Tour Information

2001-2002: Dream Within a Dream Tour
Length: November 01, 2001 - December 21, 2001 and May 24, 2002 - July 28, 2002
Legs: 2
Shows: 66
More: The Dream Within a Dream Tour was Britney Spears' fourth full-fledged, and second world, concert tour. Beginning in Columbus, Ohio on November 1, 2001 and ending July 28, 2002 during a controversial concert in Mexico City, the tour grossed over $53 million in the U.S.

The show was more elaborate and theatrical than her previous efforts. It featured a key-shaped stage that allowed easy view from all around the audience, various platforms including one that would circle Spears around part of the audience and a huge rain screen which poured more than 500 gallons of water. Ironically, her very last show in Mexico City was cancelled due to heavy rain and thunderstorms. The audience was heard booing Britney as she exited the stage.

Her Las Vegas performance was taped for a special which aired on HBO, the DVD titled Live from Las Vegas was later released thereform. The December show in Albany was also taped and played in a German tv show and the April 2002 show in Japan was also taped to be played in that country.

The tour won an Emmy Award in 2002.

The show

The Dream Within A Dream Tour was considered Spears' most lavish and most extravagant tour of her career. And is a favorite among fans.

Spears performed 16 (counting each song of the medley as one) songs during her 1st leg and 17 (counting each song of the medley as one) during her 2nd.

The stage set for the tour was a unique key-shaped structure. The main stage was round with two levels and featured a ramp that circled around to the rear, so Spears could be viewed easily by all fans attending. A catwalk that extended from the center of the stage connected to a second rectangular stage ( a "b-stage") in the middle of the arena. The stage setup appeared minimal, but featured multiple elevators and video screens. The design allowed audience members to sit all around the stage including behind the stage (in the round). In addition, there was a magic carpet-like platform suspended by wires that sailed along the length of the catwalk above the crowd. The stage featured sets like a club (Boys), a two dimensional world (Anticipating), and a jungle (I'm a Slave 4 U).

The show began with a woman, dressed in a white nightgown, running across the stage with a lantern. A video of sleeping Britney appeared. Trapped in a bubble, she awoke. She declared that she was "trapped in a dream within a dream" before being sucked into a sea of flames. Immediately, her guitarist ripped into a rock-remix version of "Oops!...I Did It Again". Britney emerged from the stage on a circular, vertical platform that spun her a full 360 degrees turn. The show continued with pyrotechnics, video animation, and costume changes, many of which occurred onstage.

A notable part of the show was a man (Jon Voight) telling a bed time story to his young daughter about a magical ballerina who lived in a music box. Britney rose through a giant box in the middle of stage, dressed as a ballerina. She tore off her tutu and donned a bathrobe to perform "Lucky".

For the finale of the show, a rain screen poured more than 500 gallons of water onto the main stage. Britney walked through the rain screen, singing a remix of her hit "...Baby One More Time" that was rearranged as a ballad for the first verse and a techno-dance jam for the rest of the song.

Controversy

The original October 26 opening in Miami was postponed when Britney came down with the flu two weeks before the tour was to kick off, thus postponing rehearsals. The tour was scheduled to begin on October 31 in Washington, DC but that date was also postponed so more technical rehearsals could take place.

During Britney's second sold-out night at Mexico City's outdoor Foro Sol Arena on July 28, 2002, severe thunderstorms hit the city, causing Britney to abruptly cancel the show halfway through the setlist, angering her fans. Spears left the country that night with no comments or explanations. Spears reported during an interview that the stage was struck by lightning while performing and the dancers almost fell off the catwalk from the rain making the stage slippery.

During a show in Lubbock, Texas at the United Spirit Arena, the show suffered a complete power outage of the arena after the second song, causing the remainder of the show to be cancelled.

While performing the encore at the Tokyo Dome, Spears slipped and fell on the wet stage. Footage of it was captured and has been widely circulated on the internet.[1]

During the show in North Little Rock at the Alltel Arena, Spears wore a black short haired wig throughout the whole show.

Because the show featured so many technical special effects, minor problems often occurred (examples: music box and flying barge).

During the live TV broadcasting of Live from Las Vegas on HBO when Britney performs "What It's Like To Be Me", she trips over one of her dancers. The clip was taken out when the DVD released and was replaced by a clip of the audience.

Setlist

* "Oops! I Did It Again"
* "(You Drive Me) Crazy"
* "Overprotected"[Darkchild Remix] [only in leg 2 shows]

Interlude: The Ballerina Princess Story Part 1

* MEDLEY: "Born To Make You Happy"/"Lucky"/"Sometimes"

Outro: The Ballerina Princess Story Ending

* "Boys"
* "Stronger"
* Mystic Man [only in leg 2 shows]
* "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Women"

Britney's Rock Band: Video Interlude

* "I Love Rock N' Roll"
* "What It's Like To Be Me"
* Lonely
* "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know"

Video Interlude: Britney's Crayola World

* "Anticipating"
* "I'm A Slave 4 U"
* "...Baby One More Time" [Remix]
 

2004: The Onyx Hotel Tour
Length: March 2, 2004 - June 6, 2004
Legs: 2
Shows: 110 (55 canceled)
More: The Onyx Hotel Tour was Britney Spears’ tour in support of her fourth #1 album In the Zone.

Before the tour even began Spears made surprise appearances in New York in November 2003.(Being featured on MTV in a show titled "Britney Spears: In The Zone and Out All Night") Spears performed 3 surprise shows at three different nightclubs.[citation needed]

Beginning in San Diego, California on March 2, 2004, the tour featured futuristic postmodern architecture supposedly inspired by Tokyo. The show didn't feature as much lavish routines as her last tour in favor of a more intimate setting. The tour was canceled after the second leg due to Spears' knee injury on the set of her "Outrageous" music video. Immediately after what was supposed to be her last show, Spears married Kevin Federline. The Onyx Hotel Tour, grossed over $48.7 million dollars worldwide, and was seen by over 600,000 fans in North America and Europe.

Her Miami show was televised on Showtime to huge ratings. No official DVD has been released, although there are many bootlegs. Parts of the European Leg were chronicled in Britney and Kevin: Chaotic. The Lisboa Festival in Lisbon, Portugal aired and broadcasted live on SIC Radical, a Portuguese TV channel. The Miami show was also aired on Channel 4 in the U.K and was the highest rating programme of the week when it aired in primetime on Network Ten in Australia.

The announcement

Britney’s set design was based on the mysterious theory of the Onyx stone:

An "onyx" by definition is a precious black gemstone that emits various colors of light depending on the light you shine into it. The ONYX HOTEL is a unique, mysterious hotel powered by an onyx stone. Each guest who enters this hotel shines their own light into the onyx, and in return, makes their fantasies come to life. It's a vibrant, whimsical place where wondrous dreams are realized, and the darkest of secrets are revealed.

Britney expressed, "I'm especially looking forward to bringing my tour to new markets and performing in front of fans that may not have had the opportunity to see any of my previous tours."

Kelis served as an opening act for several shows before the tour was canceled. Said Britney, "'Milkshake' is one of my favorite new songs, and I am so excited that Kelis, who is so talented, has agreed to open the Onyx Hotel Tour for me."

The show

While Britney's last tour, Dream Within A Dream was Vegas-style theatrical, The Onyx Hotel Tour was more New York-style theatrical. This show was purposely less lavish than the previous tour and featured little pyrotechnics or other visual effects, as compared to Dream Within A Dream, apparently to make the show more intimate and focused more on the songs and dancing. However, Spears' production team spared no expense on the show's setup. They were reportedly inspired by the city of Tokyo, with its futuristic, postmodern architecture, and designed their stage based on it, with state-of-the-art video screens and set pieces. Most of the songs performed were from her then-current album, In the Zone, but a few of her earlier efforts did appear on the set list, in remixed form. Spears also played piano briefly during her fan-favorite ballad "Everytime".

Spears had eight costume changes throughout the show, with various outfits ranging from a black catsuit during the show's opener to a pair of bikini underwear. The clothes came courtesy of several designers such as Roberto Cavalli and Dsquared, who also designed costumes for Dream Within a Dream Tour.

The March 28 show in Miami was filmed for a special that aired on Showtime and attracted huge ratings. The show was rerun several times that year and still drew significantly large numbers. [1] Unlike Spears' previous televised concerts, this show has not been released to DVD.

During the show in Moline, Illinois (18 March 2004), Spears suffered a fall during "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and injured her knee, which caused the show to come to a halt without an encore. Spears went on stage and told the audience "I hurt my leg really bad, sorry I cannot finish the show. But thank you, Moline". Shows in Chicago and Detroit were postponed to the end of the first leg of the tour. The show in Cleveland was postponed to the summer leg because of illness, and canceled altogether when the summer shows were scrapped.

The third leg of the tour, which would have been a second North American trek, as well as Asia and Australia, was canceled because of the injury resulting from a fall on the set of Britney's video shoot for "Outrageous" in Queens, NY. She underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at a New York hospital to remove floating cartilage. Spears would not perform onstage again until The M+Ms Tour in 2007.

The June 5th show in Lisbon was part of the Rock in Rio Festival (which Spears had performed at in 2001 in Rio de Janeiro). Since the show was nestled between already scheduled dates in Dublin, Ireland, the full set was not built. Screens were mounted on the main stage and staircases were assmbled resembling the original stage set up. Props such as "the bus" were used. "Oops!...I Did It Again" and "Touch of My Hand" were not performed.

Opening acts were Skye Sweetnam in the US and Europe, Kelis in the US and the final show in Dublin, JC Chasez in Europe, and Wicked Wisdom in Europe, and Toronto based rock/reggae band Dodger filling in for five dates that Kelis canceled due to illness.

Performances and controversies

The 2004 Onyx Hotel Tour brought new criticism for Spears, for in certain routines she and her dancers were seemingly nude and performing explicit routines simulating sex, orgies, and masturbation during "Touch of My Hand" and "Breathe on Me". Given that many underage fans were in the audience there was some outrage about the performances, and there were reports of adult chaperones angrily storming out with young children they brought to the concert.

During the performance of "Touch of My Hand", Spears emerged onstage in a white robe, then after the second verse, removed it, revealing a tight flesh-colored suit covered in crystals (an obvious homage to her diamond-encrusted nude body in her "Toxic" video).

At her Toronto performance in April of 2004, during her performance of "Me Against the Music," her music equipment malfunctioned on two occasions. Britney continued to sing as if nothing was happening, while the audience sang along to fill the silence.

Opening acts

* Kelis (First Leg)
* Skye Sweetnam (First Leg, Second Leg)
* JC Chasez (Second Leg)
* Wicked Wisdom (Second Leg)
* Eamon (Was to open Third Leg)

Set list

Act 1:The Onyx Hotel Lobby

* "Toxic"
* "Overprotected" [Darkchild Remix]
* "Boys "
* "Showdown"

Act 2: Mystic Lounge

* "...Baby One More Time"[Carberet Version]
* "Oops! I Did It Again "[Jazz Version]
* "(You Drive Me) Crazy"

Band Skit

Act 3: Mystic Garden

* "Everytime"
* "The Hook Up"
* "I'm A Slave 4 U"

Act 4:The Onyx Zone

* "Shadow"

Act 5: Security Cameras

* "Touch Of My Hand"
* "Breathe On Me"
* "Outrageous"

Act 6: The Club

* "I Got That ( Boom Boom )

Encore

* "Me Against The Music"
 

2007: The M+M's Tour
Length: May 1, 2007 - May 20, 2007
Legs: 1
Shows: 6
More: The M+M's Tour (also known as the House of Blues Tour) was a series of short concert-like promotional appearances at House of Blues and club-type venues by pop singer Britney Spears that took place in May 2007.

Itinerary

Spears's appearances at the House of Blues locations were rumored ahead of time, with tickets going for upwards of $125 for an act billed as M+M's — rumored to be for Mom + Ms., Britney's two perceived life roles.

Her last real concert and performance had been a show in Dublin, Ireland in June 2004, after which she injured her knee on the set of her music video, "Outrageous", forcing the cancellation of the remainder of her Onyx Hotel Tour and the music video.

While members of the audience were not wholly positive about the shows - many noting that Spears never sang live, instead miming to a backing track - it was generally considered a successful beginning of a comeback, as Spears had not performed for roughly 3 years due to a failed marriage and other personal problems.

Set List

1. ...Baby One More Time (Remix)
2. I'm a Slave 4 U (Remix)
3. Breathe on Me
4. Do Somethin'
5. Toxic
 

2009: TBA
Legs:
Shows:
More: