Circus (Britney Spears Album) - Promotion - The Circus Starring Britney Spears

The Circus Starring Britney Spears

While performing on Good Morning America on December 2, 2008, Spears announced her fifth worldwide concert tour, titled The Circus Starring Britney Spears. She first revealed the first leg of 25 dates in the US and two in the UK. Her longtime manager, Larry Rudolf stated that the tour would "blow people's minds and promises to show Britney's fans something they will never forget", later adding, "she goes full-speed the whole show — about an hour and a half. It's pretty intense. This is a full-blown, full-out Britney Spears show, It is everything everybody expects from her — and more!" Spears also expressed excitement in including songs from Blackout into the setlist, as she did not tour to promote it. The tour began on March 3, 2009 in New Orleans' New Orleans Arena and finished in Adelaide's Adelaide Entertainment Centre. There were four legs of the tour, visiting North America twice, and others being Europe and Australia. The stage was composed of three rings and set in-the-round to resemble an actual circus. Fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten created the costumes. A giant cylinder screen was set above the stage to showcase videos and backdrops. Effects were provided by Solotech. The set list was composed generally from her albums In the Zone, Blackout and Circus. In June 2009, Britney announced she would tour Australia for the first time; she was also rumored to tour South America, though her manager Adam Leber denied this despite their efforts to do so.

Controversy arose during the Australian leg of the tour after several fans walked out of the performances due to Spears's alleged "lip-synching"; such claims were later denied by Spears's management and promoters. The tour was ranked as the fourth highest grossing tour of the year in North America, becoming the highest grossing tour of the year by a solo artist. In February 2010, Pollstar released their Top 50 Worldwide Concert Tours of 2009. The tour ranked as the fifth highest-grossing tour, worldwide, of the year, with a gross of $131.8 million. In May 2010, Hollyscoop ranked the tour at the fifth position in their 15 Most Profitable Female Tours Ever list.