This article is in response to Australian journalist Rebekah Devlin’s editorial on ThePunch, titled “Read My Lips: The Truth About Britney”.

Rebekah Devlin has every right to offer her opinion, and with experience of 6 years in the business we are not one to question this, however the story that was first written by Ms Devlin on Friday night/Saturday morning was not written as an opinion piece.  It was written as a news story, and came across like EVERYONE who saw the Britney Spears concert thought the exact same thing as these 25+ people who left early.  25 people out of almost 20,000.  It almost appears to have been written to spark controversy and outrage.

Good reporting is investigating further into it.  Waiting until the concert was over, then asking another 25 people what they thought, and reporting on that.  Did they all think the concert was bad, and why? These people who left the concert because they were “outraged” by Britney miming I don’t get.  Do they not know what Britney did before they purchased the tickets.  From what I was told today, alot of people who paid for the cheaper tickets wanted to go to see what all the hype was about.  Fans knew what they were in for – take a look at this Channel 10 report.

How Ms Devlin came to the conclusion from only 25 people walking out early meant that everyone hated the show is just incorrect, and isn’t factual at all.  She defends her journalistic integrity in her soapbox rave, but she wrote the news article with every intention to make it negative.  If she was a fan, like she said herself, then she would’ve looked further into her research.  Ask 25 more people when they came out – who actually saw more than 2 songs before walking out.  What’s the saying? Never judge a book by it’s cover?  Why judge the concert only after a short period of time?

We do acknowledge that reviews on the first show were very divided.  Many people who attended couldn’t see Britney – who they had paid alot of money to see – because they were too far from the stage, or they expected alot more – and thought that Britney didn’t interact enough with the audience.  Maybe she didn’t, and maybe that is something that needs to be looked at.  It’s all constructive criticism.  Her lip-synching should not even be questioned here, as Britney has always been known to do this.  She dances and covers more of a stage than both Pink and Beyonce – both of their stages were back against the wall of the arena, not in the centre.

In the end people will believe and say what they want – and that’s their choice.

The Australian fans – the people who go the fan sites, who buy her music, who listen to her songs – loved the show.  That is what matters here, and we all need to remember that here on gimmeBRITNEY and all the other fan sites around the world.

Let’s leave it there and enjoy the next show in the Circus tour – Melbourne.

Over the weekend, gimmeBRITNEY posted a story titled “The Truth About The Circus Tour In Australia” which featured a wide view on the controversy that was sparked after Britney’s first Australian concert in Perth.

Within this feature, we wrote about journalist Rebekah Devlin.  She has hit back in an article titled “The Truth About Britney”.  Below is the article.

They say attack is the best form of defence and so I should have expected the very personal attack from Britney’s tour promoter Paul Dainty in today’s Australian.

You see, I was the journalist who wrote on Friday night that fans were walking out of her concert.

“It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,’’ Paul Dainty told The Oz. “I’m so angry. We can take heat if there’s something wrong and people can review shows badly – that’s something you have to live with – but to say people stormed out of the show was an absolute fabrication.’’

Well as Britney says Mr Dainty, “Love me, Hate me, Say what you want about me”…. Just don’t call me a liar.

I personally spoke with 25 people who left, some as early as the third song, and while I was speaking to disgruntled fans, more and more people walked past.

A security guard commented he had never seen so many people walk out – he was then chastised by his boss for daring to speak his mind.

A fabrication involves making things up. How then did I get the names and phone numbers of people walking out if they weren’t any? How too did Channels 7 and 9 so easily find people to interview who also had left early?

The claim is that the media are Britney-haters, well, I’m certainly not. “Stronger” was my ringtone for a while – drove my colleagues mad.

So I was just a tad excited heading to Perth’s Burswood Dome to see Britney in action.I thought the lip-synching wouldn’t matter, just seeing the pop princess in the flesh was enough. After all, it’s Britney. But in the end, it wasn’t enough. Not by a long way.

The staging was spectacular, the dancers and acrobats incredible but in the midst of it all, there Britney was, prancing and dancing awkwardly on the stage moving her lips with nothing coming out.

She looked horrifically out of place, like she’d rather be anywhere else but on stage in front of 17,000 fans. We were led to believe the lip-synching was necessary because her dancing was so good, so rigorous, she couldn’t possibly sing. But her moves were sloppy and stiff, as well as out of time.

I know there were plenty of people who had a fantastic time on Friday night. Britney can do no wrong in their eyes.

I’d suggest many of these fans were in the general admission area which surrounded the stage, because it was incredibly hard to see her without a giant screen. Well, there was a giant screen but it didn’t show any vision of Spears, just circus-related images.

It’s not a huge leap to suggest that this was done to disguise her lip-syncing.

By not using the screens to show her in action, when she faced the other side of the stadium, you had a great view of her back. Other criticisms were that she was not on stage for long enough – her costume changes took too long and were too often, leaving the audience to be entertained by acrobats, martial arts experts and dancers.

I can’t pass judgment on the parts of the concert I didn’t see, such as the one song she did sing live “Everytime” (I was outside interviewing people who’d seen quite enough). But websites have many posts from people who did not enjoy themselves.

Fans complained there was no interaction between songs, no attempt to inject some personality into the show. The only time she spoke was to say hello to “Australia” not even Perth – couldn’t she at least have personalised that?

She then said we had a beautiful country, well, how the heck would know that from her hotel room?

Britney’s management put out a tweet asking fans whether they enjoyed themselves on Friday night. Not surprisingly, they were inundated with positive responses. Although we do know several people who wrote something negative and their posts mysteriously did not make it onto the website.

“Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it,’’ Dainty said. “She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.’‘

What about her fans who she claims to care so much about? Does she care that they’ve left upset?

To suggest we need to tread carefully in case we send Brits into a breakdown is ridiculous. If she is not up to the task mentally or physically, then she should not be doing it. People pay good money, in fact people pay exorbitant money to see her perform.

The majority of the people who left were in the $200 seats – some had also paid the $20 pre-sale fee. Who in these tough times has $200 to throw away? Particularly with Christmas around the corner and interest rates on the way back up again.

She is paid to be a performer, she has the obligation to give people a good show. If she cannot, she should not be touring.

To me, the most telling was 22-year-old Amanda Hawlett, who spent half her weekly barmaid’s wage to buy a $200 ticket.

Concerts are a huge treat for people and they have the right to expect a certain level of entertainment.

Following Pink and Beyonce who have wowed Aussies fans this year was always a big ask, but when you don’t even sing your songs, you’re not even in the same league as these mighty divas.

Like so many of the Britney fans I spoke to, I feel incredibly let down. And this time, try as I might, I just can’t defend her like I have so many other times.

Article Via ThePunch

Amidst all the controversy, Britney has made some impact this week on the ARIA charts.

On the album chart, Britney has re-entered at #35 with Circus (#37 on combined physical + download).

Singles wise, ‘3′ is currently at #10 on both the physical and download chart.  Expect the single to head further up on next weeks chart once the physical sales count.  Go out and grab your copy this week if you haven’t already.

State By State Britney Love

NSW: Circus is at #32 on the albums chart, and ‘3′ debut at number #24 off one days worth of sales!
VIC/TAS: Circus is at #34 on the albums chart, and ‘3′ debut at number #38
QLD: Circus is at #69 on the albums chart, and ‘3′ debut at number #35
SA/NT: Circus is at #50 on the albums chart, and ‘3′ debut at number #37
WA: Circus is at #21 on the albums chart, and ‘3′ debut at number #36

Australia’s Hot 100

Britney’s ‘3′ is currently the 8th most played song on Australian radio – up from #13 last week.

UPDATE: Britney has the #1 most downloaded music video in Australia right now!  Congrats Brit!

BRITNEY Spears’ promoter says the star is “extremely upset” at her savaging for lip-synching and over allegations that Perth fans walked out on her.

Paul Dainty said that the star had been left traumatised by the media coverage which suggested fans stormed out of her Circus tour performances at Perth’s Burswood Dome on Friday, due mainly to the fact that she was miming during segments of the two-hour show.

“Britney is aware of all this and she’s extremely upset by it,” Dainty told The Australian.

“She’s a human being. I’m embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting.”

Yesterday, words such as beat, up, embarrassed and fabrication were used by the veteran tour promoter to describe the media coverage.

“It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,” Dainty said.

“I’m so angry. We can take heat if there’s something wrong and people can review shows badly — that’s something you have to live with — but to say people stormed out of the show was an absolute fabrication.”

Dainty was responding to reports that fans, some of whom had paid up to $1500 for tickets, left as early as the third song due to Spears’ “lacklustre” performance.

Spears’ publicity released an extensive cut-and-paste email to media immediately after her concert documenting positive reviews posted by fans on twitter and britneyspears.com in an effort to counteract the negative reports.

A Burswood dome spokesperson released the following statement:

“Last night’s concert (Friday) saw record crowds turn out for her first performance in Perth and from Burswood’s perspective the event was a huge success.

“Early media reports that hundreds of fans left the concert early cannot be substantiated and Burswood has received no complaints about the concert.”

Spears’ manager Adam Leber also took to Spears’ Twitter account to appeal to her 3.7 million followers, biting back at the savaging for her performance.

“Its unfortunate that one journalist in Perth didn’t enjoy the show last night. Fortunately the other 18,272 fans in attendance did. – Adam” he wrote.

Thousands of Perth fans have flooded Spears’ personal website and Twitter to congratulate her on her comeback, describing the Burswood Dome performances last week as “amazing,” “awesome” and “brilliant.”

The singer will perform shows in Melbourne on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week at Rod Laver Arena, before flying to Sydney.

The 14-concert Australian tour wraps up in Adelaide on November 29.

Article via PerthNow.

The Circus Tour of Australia continued to roll on as Britney performed her 2nd show in Perth at Burswood Dome.

But it’s had its fair share of controversy over the past few days.  From Thursday, even before the concert had kicked off, the media in Australia had already criticised the pop star for lip-syncing.  This issue had been raised after politician Virginia Judge (Minister of Fair Trading, NSW) put forward her 2 cents worth saying that the public had been mislead, and wanted fans to know exactly what they could expect from the show.

“It is Britney’s ‘prerogative’ to lip-sync, and it is my job to make sure consumers know what they are paying for up front.”

The Australian media were quick to jump onto it, and reported that the cost of the tickets was not justified for a  “glorified miming act”.  Paul Dainty, Director of Dainty Entertainment Consolidation had defended Britney’s show.

I did go to the show in America with a degree of cynicism, as anyone would because of (what) we’ve read and heard, but she was absolutely fantastic

Britney performed to a record crowd at Burswood Dome on Friday night – kicking off her Australian tour.  Report after the concert were anything but fantastic.  Media reported that “thousands of fans” left before the concert was even finished – some fans apparently leaving after even the 3rd song.  But it has become apparent that these stories have been fabricated, and the truth stretched to a great degree.

Reporters Jay Hanna and Rebekah Devlin have been convering this story for News Limited.  Reports have been that thousands of fans left the concert before it was over.  Burswood have denied anything along these lines in a statement issued by Britney’s publicist yesterday.

Burswood Entertainment Complex is proud to host the Britney Spears ‘Circus’ concert tour in Burswood Dome.
Last night’s concert (Friday) saw record crowds turn out for her first performance in Perth and from Burswood’s perspective the event was a huge success. Early media reports that hundreds of fans left the concert early cannot be substantiated and Burswood has received no complaints about the concert.

Britney’s manager, Adam Leber made comment yesterday via Twitter over this whole media backlash.

Its unfortunate that one journalist in Perth didn’t enjoy the show last night. Fortunately the other 18,272 fans in attendance did. – Adam
Were you at the show last night? What did you think? – Adam

Fans who attended the concert last night had nothing but good things to say about the concert, and these were all posted on Britney’s official website yesterday.

But today, Jay Hanna and Rebekah Devlin (she’s the “one journalist in Perth” that Adam Leber mentioned) have continued their tirade against Britney Spears and the concert.

ANGRY fans have demanded their money back after Britney Spears’ “boring”, “stiff” and lip-synched Perth concert on Friday night.

This is news to any of the ticket outlets, and also Burswood.  Dainty Consolidated Entertainment have commented by saying that they’ve had no such requests or complaints from Friday nights concert.  Opinions have flooded the news site in question – and most have been positive about the concert.  Andrew of Perth wrote:

I was at the same performance and it really was amazing… it was only 150m from the Britney concert and for $49 a much better investment.

Oh dear of Perth wrote:

this article is humiliating for Australia, particularly WA. I am actually really frigging annoyed and will not bother reading news here any more. Good on you Perth Now for bagging out an amazing performer when your entire article is a bunch of crap. Your journo is a loser.

The article even goes on to say…

One security guard said he had never seen so many people walk out of a concert.

But again, Burswood have flatly denied that this is the case.  Their sources, such as 22 year old Amanda Hawlet from Northam who apparently drove 2 hours to Perth to see the concert was quoted as saying:

I want my money back or I want her to sing properly. The ticket cost me $200 and she lipsynched the whole thing.  It’s cost me half a week’s wage and you’ve got bills to pay, but you look forward to this concert, it’s a night out and what do you get? Nothing. It was a waste of $200 – I could have got four pairs of shoes for that.

Reporting at it’s finest.  Northam is only 1 hour from Perth.  A quick search of social network site Facebook hasn’t found any matches for this “22 year old” – therefore we cannot contact her to verify her thoughts of the concert, or buy her some new shoes.

gimmeBRITNEY members have even alerted us to the fact that some media outlets were approaching random concert goers, including some of our members, and asking them to say inaccurate things on camera or phrasing a question to them in a way that the answer was negative.  When a response was given that wasn’t to the liking of the reporter, it has been told that they’d go to someone else and ask them.

So what is the truth.  Is this reporting fabricated, and a great exaggeration of what actually happened?

We do know that some people who attended the concert were disappointed at certain elements of the show.  What these exactly were is not clear.  But the fans who purchased tickets knew that the concert would be lip-synched (as her Tour in both North America and Europe have been) so to say that fans didn’t know what to expect is incorrect.  Fans on gimmeBRITNEY and other Britney fan sites have applauded her for 2 great shows.  Maybe it was the concert setup for some people?  Maybe they just hate Britney?  Either way, we’ll never know.

For everyone else who has tickets to the upcoming rest of the tour, you’re in for a good show.  gimmeBRITNEY was there on both Friday and Saturday and we saw 2 spectacular concerts.  Britney gave her all for the performance, and we really enjoyed every minute of it.  That is all you really need to know.

Read the full PerthNow article here.

Britney’s Australian publicists have tonight issued this statement regarding the falsified reports media outlets have been flogging all day:

“Burswood Entertainment Complex is proud to host the Britney Spears ‘Circus’ concert tour in Burswood Dome.
Last night’s concert (Friday) saw record crowds turn out for her first performance in Perth and from Burswood’s perspective the event was a huge success. Early media reports that hundreds of fans left the concert early cannot be substantiated and Burswood has received no complaints about the concert.”

Hundreds upon thousands of happy fans and other attendees have posted their love and gratitute to Britney for putting on a great show on fan forums and Twitter. Britney did a great job, and any ‘breaking news’ regarding the content under scrutiny in her performances is common knowledge, and has been for a long time – and we have no issue with it. She has proven herself.

We congratulate Britney and her team and dancers yet again for bringing the Circus to Australia, we are EXTREMELY grateful and promise to enjoy and embrace every show you put on

Source: Auspop.net