After a whirlwind promo tour of Europe last week/weekend, Britney Spears brought her Circus show to NYC for a couple of live performances on ABC’s Good Morning America this morning. David and I got our asses up bright and early to make our way to Lincoln Center to watch our dear Britney perform live (and I’ll have some of my pics to share later on today) and were on hand to watch the spectacle unfold right before our eyes. Britney’s GMA appearance wasn’t only a birthday celebration … it was also the official launch party for her new album Circus which is in stores TODAY as well as the venue to officially announce the tourdates for her upcoming The Circus starring Britney Spears Tour which will kick off in New Orleans, LA next March. Yeah, there was a lot going on this morning … here are a few pics of Britney’s two performances this morning and some deets about the event overall:

Britney Spears celebrated her 27th birthday Tuesday under the Big Top and before the TV cameras of Good Morning America. Dressed as a ringmaster, Spears made her entrance atop a circus wagon – accompanied by clowns, jugglers and performers dressed as circus animals. For her second number, “Womanizer,” Spears smashed through a fiery hoop. Afterwards, she announced that her concert tour would begin in New Orleans March 3. Then came the cake. The appearance, inside the Big Apple Circus tent within New York’s Lincoln Center, also marked the launch of Spears’s sixth studio album, Circus – her first CD since her 2007 comeback step, Blackout. As Spears announces on the title track (and delivered on GMA), “There are only two types of people in the world, the ones that entertain and the ones that observe.” GMA’s Robin Roberts called Spears’s appearance “our concert event of the year.” Claimed cohost Diane Sawyer about those gathered inside the circus tent, “There are about a gazillion people [here].” Among them: the pop star’s mother, Lynne Spears, and Britney’s two young sons, Preston and Jayden. Interspersed with the promos for Spears’s performance during Tuesday’s GMA were birthday greetings from the likes of Reese Witherspoon, John Travolta, Nicollette Sheridan, Teri Hatcher and PEOPLE’s newly named Sexiest Man Alive, Hugh Jackman – who sang “Happy Birthday” and blew her a kiss. “You look great,” Witherspoon relayed to Spears, “and I hope you have a great day.” Added Taylor Swift: “You have been officially awesome for 27 years.” On Sunday, Spears’s MTV special, Britney: For the Record, which documented some of her personal problems of the past year, was watched by more than 3.7 million viewers, according to the cable music network. Those are high numbers for MTV.

Seriously, this morning’s performances were truly a sight to see. The spectacle was totally worth getting up and out so early for. The production value, which I don’t think translated quite as well on live TV, was phenomenal. I am very much looking forward to seeing what sorts of tricks Britney’s got up her sleeves for her upcoming tour. Wade Robson, who is reportedly directing Britney’s new concert tour, was in the hiz this morning going over last minute touches right before she performed. It was all just very exciting to see her back in action. The crowd was just raucous the entire time … it was a blast. After the jump, check out video of Britney’s performances of Circus and Womanizer …

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Lynne Spears is talkin’ to the press again this week and in a new interview with the UK program Good Morning Television on ITV talks at length about her daughter Britney Spears and some of the trials and tribulations the girl has suffered, only to break thru and emerge happy and healthy once again. Case in point, Britney is set to perform at the Bambi Awards in Germany tonight before she takes her performance promo tour to France (where she will perform on Star Academy), England (where she will perform on X-Factor and reportedly at G-A-Y nightclub) and then New York City (where she will perform on Good Morning America) … then she’s got a documentary, an album, a new music video AND tour to come. Here is a promo pic that was snapped on the set of Brit’s new music video Circus and some excerpts of Lynne’s interview with GMTV:

Lynne Spears certainly has plenty to be thankful for. In the past year, she has watched her famous daughter Britney crawl back from the brink. Just how did the 27-year-old singer rebound from her pair of forced hospitalizations and a long string of erratic behavior, including her quickly annulled Vegas wedding in 2004 and her infamous head-shaving in 2007? “With a lot of love and care and help,” Lynne said Thursday, speaking to the U.K.’s GMTV via satellite from New Orleans. “Sometimes you have to just settle down. You have to stop, think. And there’s a lot of people that care about Britney and love Britney – and Britney’s doing great now.” And while the singer still hasn’t regained custody of her two sons, Lynne had nothing but praise for her daughter’s parenting skills. “Oh she’s a wonderful mother – she’s funny, she’s extremely affectionate,” said the Spears matriarch, who was promoting her memoir, Through the Storm. “[At] home, where there’s nobody around, she’s very normal.” Britney – fresh off the success of her first single, “Womanizer” – is currently in Europe promoting her new album, Circus. And she’s scheduled to go on a worldwide concert tour next year. “I think Britney’s just ready to get started again,” said her mom. “I think this is when she’s most in her element.”

Ready or not (and I sincerely hope she’s ready), here she comes. It all gets underway tonight … Britney will take to the stage at the Bambi Awards for her first live performance since the 2007 MTV VMAs and will set in motion a musical comeback that will (hopefully) set the world on fire and allow her to soar to the heights of success and fame that she once enjoyed back in the day. This week will be a crazy whirlwind for our dear Britney … her schedule is jam-packed with appearances and performances — and we’re about to see if she can pull it off. My heart and my gut tell me that she can, I just hope they’re right. It’s on now, bitches. Can she really do it this time?

[Source, Source]

Woot! As has been heavily speculated in recent weeks, Britney Spears is one step closer to announcing the tour dates for her much-anticipated new world tour. You may recall that back in September Britney announced on Z100 radio in NYC that she is planning to tour next year, then in October we got our first word that she had signed with a concert tour producer to begin work on the show … until today, there has been no announcement concerning tour dates (tho, a new widget was launched last week that is counting down to a “secret” announcement to be made — speculation is that the announcement will entail concert tour dates). BBC News is reporting the first of 2 UK dates next summer that will go on sale December 5, her official website has the deets on the presale for those UK dates. She’s really hittin’ the road, y’all:

Tickets for the dates on 3 and 4 June will go on general sale on 5 December – although fans who register with her website can buy them 24 hours earlier. “It’s going to be very special,” said Rob Hallett of tour promoter AEG. The concert, he said, would take its theme from her latest album The Circus, which is released next week. “We’re creating a musical circus,” he said. “Expect to see jugglers, dancers, tattooed ladies and acrobats.” According to the promoter, the concerts will be Spears’ only dates in Europe “for the foreseeable future”. Spears last performed in the UK in 2004 when her Onyx Hotel tour visited Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and Wembley Arena in London. The 26-year-old will be in the capital this weekend to appear on ITV1 talent show The X Factor. Before that she will travel to Germany to attend the annual Bambi entertainment awards in Dusseldorf. The singer will be named best international pop star after achieving what organisers have called a “stunning comeback from an absolute low point”. “Britney Spears is back,” said host Hubert Burda. “Radiant and better than ever, the erstwhile idol has reclaimed her throne.” In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, the performer admitted she felt “like an old person” now her much-documented troubles are behind her. “I go to bed at, like, 9.30 every night and I don’t go out or anything,” she is quoted as saying. “I just feel like an old fart.” Spears’ mother Lynne, meanwhile, has been telling the BBC how happy she is that her daughter has got her life back on track. “Britney wants to do it right,” she told Radio 5 Live’s Colin Paterson, attributing her recent turnaround to having “good people around her” and “lots and lots of prayer”.

From BritneySpears.com: Want to see Britney perform in London? You came to the right place!!! If you want to join the exclusive pre-sale to see Brit at London’s O2 Arena enter your email and postal code in the module on the upper-right side of our homepage!! You can also text BRITNEY to 81707 to join.

I’m not sure if the txt signup will work for folks outside of the UK but that is the information provided. The BBC report alludes that those who sign up with her official site will be allowed a 24-hour head-start in procuring tickets for next summer’s UK dates. Love it!!! It shant be long before the first US dates are officially announced … Woot!!!

Additionally, a new 30-second preview of Britney’s second music video Circus has been made available online. After the jump, check it out …

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Britney Spears’s new album Circus won’t be available for sale until next Tuesday, December 2 but right now — courtesy of imeem — you can stream the album in full right here on Pink is the new Blog:

Enjoy!! Make sure to post your thoughts in the comments section, I’d love to hear what y’all think of this new album.

Earlier this week Britney Spears surprised a select group of fans by attending an MTV-sponsored screening event for her new documentary Britney Spears: For The Record (which debuts on MTV on November 30) … but was noticeably uncomfortable at the event and ended up leaving early, opting out of taking questions from the audience. On Friday afternoon, Britney and her father Jamie Spears made a surprise visit to the LA County Courthouse reportedly to meet with the judge overseeing her conservatorship case presumably to talk with him about her upcoming plans to promote her new album Circus (ie. her plans for a world tour next year). It would appear that things did not go Britney’s way because the poor dear was seen leaving the courthouse in tears, being comforted by her father as they drove away:

Britney Spears made another cameo in the midst of her comeback – this time at a Los Angeles courtroom. Spears appeared unexpectedly for a hearing in her ongoing power of attorney case. A court spokesman said after the hearing that Spears appeared to give an update on her upcoming album, Circus, and details of her tour and other promotions. Her father, Jamie Spears, has had control over his 26-year-old daughter’s personal and financial affairs since February. The court made the arrangement permanent last month, but Spears can petition to end the arrangement. The court spokesman says she did not make that request. As part of that deal, her father and attorney gained greater control over her professional career. Jamie Spears appeared in court with his daughter and emerged from a courtroom with her after a two-hour closed session. Spears has not appeared in court during months of proceedings, but has been represented by a court-appointed lawyer.

It is absolutely impossible to know what went on in that 2-hour closed session but it would seem that things didn’t turn out the way she had hoped … she really did look upset as she left the court. I understand, tho, that Friday’s meeting with the judge was their first ever … up until that day, Britney and the judge had not met face-to-face. Perhaps the reason for the hearing was so that they could speak one-on-one? In any event, this is the second time this week that Britney looked to be having a rough time with things going on in her life, related to her musical comeback. While I still worry that she might not yet be totally ready for the coming onslaught of media attention that comes with the release of a new album (and world tour!!!), I just hope that she will be able to weather the storm successfully and without incident.

And speaking of that coming onslaught, a new promo poster advertising Britney’s new album Circus (due out on December 2) has been released. After the jump, check it out …

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Britney Spears has launched a new widget today where fans can sign up to be the first to know … a secret:

Now, I have *no idea* what the secret could be but in about 2 weeks, we’ll be finding out so I suggest all y’all Britney fans sign up to be alerted when our dear Britney does make her announcement.

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day for overzealous Britney Spears fans … her new album, Circus, which isn’t due for release until December 2 leaked it’s way onto the Internets yesterday afternoon/evening (you may recall that some images from the CD booklet also leaked this weekend). Apparently, someone got a hold of a promo copy of the album and started to distribute the songs one at a time thruout the evening:

Unfortunately, I cannot divulge where these tracks were leaked to but I’ve been getting lots of emails from Pink readers who have the tracks so the songs are out there. I think it’s important to remind y’all that we all still have to buy the album when it comes out on December 2. This album may be some of Brit’s best work ever and she needs to be rewarded with our money ;) As far as I can tell, every single track from the album — including the bonus songs Rock Me In, Phonography and Amnesia — have been leaked. The only songs that have not been leaked (to my knowledge) are Trouble (the US iTunes exclusive bonus track) and Quicksand (the UK iTunes exclusive bonus track). But, again, I urge y’all to save your pennies for December 2 so that we can all buy the album and make Circus debut in the #1 spot on the Billboard album chart. OH — and don’t forget to sign up for the Britney Secret announcement … I know I’m dying to know what it could be.

Pink reader Tori sends in a bunch of photos of the CD booklet artwork for Britney Spears’s new album Circus (which isn’t due for release until December 2). Here are a couple of the pics that will be included in the booklet … including a close-up of Britney from the album’s backcover photo (which we got to see on Friday):

I do like the top photo … but I’m still a bit creeped out by the backcover photo. I had to cut out the scary-ass little clown, tho. I’m having a hard time with him. After the jump, check out a few more photos from the Circus CD booklet …

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