Britney Spears makes UK return

30 September 2016

Britney Spears performed her first UK show in five years on Tuesday (27.09.16) - and it was like she'd never been away.

Britney Spears

The Apple Music Festival has always brought huge acts to London's Roundhouse and pulled out all the stops for this year's 10th anniversary, with the pop superstar being the highlight for many.

The scantily-dressed singer - who last performed in the UK at London's The O2 on her 'Femme Fatale' tour in 2011 - replicated her Las Vegas 'Piece of Me' show with high energy dancers, a hit-packed set and eight costume changes, and she promised the audience at the free event she was going to get "naughty".

During her track 'Freakshow', she even brought a fan out on stage and had him put on a leash and dragged around by her dancers.

The pop beauty opened her set with 'Work Bitch' and went on to perform all of her biggest hits from 'Oops I Did It Again' right through to her song 'Make Me', from her latest LP 'Glory'.

While her hit-laden set was a hit with most fans, including Sam Smith, Rita Ora, Daisy Lowe, Millie Mackintosh and Laura Whitmore, who were all in attendance, Britney did face some criticism for miming during the performance.

Kevin Jones fumed online: "That was dreadful Britney. Miming, out of sync, terrible choreography.""

Adrian O'Farrell added: "It really sucks because I'm such a fan of Britney and her music but she really is a fraud.

"She can't dance or lip sync."

But after the gig, Britney faced her critics and blamed jet lag and a different stage set up for her missteps.

She said: "It was so different from the setup I have in Vegas, so I was thrown off a little bit, and the jet lag... I was kooky the day before. I slept for two hours."

"I was a little spacey because I was kind of out of it because it was so different."

However, she insisted she was singing, not lip-syncing.

She said: "There was a couple of times I went on stage as I was singing. It was scary."

Other performers at this year's Apple Music Festival have included Alicia Keys, Bastille, The 1975 and One Republic, while Chance The Rapper will close proceedings tonight (30.09.16).

For those who were unavailable to catch Britney in person, the show - and the rest of the festival gigs - is available live and on-demand to Apple Music members in 100 countries.

Britney's set list:

'Work'

'Womanizer'

'Break The Ice'

'Piece of Me'

'...Baby One More Time'

'Oops I Did it Again'

'Radar'

'Me Against The Music'

'Gimmie More'

'Scream and Shout'

'Boys'