Fuming fans ditch Britney Spears concert tickets on eBay

If I paid for a live performance, I want to hear a live performance. If I want to hear the song the way it sounds on the radio, I'll turn on the radio. For free.

I'm with Dave on this. However, before I even get to that point - if they have to have a massive dance spectacle to keep you entertained, and there are no instruments on stage, then it's not about music at all and I won't bother. The reason they can't entertain you with music on stage is the same reason they don't entertain me with the songs on the radio - it sucks.

That said, this is not a Britney phenomenon. One of the biggest and longest running music tv shows in the UK, Top of the Pops, has never allowed artists to play live. If I remember correctly, event the Beatles mimed on that show.

I reckon if it says live, it is live. If it's not, then they must tell you, call it a simulated performance or something - I am sure the marketers will come up with a better name than me!

Bands like Yes are all about the music. Even if most of them were ugly, you didn't care, because you were listening to their amazing musicianship. Britney and her ilk are about the t and a. Nobody REALLY gets into manufactured pop! Britney most likely can NOT sing live. Like so many female artists, their voices are filtered and electronically enhanced. They are chosen for their bodies, not their ability.

This is why I don't really have any female artists in my music collection, except Heart, for instance. MOST of them are just there for the pole dancing. lol

Need to add some Benatar to that collection.

Heart freakin rocks. It took me a few to learn to play the intro to Crazy On You. That's the stuff! I play and my wife sings, so I have both Benetar and Heart in there. Even Grace Slick with White Rabbit. What a great song.

I agree with Dave, and have to add that a large part of the reason a lot of these 'artists' don't sing live is because they CAN'T. Look up the live shows of singers in all genres and you'll realize just how AutoTuned most of them are; they just don't have the talent required to sing live, so they rely on dancing and stage shows to distract their audience from realizing it.

Yes, I will give Pat Benatar her props, for sure. Her voice is amazing. If she wrote her own music, then I'm even MORE impressed!!!

I agree about Grace Slick, too. Great voice. My favorite female voice is Annie Lennox. Her music doesn't impress me, but what a voice.

Another female voice I love (although she's not around any more, I don't think) is Tanita Tikaram. Any takers?

For the record, I am not above a spectacle if that's part of the deal. For instance, Pink Floyd put on a show, not just a concert, but the music is (or most likely was) live. Anyone remember Jean Michel Jarre? Certainly, aspects of that were not live, but you knew it was a spectacle and didn't care much for the performance, rather the experience. It was implicit that the show was what it was about, rather than pretending it was a live concert.

If I paid for a live performance, I want to hear a live performance.

And you do get a live performance, just not live singing.

The reason they can't entertain you with music on stage is the same reason they don't entertain me with the songs on the radio - it sucks.

Meh, I'm entertained by a number of pop divas on the radio/iPod. To each, his own, really. If I want to purely enjoy the music at a complex level, I'll turn to classical instrumental pieces or jazz.

Musically, the overwhelming majority of classic rock is complete s--- compared to Beethoven -- any song that's defended using "oh, but you'd think it was awesome if only you listened to the lyrics" (the fallback defense for classic rock from friends of mine) is, in relative terms, musically worthless.

If I want to enjoy music with an exciting melody and energetic beat, I'll scroll to something Gaga-esque or house anthems. Each has its use.

Britney and her ilk are about the t and a. Nobody REALLY gets into manufactured pop! Britney most likely can NOT sing live. Like so many female artists, their voices are filtered and electronically enhanced. They are chosen for their bodies, not their ability.

This is why I don't really have any female artists in my music collection, except Heart, for instance. MOST of them are just there for the pole dancing. lol

Alicia Keys' early works were about the singing. Lady Gaga is pretty darn ugly, especially by pop diva standards -- heck, I'm a big fan even though her fashion sense annoys me and I have yet to see any of her music videos. Shakira's early work was also more heavily focused on singing and not entirely reliant on mesmerizing ass movements.

Also, it's not just female artists who are electronically enhanced.

Do you love it? Do you really love that claim? Or do you hate it? Personally, I'm just being stupid right now. =) I just love it when people sarcastically use hate that way.

Honestly though, a seasoned live performer should be able to tell whether someone really is belting out that high C note honestly whilst doing a triple sow-cow or just faking it with inhumanly possible steady breathing, and the canned, Logic-Pro Auto-Tuned vocals.

Dave-792879--

NO kidding about Broadway, WOW.

Yes, Broadway performers had to sing and dance as well as speak. Their voices had to be heard from the front row all the way up to the cheap seats. Britney wouldn't make it on Broadway.

We don't really like it over here (U.S.), but unfortunately they do it anyway. Every so often at the SuperBowl or some huge event, some singer will get caught lip-synching and get mocked into the ground for it, but so far it hasn't irreparably damaged anybody's career like it should. (Well, actually Ashlee Simpson's lipsynching debacle on SNL seems to have hit her hard, but she didn't have much of a career anyway).

This really isn't a new thing either, sadly. All those boy bands in the 90's were just the same--even before American Idol, so many well-known singers were only famous because they looked good. If a person can't hack it singing live, they don't deserve to be famous. (One artist who actually seems to perform even better live than in the studio is Beth Hart; her shows are her on a stage with her piano and the rest of her band, and her voice is AMAZING. Look her up on YouTube, she's awesome.)

Stevie McMichael--

Oh I do know, I am American, but just currently reside in OZ.

*gasping, and nearly hyperventilating* YOU KNOW BETH HART????????????

I have NEVER met anyone else that knows about her!!!!!

You just made me so HAPPY.

Aside from Hart, watching Tori Amos live is amazing.