On the second Monday in April, Britney Spears announced the closing dates of her Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood Resort’s The Axis. Britney: Piece of Me will conclude on New Year’s Eve after four years of performances that revitalized her career and marked the beginning of a new wave of Strip headliners who became pop superstars in the ’90s and afterward. The show had earned more than $100 million in ticket sales by this year, and will have drawn nearly a million fans by the time she makes her final costume change and show finale “Till the World Ends” pumps from the sound system for the last time.
“Saying goodbye to this show is going to be SO hard,” she tweeted following the announcement, although it’s likely only The Axis she’s saying goodbye to permanently. Her manager has expressed that a return to Vegas is more than likely, with only the venue undetermined. RadarOnline.com seized upon the news as proof that Spears is ready to have a third child, which could mean some time will elapse before she resumes her headlining status. Last year’s warm critical response to Spears’s newest album, Glory, which was several years in the making, validated to Spears that taking her time and maintaining control over her creative direction will yield positive results.
So it’s to be expected that whatever Spears does when she returns in 2018, 2019 or 2020, a big splash will be made designed to top her December 2013 residency-marking arrival at Planet Hollywood in a classic Chevrolet Impala convertible before hordes of fans and paparazzi. Meanwhile, she’s added “Slumber Party” from Glory to the set and is focused on the remaining shows as well as her first appearance in Thailand this summer, and a concert in Tel Aviv that reportedly caused an Israeli political party to change the date of its election because of the disruption it’s predicted to cause.
Spears is often given credit for widening an opening that led to residencies or exclusive multidate appearances by Jennifer Lopez, Boyz II Men, Pitbull, Bruno Mars and The Backstreet Boys. It’s perhaps inevitable that fans who grew up faithful to pop stars will want to see them in the kind of showcases that only Vegas provides, but it was on Spears to set the standards for production, choreography and costuming. Celebrities make sure they get tickets when they’re in town and occasionally one will join her onstage, such as when Tinashe duetted with her on “Slumber Party” in January or last month when Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough donned a harness and got on all fours to let Spears lead him around the stage by a leash.
But it’s the songs—dating as far back as 1998 when Britney bounced into the spotlight in Catholic schoolgirl dress with her debut hit “… Baby One More Time”—that will elicit tear-inducing flashbacks. Urgent up-tempo “Work Bitch” gets the party started, leading into hits such as “Womanizer,” “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Gimme More,” “Oops!...I Did It Again,” “Toxic” and “Stronger.” Spears herself is always in motion, whether thrilling crowds with her trademark moves, being engulfed by her troop of dancers or interacting with elements of the elaborate set. Saying goodbye might be hard for Spears, but her fans can rest assured that staying away is much harder.
Planet Hollywood Resort, 9 p.m. May 10, 12-13, 17 & 19-20, starting at $69 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
