ALL STATE ARENA, CHICAGO
Gig Played: Thu 23 Mar 2000

Dazzle them with shine and leave them reeling. That's the lesson to learn from teen pop sensation Britney Spears, whose hour long performance at the All State Arena enchanted the predominantly pre-pubescent girls and boys making up the bulk of the bubblegum popstar's fan base.

With her sparkling smile, assortment of pyrotechnics, and a smorgasbord of glittering outfits, Spears marveled the audience, who waved their glowsticks in the air.

Strutting on stage decked in an urban cowboy fringe ensemble, the teen performer opened up with the upbeat '(You Drive Me) Crazy', accompanied by her electric-youth dance troupe.

The pop supernova -- her face, arm, and ubiquitous midriff aglow with sparkles -- gave some swirling "woohaa's" and giggled between the songs. The tassels hanging on the backdrop, along with the soft lighting of pinks, blues, and yellows, heightened Spears' carefree teen motif. An oval-shaped video monitor behind Spears and her dancers displayed clips of the onstage performance, as well as shots of the concert rehearsals, music videos segments, and song-complementing images.

Spears sang two songs from her upcoming album 'Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know', a slow song bemoaning another case of heartbreak, has her performing while sitting on a suspension trap floating over the audience. The second song, 'Oops! ... I Did It Again', is a more chipper tune that has her singing, "I'm not that innocent." Spears followed that song with a few words to the girls in the audience: "Even though the songs says 'I'm not that innocent,' it's just a song."

On-cue dance moves and intense gymnastic stunts by Spears and company, demonstrated the awesome showmanship of the darling 18-year-old diva and the calculated talent of her co-workers. Behind-the-scene production proved equally impressive. Yes, everything looked perfectly staged, including the possibility that Spears may have been lip-synching at points.

Not that it took much away from the refreshingly adolescent splendour of the show. Regardless of whether or not Spears faked it, she proved to be a wonderful entertainer. And quite a thoughtful one at that, allotting time for each of her dancers, backup singers and musicians to showcase his/her talent prior to the encore performance. She even serenaded a male fan on stage.

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