchased when she was a teen dream back in the 1990s, is still a music and pop culture force.
TMZ’s favorite target went into rehab in 2007 and made more headlines for her personal life, (divorcing Kevin Federline, driving with her toddler son on her lap, shaving her much loved blonde locks) than her music.
For a while it appeared that Spears was about to tank since she seemed to make one poor choice after another. In 2007 she wrote on her Web site that she hit rock bottom and then she lost custody of her children.
Spears somehow has emerged from the abyss. In October 2007, she made her return with the aptly titled Blackout, which sold more than three million copies, an impressive feat for an album in the age of digital downloads.
Spears hit some speed bumps though.
Her performance at the 2007 MTV Music Awards was panned. Spears delivered the single, “Gimme More” and she became every late-night chat-show host’s punching bag.
But Brit showed true grit. She kept at it and a few years later is still relevant. According to the June 2010 issue of Forbes, Spears ranked sixth on the list of the 100 most powerful and influential celebrities in the world. She is also the third most mentioned celebrity on the Internet, according to Forbes.
Not bad for a teen celebrity, who appeared to lose it as an adult, eh?
She also made it out of rehab, which the late Amy Winehouse, unfortunately, can’t say. Spears, now 30, has a curious appeal. There’s something distinctly American and human about the woman born Britney Jean Spears in McComb, Miss.
It’ll make for a good movie someday. Remember back when the teenage Spears covered the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and had to have the lyrics re-written since they mentioned smoking cigarettes? It didn’t matter that Spears secretly sucked on menthols.
The funny thing is that the flawed Spears is more interesting than the sanitized version, who was a Bill Clinton-era MTV favorite.
The former member of the Mickey Mouse Club, along with former boyfriend Justin Timberlake, is great tabloid and Internet fodder. The photo of Spears emerging commando style from a limo has received more hits than just about anything on the ’Net — ever. Spears might be a mess, but she can also entertain. That’s exactly what she’ll do when she performs Saturday, Aug. 6, at Boardwalk Hall as the summer North American leg of her Femme Fatale tour, with opener Nicki Minaj, swings into Atlantic City.
Spears has shows booked through the remainder of the year, and is heading to Europe and South America following the final show of the U.S. dates, which wind up Aug. 25 in North Carolina.
Spears certainly has enough material to play all year and her concerts are an incredible production. As far as the music goes, 1999’s album Baby One More Time and 2000’s Oops!... I Did It Again, feature a number of hits, such as both title tracks, “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and “Lucky.” Spears has a great weapon in Swedish pop producer Max Martin, who knows how to manufacture a hit like few others in the industry. He instructed Spears in her best moments on record, and Brit executed perfectly.
Martin is back once again and that hasn’t hurt Spears.
Spears has followed up the uneven 2008 release, Circus, with the solid Femme Fatale, which dropped in March.
“We got a bunch of new songs to play and it’ll be interesting to see how people respond to them. I’m looking forward to doing the show in Atlantic City since we’ve never played around the casinos there. We played at Bader Field at the festival Dave Matthews put together last summer [the Dave Matthews Band Caravan]. But this time I’m excited that we’ll be there in the thick of things because I’m looking forward to gambling."
Brand, a comedian, actor, author, multi-media performer and recovered addict, knew that brilliant singer Amy Winehouse was due for the call.
About 30 minutes till the end of her set, which included one encore, Spears announced to the capacity crowd at Boardwalk Hall that a "special guest" was in the audience.
Several specials related to Lady Gaga's Feb. 19 appearance are going on around town, including one at Trump Plaza (adjoining Boardwalk Hall), where their “Gaga for Gaga” signature drink specials include such concoctions as the “Little Monster’s Mix” (gin, Apple Pucker and pineapple juice), the “Paparazzi Potion” (Absolut vodka, Chambord, club soda and a lemon twist) and “A Shot of Bad Romance” (Cointreau, grape vodka and Sprite), “Telephone Treat.”
On assignment at the event for Atlantic City Weekly, freelance photographer Nick Valinote was there and caught this wonderful early shot of one of the biggest names in music today....
It’s not difficult to see why the pop-music world and beyond is gaga over Lady Gaga. In just over a year the sensual diva has gone from virtual unknown to a superstar, who has sold more than eight million copies of her initial albums, 2008’s 'The Fame' and 2009’s 'The Fame Monster.'
For more about DrewToonz, visit drewtoonzart.com....
Here, off the top of my head, a few memorable moments of the decade — some terrific, some tragic: September 11th; global terrorism; war in Iraq and Afghanistan; Hurricane Katrina disgrace; the boom and bust of the real estate bubble; global economic collapse; the advent of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, iPods and iPhones; BlackBerrys; Barack Obama — our first African-American president; the collapse of the recording industry; the national trend of the shutting down of mom and pop stores; Al Qaeda; the Red Sox (and Phillies) finally win a World Series; the Swine Flu; reality TV; Radiohead, Kanye West and the return of the single (albeit in MP3 format); the Bush era (urgh); Bob Dylan’s triumphant return; downloads; Mac vs. PC; Britney Spears smooches Madonna; the death of Michael Jackson; layoffs, plane delays and increased airport security; hybrid cars; credit card debt;The Wire and The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO; the Coen Brothers; Lost; Atlantic City’s boom...
The show that Grammy award-winning pop diva Christina Aguilera brings to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall this Saturday, March 31, might be part of her Back to Basics Tour, but like the 2006 double-album it's named after, there's nothing "basic" about it. The 90-minute, hi-tech spectacle features 15 costume changes, a supporting cast of 20 dancers and musicians, over 600 lights, and an array of Cirque du Soleil-inspired acrobatics and special effects. In a recent teleconference interview to promote the tour, Aguilera said that she feels presenting anything less would be shortchanging her audience. "Nowadays, I don't think it would be fair to my audience to just kind of sit on the stage with a mike," Aguilera says. "If I play an arena, I want my audience to be able to look around and enjoy a show from all aspects. I think it's only fair to my audience to fill up the space and to give them a real show." Aguilera's luck crapped out the last time she was scheduled to perform at Boardwalk Hall. In August 2003, the Justified & Stripped Tour, featuring Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, was derailed in Atlantic City when a lighting grid collapsed prior to the...
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