Sarah Godfrey of The Washington Post reviewed Christina Aguilera’s concert at Verizon Center in Washington, DC on Monday (April 2), suggesting that the singer’s “voice consistently shakes off all haters.” Godfrey writes, “Her impeccable pitch and tone cushioned her nervy performance of ‘Back in the Day’, where she strutted her little blond self across the stage while claiming to be resurrecting the music of Billie Holiday and Marvin Gaye. Her steamrolling over a vocal sample from ’60s singer Betty Harris on ‘Understand’ might read as disrespectful if she didn’t sound so good doing it.” Read more.

Chad Jones of Inside Bay Area reviewed Christina Aguilera’s show at Oakland’s Oracle Arena Thursday night (March 8). “Though Aguilera had a hand in writing all the songs on her new album, it was hard to distinguish lyrics in her songs,” Jones writes. “Part of that is simply the muddy acoustics of an arena show, and part of it is Aguilera’s style of over-singing. We may not hear distinct words, but we hear the money notes when she adds her cascading ‘hey-yeahs’ and ‘wo-hos.'”

Contributed by ballersfantasy:

I just got back from the Christina Aguilera concert in Houston and it was amazing! Danity Kane came out at 7:30 on the dot and performed about five of their songs. Soon after, the Pusycat Dolls came out to sing. They sang ‘Buttons’, ‘Beep’, ‘I Don’t Need A Man’, ‘Stickwitu’, ‘Wait A Minute’ and ‘Don’t Cha’. They also took it back with a little taste of how the Pussycat Dolls originally got it started. Carmit did a burlesque version of ‘Fever’. Melody did not perform. The other dolls said she was out sick. Once they were done, old school jazz music played as they prepared the stage for Christina to perform. A little after 9, the ‘Back To Basics’ intro played with a video showing footage of her. She then took the stage with ‘Ain’t No Other Man’. Here are the rest of the songs she sang. They are not in exact order, but I tried…. ‘Back In The Day’, ‘Understand’, ‘Come On Over’, ‘What A Girl Wants’, ‘Makes Me Wanna Pray’, ‘Slow Down Baby’, ‘Still Dirrty’, snippet of ‘Can’t Hold Us Down’, ‘Oh Mother’, ‘Enter The Circus’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Candyman’, ‘Dirrty’, a video played of ‘I Got Trouble’ as she changed, ‘Nasty Naughty Boy’, ‘Hurt’, ‘Lady Marmalade’, a video played of ‘Thank You (Dedication To Fans…)’, ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Fighter.’ The show was very entertaining and had many costume changes, but it flowed very nicely. Her voice was amazing. The highlight of the night was when she picked a member from the audience to tie up and tease while performing ‘Nasty Naughty Boy’. The man she picked was not shy at all and even made Christina laugh during the song and she even commented that he really was a naughty boy. Also, when she sang ‘Oh Mother’, she stopped singing halfway through the first verse and the music kept playing. It was apparent that it was too difficult for her to sing, and she had to pause and compose herself. Over all, it was a wonderful show and I think anyone who goes out will enjoy it.

Contributed anonymously:

Disc two of Christina Aguilera’s “Back to Basics” album is beyond any established standard or criteria for pop music.

The Moulin Rouge-tinged, circus opening is an audio extravaganza that spills seamlessly and theatrically into the first song of the second disc. From there Chris soars into “Candyman,” a vintage, bubblegum riot of a track, which even the most musical elitist of individuals will find hard to resist. The song simply takes you to another world!
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