The wording of a press release announcing the postponement of Christina Aguilera's August 14 show at US Airways Center struck me:
"Christina Aguilera's Summer Tour Has Been Moved To 2011"
As it's told to us, "due to prior commitments that the singer had made to her film Burlesque and to the promotion of her new album Bionic. The singer felt she needed more time to rehearse the show and with less than a month between the album release and tour date this wasn't possible. New dates will be announced later this year."
This is odd for a few reasons. Traditionally, concerts are how you promote a new album, so saying she has to cancel concerts to promote the album is sort of a Catch 22. Also, this is still three months away. How much rehearsal time could Christina need? Also, Burlesque has started shooting in November 2009 (and is wrapped).
The plot pretty much seems to be a Glitteresque musical. The
plot?
"Ali (Christina Aguilera) is a small-town girl with a big voice who escapes hardship and an uncertain future to follow her dreams to Los Angeles. After stumbling upon The Burlesque Lounge, a majestic but ailing theater that is home to an inspired musical revue, Ali lands a job as a cocktail waitress from Tess (Cher), the club's proprietor and headliner. Burlesque's outrageous costumes and bold choreography enrapture the young ingenue, who vows to perform there one day."
Filing on the movie wrapped in March, so what big "commitments" (other than promotion which, you know, concerts kinda do) could Xtina have? Maybe she'd rather spend more time with her son, perhaps taking some more baby photos to sell for $1 million.
Most likely Christina is using this all as an excuse because the tour was facing disastrous sales. Probably, she's just hoping this new movie and/or album will be a hit so she can actually fill these arenas. Will that happen? I doubt it. I predict this she ends up at Dodge Theatre and similar venues across the country -- if Mariah is playing those rooms even after "Obsessed" I'd say Xtina would be lucky to follow her. She may not want to admit it, but Aguilera is much more comparable to Carey than Lady Gaga at the moment, and that'll be doubly true when her big acting debut gets trashed.
I guess we'll have to wait until "2011" to find out.
