★★★★☆
Only a fool would arrive at a Christina Aguilera show expecting subtle understatement. Playing her first British tour since lockdown, the 41-year-old New Yorker delivered a full-spectrum Vegas-sized spectacular of breathlessly paced, visually dazzling, ruthlessly efficient entertainment. Right from the opening bubblegum raunch-pop blast of Dirrty, Aguilera was not content with screeching to the converted, making a heroic effort to bludgeon even agnostic fans like this reviewer into having fun. It was exhausting at times, but resistance proved futile.
Aguilera’s core business is old-fashioned, bombastic, crowd-pleasing anthems. In marked contrast to more critically lauded uber-pop divas such as Beyoncé or Lady Gaga, this show was largely devoid of cutting-edge hipster sounds, stridently political messages or sophisticated conceptual trimmings. When the singer belted out