Britney on Manila crowd: Amazing!

MANILA, Philippines - In a moment in time worth freezing, hundreds of fans gathered in an accidental afterparty on all three levels of the Mall of Asia Arena lobby, post-Britney Spears concert.

Fans of all ages and gender refused to head out of the venue during Thursday night’s Britney Live in Manila and chose to camp out on the hallways of the Arena to sing Britney hits played in full blast by concert sponsor Smart and its #SmartMusicLive, #SmartBritneySpears booths. For 30 minutes or more, Piece of Me’s Manila stop was extended with the fans’ version of Oops… I Did It Again, Baby One More Time and Sometimes. It definitely did not matter if Britney lip-synced her entire concert, they were all there to do the singing for her (and Filipinos are such good crowd singers!).

Such was the impact of the pop icon’s showgirl concert that supporters couldn’t get enough of the show that they created their own afterparty. Britney was right to call this Manila crowd “amazing!”

Piece of Me was a celebration of both performer and her hits in an upbeat-all-the-way dance concert that reminded everyone of how good dancers Britters were. The way she moved was the closest to a female version of Michael Jackson because of two things: She had the dance hits and the choreography fans easily identified with specific scenes from her now-classic music videos. Thanks to that era when a Britney-ruled MTV channel was all we had for entertainment in the late ’90s to early 2000s.

The STAR was told that Britney had no sound check and went straight to showgirl time hours after her Manila touchdown. Detractors would say, “She did not need a sound check anyway coz lip-sync blah blah!” But those numbers, those steps and stunts at least needed a run-through. Nope. Britney went straight to Work B**ch mode and had it all under control from start to finish.

Britney also controlled stunning special effects that reminded Manila audiences why Piece of Me is a Vegas long-running success. The huge stage with LED backdrop took audiences from one place to another that if you record the concert and mute the entire show, it will still look like a great party.

For about 23 to 25 songs, Britney moved non-stop in wardrobe malfunction-baiting (but wardrobe malfunction-defying) thigh-high suits paired with death-defying thigh-high heeled boots. Again, Britney danced with precision that even her hair flips were spot-on choreographic highlights.

Speaking of highlights, standouts were Piece Of Me, (where crowd went wild shouting the “Philippines!” part of the lyrics) Oops… I Did It Again, Baby One More Time, (where she started performing blindfolded), Toxic, Womanizer, I’m A Slave 4 U, Stronger and Till The World Ends. Each number had its own digitally transforming set. The audience was taken to cities, skies, jungles and circuses in under two hours.

The only downside was that Britney skipped the ballads. Lucky, Sometimes, I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, Everytime and From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart were terribly missed.

Security was extra-tight as this was the first big concert post-Manchester bombing during Ariana Grande’s concert last month but that did not stop fans from coming in all Britney shapes and sizes, from the schoolgirl Britney to the Flight Attendant Britbrit to the VMAs Britney 2016 version.

This was definitely not the sneaky escape Britney had in mind when she included the “Philippines” in 2007’s Piece Of Me song lyrics. But like the rest of those who tita-partied with her, she will definitely remember this stop. Britney said it best when she ended the show screaming, “Thank you so much Manila! Such a wonderful night with all of you!”