Concert Previews
Britney Spears Even if you're not usually keen on her image, music, or choice in husbands, you have to give Britney Spears a big hand. Few pop stars - and in this case, an ex-Mouseketeer for gosh-golly-gumdrops sake - have fallen so low or risen so high a
Britney Spears
Even if you're not usually keen on her image, music, or choice in husbands, you have to give Britney Spears a big hand. Few pop stars - and in this case, an ex-Mouseketeer for gosh-golly-gumdrops sake - have fallen so low or risen so high as Spears since the release of her newest CD, Circus. The CD is a savagely contagious yet stirring and subtle electro-pop record with dynamic production and songwriting, courtesy of Max Martin, Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. Spears, after 10 years of albums, finally comes into her own as a singer of such uncomplicated tracks as the title tune and "Shattered Glass." Anyone who caught Brit in a bikini last week on Late Show With David Letterman can attest to her workout regimen, so there's that. But mostly, without opening old wounds, Spears has climbed up from the emotional morass of 2006-07 to make herself a viably worthwhile and shockingly mature entity. That's something Spears' hero, Madonna, doesn't seem to be able to learn even at her age.
- A.D. Amorosi
The Flaming Lips
"Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Internal, Existential Fear" - that song title neatly states the Flaming Lips' credo. For well over two decades, Wayne Coyne and company have explored the ways psychedelic bliss battles the terrors of mortality, of mundane conformity, and of musical predictability. Lips concerts burst with enthusiasm: Fans in animal costumes dance onstage, Coyne walks atop the crowd in a plastic bubble, lasers and video projections and lots of confetti risk sensory overload. They repeat old tricks and add new ones in the quest to turn each show into a celebration. Advance songs from the forthcoming album Embryonic, such as "Silver Trembling Hands," are noisier and heavier, in good ways, than the last few Lips releases. Advance ticket purchasers for the Saturday-night show get various download perks, including a copy of the show itself. Groovy.
- Steve Klinge
Lightning Bolt
The Bolt on a stage? This time, reportedly, yes. Typically, the two Brians - B. Chippendale on drums/vocals, B. Gibson on bass - set up in the corner of a venue and launch their glorious sonic assault right after the preceding band has concluded. People crowd around, drawn by the duo's volume, intensity, stamina, respective chops, and distinct blasts of their catalog, tracks that up the speed of thrash metal, match the complexity of jazz, and range in rhythmic and melodic comparisons from the tribal art-core of the early Boredoms to the wiggy Euro-prog of France's Magma. And beyond. Way, way beyond. Two Rhode Island guys together since 1994 - a drummer with a simple kit and microphone stuffed under a mask, a bassist with pedals and stacked amps - offering so much sound. Trading that intimacy for a stage should better showcase the Bolt's athletic artistry, allowing the too-short and less-pushy to fully witness the flailing arms and rocking sway. Lightning Bolt will release Earthly Delights in October, their first album since 2005's Hypermagic Mountain. Opening will be Philly's BoBo and stand-up comedy from Space 1026 artist Andrew Jeffrey Wright.
- David R. Stampone