live @ Merriweather Post 9.17.2000
Perhaps it was the first chattering rush of cool Autumn air, or the big-but-not-sold-out crowd, or maybe the despite-the-Best-New-Artist-Grammy-I’m-still-in-Britney’s-shadow status of the show’s star, but the atmosphere at Christina Aguilera’s Merriweather Post Pavilion show Saturday night was a few volts short of electric.
There were all the requisite hallmarks of a (pre) teeny-pop Event, to be sure: five-dollar glowsticks, deafening squalls of shrieking whenever the headliner’s name was uttered, and stone-faced parental units trudging behind troupes of preteens. (“These seats are so tight!!” ---as in really good, or something--- came a shriek as one gaggle found their chairs, and they hugged in delighted conformation.)
Christina and her dancers (both expertly portayed in multi-angles on video screens the remainder of the night) kicked things into overdrive as she began with a reworked version of “Genie In A Bottle”, and though the slower arrangement worked, it revealed the midriff-bearing, platinum-blonde, former Mousketeer’s curious dilemma: how to please a preteen, prepared-pop-hungry audience when she clearly wants to use her big, brassy voice to focus on more adult interests?
She settled for a half-successful compromise, which nonetheless atoned for her awful performance at Nation last December. “You may be introduced to something new tonight” Christina counseled before belting Etta James’ smoky blues “At Last”, and time and again the themes of songs like “Don’t Make Me Love You” didn’t mesh with the 19-year old’s suggestive pouts, just as “When You Lay Your Hands On Me” seemed incongruous with her innocent, peppy handclaps. And “Mi Reflejo”, her brand-new Spanish-language album, went strangely unmentioned.
The ballads “A Love For All Seasons” and “I Turn to You” (which Christina gushingly dedicated to “all of you who have made it such a great year”--- and have called MTV’s “Total Request Live”, no doubt) were much better: her voice was free to soar and improvise, creating the show’s best moments.
Ms. Aguilera would do well to learn from opener’s Destiny’s Child, who, despite being confined to a sliver of stage in front of Christina’s props, delivered a sassy and confident set. The trio’s intentions were crystal clear, and led by the vivacious Buoyancy Knowles, they stomped through crackling versions of “Bug a Boo”, “Say My Name” and “Jumping Jumping” as well as a surprisingly effective cover of the Commodores’ “Sail On”.
Christina had a cover surprise tucked inside her bell-bottomed hip huggers too, a wooden version of Free’s “All Right Now”, which was helped by a pair of young fans who were led onstage to add some tambourine playing. Christina was unfazed when, after asking their names, one of them answered that hers was...oops!...”Britney”! The evening was like that, though, a semi-awkward spectacle that never seemed to completely coalesce. Following “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)” the stage went dark and fans seemed unsure if the show was over, they should yell for an encore, of if the chilly air had frozen them. Yelling was the desired option, and despite less-than-rapturous applause, Christina returned for “What A Girl Wants”. What should be more interesting than her uneven show, however, is where Christina, easily the most gifted “puberty popper”, takes her career next. Will she continue on the teeny pop gravytrain or try for what the girl seems to want: a role as grown-up, Mariah Carey-esque artist?
Washington Post, September 2000
