Dream Within A Dream Tour - Concert Synopsis

Concert Synopsis

The show began with a woman dressed in an 18th-century white nightgown who talked to the audience briefly before disappearing. There was a video introduction in which different people told their dreams. At the end of the video, Spears appeared sleeping in a bubble. A platform with a wheel attached rose several feet above the ground, and she appeared strapped to it while wearing a black ensemble. She started rotating in a similar way to a target girl while starting to perform "Oops!...I Did It Again" with her dancers. "(You Drive Me) Crazy" was performed next with Spears captured by her dancers. She left the stage for a costume change while her dancers performed. "Overprotected" was performed next with Spears surrounded by laser lights. The video backdrop showed images of a bald Spears, with her hair growing as the song went along. In the next section, a giant musical box was raised, and Spears emerged from the middle as a ballerina to perform "Born To Make You Happy". She tore off her tutu and put on a long white satin cote to perform "Lucky" while confetti was shot. The medley ended with a performance of "Sometimes" for which she donned a bathrobe.

She returned to the stage wearing a tank top with suspenders and pants for a dance-oriented performance of "Boys". The show continued with "Stronger", in which she wore a paint-covered robe and in some shows a bowler hat. At the end of the performance, she sat down next to a piano player and talked to the audience before moving into a performance of "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman". A video interlude spoofing Making the Band-type shows followed, showing Spears and her dancers as a struggling band. She took the stage again in a barge along with four female dancers to perform "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". The barge was lifted by wires, but pyrotechnics below it made it seem as if it was lifted by fire. When it was above the B-stage, Spears jumped to it with bungee cords. There was a skit in which her dancers chased her before she went into a performance of "What It's Like To Be Me" in the small stage. She returned to the main stage for a performance of "Lonely", in which she danced to a video projection of herself. The dancers and the band performed the "Breakdown" interlude. In "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know", she sang on an elevated platform wearing an evening gown, while two of her dancers performed a routine. Artificial snow fell from the ceiling during the performance.

After a brief interlude, she returned for a performance of "Anticipating" where she wore a patched denim skirt. The set was made of giant coloring book drawings of houses and cars. She took out the costume to sing "I'm a Slave 4 U" in a jungle setting while surrounded by artificial fog and laser lights. After the song ended, she bowed and thanked the audience before exiting the stage. The encore began with a giant projection of a hologram of Spears onto a water screen. The projection gradually shrunk until Spears rose from the stage while wearing a plastic cowboy hat, blue hip-huggers, and a matching bra top. She began performing "...Baby One More Time" in a ballad version until reaching the end of the runway. Pyrotechnics surrounded the stage while the song changed to a more uptempo version with elements of techno. Her dancers took the main stage while she returned to it running through the runway. They jumped on the barge while it was lifted into the air and continued to dance. At the end, Spears jumped off the barge with the bungee cords and landed in the main stage and descended from it.

After the announcement of the 2002 extension of the tour, some changes were made to the setlist. The original mix of "Overprotected" was replaced by the Darkchild remix of the song. "Boys" was replaced by the remix featuring Pharrell while Spears replaced the outfit with suspenders for a black leather top. A new song called "Mystic Man" was added after "Stronger". It was described by Corey Moss of MTV as "similar to, but with a bit more traditional R&B flair, a la Alicia Keys". The song was often replaced with other new songs throughout the tour. Some other changes were also made; the video screens did not have such a prominent role, and the backdrops of "Overprotected" were taken out.