2000/2001 — Oops!… I Did It Again Tour

  • Duration: June 20, 2000 – January 18, 2001
  • Shows: 81
  • Box Office: $40.5 million
  • Photos: Click here

The Oops!… I Did It Again World Tour was Spears’ first world tour, reaching North America, Europe and Brazil. The show was more elaborate than her previous tour and included pyrotechnics and other special effects. Reviewers praised the tour, adding that “[the concert] proved that many [of her] criticisms are off-base observations from people who have never actually attended [her] shows”. Concert promoters SFX Entertainment guaranteed Spears a minimum of $200,000 per show before the tour began, and many of the shows sold out in one day. The Oops!… I Did It Again World Tour grossed $40,500,000 with 1,452,014 million in attendance and became the second highest-grossing tour of the year by a solo artist.

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Setlist

  1. “(You Drive Me) Crazy”
  2. “Stronger”
  3. “What U See (Is What U Get)”
  4. “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart”
  5. “Born to Make You Happy”
  6. “Lucky”
  7. “Sometimes”
  8. “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know”
  9. “The Beat Goes On”
  10. “Don’t Go Knockin’ on My Door”
  11. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
  12. “…Baby One More Time”
  13. “Oops!… I Did It Again”

Background

On February 22, 2000, Spears announced a summer tour in support of her second studio album, Oops!… I Did It Again (2000). The tour marked the first time Spears toured Europe. She commented, “I’m going to go to Europe, and just basically go everywhere for six months, […] I’ve never toured outside of the U.S. I’ve never experienced other fans in other places, and performing in front of them is going to be so exciting.” Before the tour began, Forbes reported that concert promoter SFX Entertainment guaranteed her a minimum of $200,000 per show. Tour sponsors from the 2000 leg of the …Baby One More Time Tour, Got Milk?, and Polaroid, remained. Clairol’s Herbal Essences was also added as a sponsor. Spears recorded a song for the latter called “I’ve Got the Urge to Herbal” to be used on their radio campaign, though she chose to not attend a photoshoot for the product when she decided to support an 86-day strike by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). She later donated $1 from each ticket sold from her Inglewood, California show on July 28, 2000 to the union.

For the European Leg of the Tour, Spears originally was going joint with ‘N Sync following their No Strings Attached Tour, as a co-headlining tour.

Development

Jamie King was chosen as tour director. Tim Miller and Kevin Antunes served as director of production and musical director, respectively. Mark Foffano was chosen as the lightning director. Spears described the tour as “like a Broadway show”. The setlist included material from her first studio album …Baby One More Time (1999) as well as seven songs from Oops!… I Did It Again. Spears explained, “I’ve been singing the same material for so long now. It’ll be nice to change it up a little bit.” She also talked about her expectations for the tour, saying, “I can’t wait. I’ll have a world tour. I’m going to have more dancers, a bigger stage, more pyro… just a lot bigger”. The proscenium stage was much more elaborate than the stage of her previous tour and included video screens, movable platforms and different props. It cost $2.2 million to build. The tone of the show variated from the beginning: for the performance of “Born to Make You Happy”, Spears sang in a set resembling a children’s bedroom, complete with large toys and a pillow fight routine. On the contrary, she unveiled a more sophisticated image for “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know”, and followed it with raunchy performances for “…Baby One More Time” and “Oops!… I Did It Again”.

The sound equipment was provided by Showco who used the PRISM system, which adapted the show for each venue according to its height, width and the coverage required. The sound was mixed by Front of house engineer Monty Lee Wilkes on a combination of Yamaha PM4000 and PM3000 consoles, an unusual choice for Spears’s shows. He useddbx 903 compressors for kick and snare drums. The compressors were also used on Spears’s microphones, a Shure Beta 58A handheld and a Crown CM-311AE headset-mounted capsule. Spears’s vocals were mostly live—pre-recorded vocals ran in parallel on an ADAT machine during the shows, and were used to replace her live microphone when the dance routines became too energetic for good voice control. Spears’s band, backline technicians and monitor engineer Raza Sufi were all fitted with in-ear monitorsand headset mics, enabling rapid and clear communications around the stage area. Spears did not use them, preferring the ambient sound of a battery of eight Showco SRM wedges spread across the downstage area. These were augmented by Showco SS full-range sidefills and a pair of one-by-18-inch subs on each side of the stage. Sufi also used a dbx 160A to limit Spears’s louder moments, while backing vocalists were controlled by a duo of BSS DPR901 dynamic equalizers. Effects were limited to vocal and drum reverbs. Amplification for the wedges and the FOH system were all Crown-based, with a pair of drum stool shakers completing the line-up. All the cables used during the tour were brought from the US, even in Europe, something unusual in audio production.

Concert synopsis

The show began with the video introduction “The Britney Spears Experience”, in which three images of Spears welcomed spectators to the show. Then, a giant metal orb was lowered onstage and lifted again to reveal Spears standing behind it, wearing a pink halter top (some shows she wore an orange halter-top), a side silver jacket, and glittery jeans. Spears started with two dance-oriented performances of “(You Drive Me) Crazy” and “Stronger”. This was followed by “What U See (Is What U Get)” in which she removed her silver side jacket and she danced in a stripper pole wearing a pink cowboy hat. The act ended with Spears talking to the audience and sitting on a stool to perform “From The Bottom of My Broken Heart” with her guitarist Skip.

After she left the stage, there was a video interlude hosted by *NSYNC (via screen) and Spears’ 2 background singers (2 female background dancers in Europe) in which contestants did different games in order to meet Spears. She appeared onstage to meet the chosen fan and then welcomed the audience into her bedroom. Wearing white pajamas and slippers, she performed “Born to Make You Happy”, which included a dance segment near the end. She then continued with “Lucky” featuring her 2 background singers (2 female background dancers during all the European show) helping Spears getting ready for a typical day. Halfway through the song during the dance break, her male dancers all dressed in navy sailor costumes do a routine before Spears continues the remainder of the song dressed as a ship captain. “Sometimes”, in which changed back into her white pajamas and slippers (coincidentally an outfit similar to the one she wore in the music video of the song) and featured Spears’ and her dancers throwing teddy bears, beach balls, and squirting the audience with water guns. At the end, she climbed the staircase and briefly spoke to the audience before moving into a performance of “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know”, for which she wore a long white dress trimmed with boa feathers (pretty much dressed up like in the music video as Lucky).

A band interlude showcasing a mix of funk and progressive rock from her band followed, and Spears reappeared to perform her cover of Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On.” During the performance, she was lifted into the air wearing a kimono that covered most of the stage. She continued with “Don’t Go Knockin’ On My Door” (loosing the kimono wearing a full purple jumpsuit) and her cover of The Rolling Stones’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, which ended with a dance sequence set to the original version.

Next, there was a dance interlude in which the dancers showed their individual moves while their names appeared on the screens. Spears took the stage again in a conservative schoolgirl outfit to perform “…Baby One More Time.” She ripped it off halfway through the song to reveal a cheerleader ensemble. Spears then thanked the audience and left the stage. She returned shortly after (wearing a black 2 piece jumpsuit imprinted with orange flames) to perform “Oops!… I Did It Again”, that included an extended dance break after the 2nd chorus, pyrotechnics and other special effects. She ended the performance disappearing through a tunnel of fire.

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Reception

The show received generally positive reviews from critics. Andrew Miller of The Pitch stated “[the concert] at Sandstone proved that many [of Spears’s] criticisms are off-base observations from people who have never actually attended one of these stars’ shows. The music came from a talented band, not a DAT, and the bass lines to such songs as “… Baby One More Time” and “The Beat Goes On” rose to a funky growl in the live setting. For another, Spears’ vocals were the real thing, as she sang in an alluringly low tone […] but capably hit the high notes […], however, she left the upper-octave duties to her background singers […] during Spears’ most strenuous dance routines”. Richard Leiby of The Washington Post believed that the show “[was] great”. Dan Aquilante of the New York Post said that Spears “seemed to be enjoying the show as much as her fans. Maybe it was the Mariah-like cowboy hat pushed back on her noggin or possibly the stripper’s pole borrowed from Madonna’s prop closet, […] Spears was in her element and having a ball”. Letta Tayler of Newsday said “For half the show, she remained the old Britney, the budding teen who dreamed of romance. But the rest of the time, she was a full-throttle tease, with sprayed- on clothes, a hard-edged attitude and a harder edge to her techno and hip-hop- coated pop to match”.

Jon Pareles of The New York Times stated “What you get from this 18-year-old singer is a big smile, a little voice, gushes of sincerity, hardworking dance routines, shameless advertising and a determination to play both sides of pubescence for all they’re worth”. Jim Farber of New York Daily News commented that “Despite such spicy bits, the core of Britney’s concert suffered from the familiarity and cheesiness of all teen road shows these days. The sparklers, explosions and mandatory flying dancers conformed to the corniness of theme park entertainment”. The ticket prices were set at $32 in North America. The reported dates averaged $507,786 in grosses and 15,841 in attendance. Susanne Ault of Billboard also reported that many of the shows sold out in one day. The tour had a total gross of $40.5 million. It became the tenth highest-grossing tour of the year in North America, as well as the second highest grossing tour by a solo artist, only behind Tina Turner’s Twenty Four Seven Tour. Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel analyzed Spears to emulate “a lot of Janet Jackson’s old concert act and cleaned it up for a younger audience”, also noting choreography resembling “Rhythm Nation” precision.”

Broadcasts

On November 30, 2000, the September 20 concert at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans aired on Fox. The special was titled There’s No Place Like Home. The show at London Arena was filmed and broadcast by Sky1. The show at Rock In Rio in Brazil was broadcast on DirecTV.

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Tour Dates

 

Date City Country Venue
North America
June 20, 2000 Columbia United States Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 21, 2000 Hartford Meadows Music Theatre
June 23, 2000 Darien Center Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
June 24, 2000 Hershey Star Pavilion
June 25, 2000 Scranton Montage Mountain Performing Arts Center
June 27, 2000 Wantagh Jones Beach Theater
June 28, 2000
June 29, 2000
June 30, 2000
July 2, 2000 Holmdel Township PNC Bank Arts Center
July 3, 2000
July 4, 2000 Bristow Nissan Pavilion
July 5, 2000 Camden Blockbuster-Sony Music Entertainment Centre
July 7, 2000 Tinley Park Tweeter Center
July 8, 2000 Milwaukee Marcus Amphitheater
July 9, 2000 Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 10, 2000
July 16, 2000 Maryland Heights Riverport Amphitheatre
July 17, 2000 Bonner Springs Sandstone Amphitheater
July 19, 2000 Dallas Starplex Amphitheatre
July 20, 2000 San Antonio Alamodome
July 21, 2000 Woodlands Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
July 22, 2000
July 27, 2000 Albuquerque Mesa del Sol Amphitheater
July 28, 2000 Phoenix Blockbuster Desert Sky Pavilion
July 29, 2000 Irvine Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 30, 2000 Inglewood Great Western Forum
July 31, 2000
August 1, 2000 Concord Chronicle Pavilion
August 3, 2000 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena
August 4, 2000 Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena
August 5, 2000 San Bernardino Blockbuster Pavilion
August 6, 2000 Wheatland Sacramento Valley Amphitheatre
August 8, 2000 Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre
August 10, 2000 Portland Rose Garden Arena
August 11, 2000 George The Gorge Amphitheatre
August 12, 2000 Vancouver Canada General Motors Place
August 14, 2000 Salt Lake City United States Delta Center
August 21, 2000 Burgettstown Post-Gazette Pavilion
August 22, 2000 Toronto Canada Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
August 23, 2000 Montreal Molson Centre
August 24, 2000 Geddes United States New York State Fair Grandstand
August 25, 2000 Atlantic City Etess Arena
August 28, 2000 Mansfield Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts
August 30, 2000 Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 31, 2000 Cleveland Gund Arena
September 1, 2000 Knoxville Thompson–Boling Arena
September 2, 2000 Noblesville Deer Creek Music Center
September 3, 2000 Columbus Polaris Amphitheater
September 9, 2000 Orlando TD Waterhouse Centre
September 10, 2000 West Palm Beach Coral Sky Amphitheatre
September 12, 2000 Raleigh Alltel Pavilion
September 13, 2000 Charlotte Blockbuster Pavilion
September 14, 2000 Virginia Beach GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater
September 15, 2000 Burgettstown Post-Gazette Pavilion
September 17, 2000 Nashville AmSouth Amphitheatre
September 18, 2000 Atlanta Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre
September 20, 2000 New Orleans New Orleans Superdome
Europe
October 10, 2000 London England Wembley Arena
October 11, 2000
October 12, 2000
October 13, 2000 Manchester Manchester Evening News Arena
October 14, 2000
October 17, 2000 Bremen Germany Stadthalle Bremen
October 18, 2000 Ghent Belgium Flanders Expo
October 19, 2000 Dortmund Germany Westfalenhallen
October 20, 2000 Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle
October 22, 2000 Barcelona Spain Palau Sant Jordi
October 24, 2000 Milan Italy FilaForum di Assago
October 25, 2000 Zürich Switzerland Hallenstadion
October 26, 2000 Munich Germany Olympiahalle
October 28, 2000 Kiel Ostseehalle
October 29, 2000 Berlin Max-Schmeling-Halle
October 30, 2000 Hanover Preussag Arena
November 1, 2000 Leipzig Messehalle
November 2, 2000 Frankfurt Festhalle Frankfurt
November 4, 2000 Arnhem Netherlands GelreDome
November 7, 2000 Gothenburg Sweden Scandinavium
November 8, 2000 Oslo Norway Oslo Spektrum
November 9, 2000 Stockholm Sweden Stockholm Globe Arena
November 10, 2000 Copenhagen Denmark Valby-Hallen
November 13, 2000 Cologne Germany Kölnarena
November 14, 2000 Paris France Zénith de Paris
November 20, 2000 Birmingham England NEC Arena
November 21, 2000
South America
January 18, 2001 Rio de Janeiro Brazil City of Rock
  • July 26, 2000 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Denver, USA — Cancelled due to Production difficulties

Box office

  • June 24 — 28,701 / 28,701 (Attendance) – $1,014,096 (Revenue)
  • June 27-28-29-30 —  56,550 / 56,550 (Attendance) – $2,055,861 (Revenue)
  • July 21-22 — 25,916 / 25,972 (Attendance) – $912,149 (Revenue)
  • July 30-31 — 25,756 / 29,000 (Attendance) – $977,849 (Revenue)
  • August 11 — 20,000 / 20,000 (Attendance) – $814,630 (Revenue)
  • September 18 — 18,254 / 18,954 (Attendance) – $596,110 (Revenue)