The Genie is out of the bottle and fans were definitely happy to be rubbed the right way.  The Cocktail was there as Christina Aguilera kicked off her Liberation Tour in Hollywood, FL Tuesday night, and it was a Divafest from the start!

X-tina opened the show from the top of a platform, delivered by an elevator, wearing a deep red, flowing gown that only a diva could pull off. Actually, her dancers pull it off.  The dress breaks away into several pieces that they use like flags without poles. Sort of a diva’s personal color guard.

Like She Never Left

It’s been a decade since she’s it the road, but there was no rust to knock off. Her voice was hitting notes from the piercingly high to the gravely low, and fans would be tempted to think it’s 2003 all over again.

Of course she’s been on the The Voice and has put out a couple of albums, but Miss Aguilera says the break from the road was to put her kids first, but now Mama needs to get back to work. The crowd roared. Honestly they were like putty in her hands.

Cher & Cher Alike

The show had the feel of a Cher concert. It makes sense, since they starred together in Burlesque a few years ago. Christina, then still a Diva-in-training, likely picked up a few tips from the Queen.

Christina has costume changes, not as many but close to the number that Cher has over an hour and 45 minute show. She also takes frequent breaks, leaving the audience with a video montage or giving her back up dancers a chance to bask in the spotlight.  This allows her to give her voice a much-needed breather.

As we said, she has a ton of range and will be shocked if she’s as vocally nimble on the last night of the tour as she was on the first.

Honestly, we expect the show could be a much bigger production.  Opening night was in a temporary venue with a stage barely big enough to hold a high school production of Our Town. In an arena she could up the production values (which were good but not spectacular) by ten fold.

As the show progressed she went from heavy theatrics and themes to a more basic, stripped down concert that focused on her amazing vocals.  That is great producing: hook ’em with big production numbers then bring it home with the music. X-tina ended the main set with Beautiful, and it lived up to its name and more.

Ain’t No Other Man

She returned after a couple of minutes wearing a gorgeous (and gorgeously hip) wedding gown.  Turns out it was very appropriate.  She brought a couple out on stage and told us there was a “really special surprise happening.”  

Ben Lear and Mike Kontomanolis thanked Christina, then Ben got down on one knee and proposed to Mike. Luckily he said yes.

Mike was a volunteer on her Back To Basics tour. She said he was the Nasty Naughty Boy. But there was no nastiness this night, just nothin’ but love.

If Miss A is in your town, or a neighboring town, and you like two or more of her songs, drop some cash and get a seat!

The Critic’s Cocktail Recommendation

A Dirrty Martini, obviously!

Cheers!