Spears Does It Again With Energetic Show

Britney Spears Aug. 11 at The Gorge

The reigning “Teen Queen” of pop music put on quite a spectacle for her screaming, sign-waving subjects at a sold-out show at The Gorge on Friday night.

The “Britney Spears Experience” - as the 18-year-old singer called it in a thrill-ride video intro broadcast over a two-story screen - had all the ingredients of a delicious bubble gum operetta. There were elaborate sets, energetic dancing and cool costume changes. The biggest bummer was that it was over all too soon. Her set lasted just more than an hour.

First, the audience was warmed up by three - yes, three - opening acts, including a Swedish group called the A Teens that covered ABBA classics “Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance on Me” with frenetic abandon.

While you might expect this audience to be mostly the pre-teen set, there was a huge range of ages - from toddlers to college kids and placard-waving parents: “Moms love Britney too!” One group of 12-ish-looking boys were downright darling, all clutching bouquets of flowers for you-know-who. The crowd got a little restless during the 45-minute setup for the headliner. But all was forgiven after Britney’s dazzling entrance.

She arrived in a silver space ship, suspended high above the stage. It gracefully dropped down, amid clouds of dry ice, delivering the pop diva. Fireworks went off and the crowd went nuts when she broke into “Crazy.”

The first few songs were a lot like watching a well-orchestrated video on MTV - amazing dancing, sparkly costumes held together with Velcro so Spears could quick-change between songs. There were eight to 10 dancers prancing around Spears at any given time.

After singing “Stronger,” a song from her latest multiplatinum release “Oops, I Did It Again” that could well be her new anthem, Spears got quiet with “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart.”

One of the nagging complaints about teen superstars is that they lip sync while performing. I was sitting close enough to see that, with Spears, that just wasn’t so. At times, I almost wished it were true, though, because the bass-driven pre-recorded music did drown out the vocals on some songs.

At that point of the show, Spears disappeared while four contestants from the audience got up on stage and demonstrated the lengths they would go to in order to meet their idol. From the towering video screen, boy band ‘N Sync delivered the instructions: one contestant had to bark like a dog. The next guy (from Spokane!) had to flop around like a fish. The third person belted out a favorite Britney song, and the last had to strut around like a chicken. Not exactly “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” but cute.

And the 16-year-old girl from Issaquah who won by singing “Oops …” was sweet and goofy when she posed with Britney for a picture.

The next set of songs featured Britney and her gang having a sort-of slumber party - in a bedroom decorated with giant teddy bears. While she crooned her latest single “Lucky,” she bounced on her bed and had pillow fights with the dancers.

My favorite moment came a couple songs later when the pop princess was suspended above the stage in a gorgeous glittery kimono, singing a hepped-up “The Beat Goes On.” This was when Mom and Dad got to sing along, as that Sonny and Cher classic goes: “History has turned the page, uh-huh.”

She also sang her version of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” which starts out all soft and whispery before kicking in to a real rump shaker, complete with Spears and her back-up singers putting together some nice go-go moves.

Between songs, Spears asked the green-glo-stick-waving crowd, “What’s up, Washington?” and told us, “You don’t know how much it means to me to see all your smiling faces out there.”

If that all seemed a little rehearsed, no one seemed to mind, as the crowd stood dancing the entire show.

The set ended with “… Baby, One More Time” and, as an encore, her coy apology to a befuddled boyfriend, “Oops, I Did It Again.” More fireworks, good night everybody.

The Britney Spears Experience was about as satisfying as a good piece of bubble gum can be.