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John Aizlewood's rating
, Dirrty, flirty Christina starts to sag
By
John Aizlewood
30 Nov 2006
Whatever the truth or otherwise of Christina Aguilera being carried out of Kabaret's Prophecy nightclub at dawn yesterday, a few hours later she looked in fine fettle, whizzing through 11 costume changes in a 90-minute set, dancing like a 26-year-old version of Madonna and, on Nasty Naughty Boy offering an overwhelmed audience volunteer named Alex "a little taste of the sugar below my waist".
Alex gave every impression that this was the highlight of his life to date. Nightclub escapades notwithstanding, things are going rather well for Aguilera, who co-writes and co-produces much of her material and whose last British tour three years ago was an unmitigated triumph.
Her sprawling current album, Back To Basics, topped the charts in the United States, Britain and across the world from Thailand to Ireland. Where once she aspired to being Britney Spears, these days she's platinum blonde and emulating Marilyn Monroe. At this rate, she'll be aspiring to Aung San Suu Kyi in two albums' time
And yet, hard as Aguilera and her 12-strong band (plus eight dancers) tried, the evening never quite took hold and not merely because of the shoddiest, most distorted sound I've heard at Wembley in years. It started well with a terrifically taut, expertly choreographed Ain't No Other Man and ended gloriously with an all-singing, all-dancing Fighter, but in-between it sagged with joylessness.
To a muted audience's bemusement, she plugged Back To Basics and then she plugged it some more. This meant the mawkish drivel of Oh Mother; the toe-curling hubris of Thank You, where fans appeared on the video screens eulogising our heroine ("You're my role model, Christina," gushed one, to the sound of audience sniggers) or mid-paced plod such as Candyman, an even more annoying sibling of Madonna's Hanky Panky.
This meant no room for the delights of Genie In A Bottle, while What A Girl Wants was so radically reshaped it passed by almost unrecognised.
And, for all its energy (even the musicians changed costume mid-set); despite the stiltwalker who graced Welcome and lifted a perfunctory circus setting into something momentarily magical, and for all the feral sexual throb of Dirrty, the set pieces were tired and obvious.
Indeed, attempting to replicate the burlesque look and feel of the Moulin Rouge is such a flogging of a dead horse, it's a wonder Desert Orchid didn't join her on stage. She'll conceive better shows than this.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (8)
Well where do I start, this was the best night of my life. The reason because I WAS ON STAGE WITH CHRISTINA AGUILERA. Even me saying it now gives me shocks, Christina's reaction to me was priceless and I had a lot of fun up the that wheel check out her dancers and throbing on stage with Christina while she whipped me and her dancers danced around. But saying this the rest of the show was not as great as I had hoped. Christina did not show a lot of happiness and she said very little and just sang, but even then the sound quality was not that great. The fans were amazed but Christina did not work the crowd or have a lot of fun. She just "got on with it". The set I would say was very bland. Christina's 'back to basic' look was not shown through the set ut through the songs she sang and costumes. But, I would have thought it you wanted a arena to fell like a small down town jazz club then you could of had a impressive set. I think the highlight apart from me being on stage was when she sang "understand" which is a crowd favorite. When I was on stage I tried to work the crowd as much as I possibly could by dancing and showing excited face remarks and Christina had alot of fun with me laughing and smiling and calling me names. But, I think she needed to have more fun and work with the crowd and show off not only her vocals but her atttitude and personalilty a bit more in the show.
- Alexander Lee, England, 06/07/2007 15:35
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You people obviously haven't listened to her current album. She deserved the 8 awards that Mary J. received.
- Jeff, UK, 08/12/2006 12:38
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Ive never been to a concert where an artist was booed as a prompt to come on!! By strutting on at 9.30pm Ms Aguilera obviously had no consideration to the people who had paid £50 and who were travelling long distances on public transport and had to leave enough time to get home.
There was no atmosphere, no-one standing up to dance and because of the poor sound system you could not understand the words to the songs.
Can I have my money back please!
- Katie, Woking, England, 01/12/2006 08:50
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Your reviewer appears to have been extremely kind to Ms (Cash Register) Aguilera who this evening has offered one of the worst concerts we have seen in several years of concert-going. Clearly Ms Aguilera's ego has eclipsed what her fans are seeking and instead we were offered mostly second-rate songs from her new album. What a let down after her "Stripped" tour! By the time she got round to singing just a handfull of her signature tunes (and not all that well either - even Dora Bryan could have given a sexier and more sordid rendition of "Dirrty!!), she had alienated and lost most of the audience. Ms Aguilera came across as utterly insincere in her limited conversation with the audience (fixed smile with cold eyes). We used to like this singer, now we never want to see her or buy her records again!
- Andrew And Senad, Camberley, Surrey, 01/12/2006 01:08
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I agree, the concert was great, but the sound could definitely have been better! However, I didn't like the reggae version of What a Girl Wants.
- J, London, 30/11/2006 17:42
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I think the concert was great. I agree with the sound being slightly off - it was like that at Scissor Sisters too. I saw the pictures of Christina's new wax figure at Madame Tussauds today it looks so life-like!
- Amy, London, 30/11/2006 13:52
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Is there a problem with the sound system at Wembley Arena at the moment? I saw the Scissor Sisters last week and the sound was terrible then, very distorted, despite the band changing microphones mid way thru. (Can't find any way to ask the venue directly.)
- Vic Tilson, Sandhurst, UK, 30/11/2006 12:40
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This concert was my first visit back to the 'Arena' for a few years and I was surprised at the quality of sound, it was really poor at the last third of the arena. Ive heard better mixing at a pub venue. It did'nt do her and the band justice for the talents they have.
- Keith Pilborough, Farnham Common, UK, 30/11/2006 12:17
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