Monday, November 30, 2009
I thought $150 was a lot for a concert (which it is, but in this day and age with no-one actually buying albums anymore, shipping costs, etc. I’m starting to not blame them). When I heard seating for Britney was $200 for seats fairly high up I was floored. I should’ve known here that she can do whatever she likes and get away with it. But because Adelaide was a late addition on the tour, to be safe (for fear of them selling out) we bought pre-sale seats. So that brings it to $220 each. I was expecting a knockout show. Should’ve known better…
I’m with the girls (Jana, Penny, Helen and Demi) as we get to our seats; the stage was fairly big so we thought the view was good. Until we sit down. They had four big black constructions hanging (for lighting presumably), one of which blocked most of the centre stage. Not happy Jan. We figured the big circular screen would help us and we’d be alright. The show starts, and it’s all exciting. Then the screen fires up and we can’t see that either. They positioned the screens wrong so anyone who had the black things in their way couldn’t even make use of them. We suddenly see girls rushing down the steps to watch in the aisles. So believe me when I say it wasn’t just us. Later on Penny and I get told off for sitting there – and I turn and go: “Well we can’t see a thing. We’ve paid $220 and we can’t see centre stage!”
The poor lady had been moving people already and she said we could go down in GA but we’d have to surrender our seats. In GA we would’ve seen sweet f.a. so we didn’t bother. Because Miss Spears wasn’t singing, we wanted to see her dance. And we did. And she was okay at it. But what made me personally kerfuzzled was how she pranced around half the time and then took forever off-stage in between songs when it wasn’t even a costume change. I don’t reckon she made it to 90 minutes, we couldn’t figure out if she was singing ‘Everytime’ live (because we were negotiating the move and the backing track was loud) and we couldn’t hear her properly above the music when she said something like “This is the last stop on the tour and I’m so glad I could share it with you” (which was pretty much the extent of her interaction).
However: I made sure I danced to ‘Toxic’ (because I wasn’t going to sit down for the entire thing for the amount I paid) - and made Helen dance with me, the choreography was pretty good and it was a real show. The legless lady flipping around on the trampoline in the pre-show was crazy and the lady on the beam was incredible. The awesome montage of her clips on the screen towards the end showed her staying power in the pop world and the whole thing had a slightly creepy feel to it. But for all that I think Penny put it best in our post-show debrief: it was a good show but it felt a bit flat. Like she didn’t want to really be there. The question that burns most in my mind is this: she knows she’s the biggest star in the world, for right and wrong reasons… does she think she’s copping out her fans by miming? Although when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, as Helen said it’s all money-spinning. If she cared enough about her fans she’d have a less extravagant show and sing for them. That’s just how I see it. So the criticism can be justified. Perhaps Adelaide was jipped because it was a late addition, but for the amount of people that struggled to see, it was poorly planned out. But I’m honestly glad I can say I’ve seen her – in what I think will be her only Australian tour. After all the criticism she’s copped, I’d be extremely surprised if she ever came back.
Friday, November 27, 2009
November hasn't ended yet but it feels like it's ended up as being one of the craziest months of my life. Not only because it's signalled the end of uni, or that many are hitting the big 2-1 by now (I still have a fair way to go on that front) - but lots just seems to be happening.
Fair enough, November brings the start to the silly season with Adelaide's Christmas Pageant. This year I experienced the Melbourne version briefly but realised that Melbourne's always that busy anyway. Man I love that place. Our 'Unies' trip was a great way to let off a bit of steam, and although it was my third trip there for 2009 I still learnt more about the city. It's amazing.
So I wrote a list, right. Ha, total change of subject... A list of things to do in the summer that could be my last as I currently know it. It includes the usuals of shows to watch/books to read, but also things outside of my box. Like learning how to cook with the easy cookbook Steph bought me for my birthday, learning a language, and de-cluttering my room. I guess you'd call them life skills, preparing me for something beyond studying. Looking at it Blu-Tacked on my wall, there's a lot there. To be fair, I seemingly have months to complete it. But the prospect of that scares me a little. Then it begs the question: do I really want to find a 'real' job straight away?
It appears there could be a potential prospect coming my way... and whether that leads into something or not, I need to be ready for it. November's shown me I can deal with lots of things, but landing a full-time job would be all new territory. Being thrown in the deep end for me is nothing new now but it still shakes me up. Am I reeeeally ready?
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