Britney's Concert Explores Who She Is

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/02/2001 at 01:00 PM EST

Britney Spears opened her U.S. concert tour at Columbus, Ohio's Nationwide Arena Thursday night, in anticipation of her third album, "Britney," slated for release Tuesday. The pop princess, 19, initially planned to kick off the tour Oct. 26 in Miami, but that plan was waylaid when she came down with the flu. She then postponed her Washington concert set for Wednesday because of production delays. The Associated Press described the concert, in which Spears was dressed in racy outfits, as having a singular theme: Spears's life as she wrestles with wanting to become a woman but also wanting to remain a girl. "But I'm not a little girl anymore," she told the mostly female crowd. "I'm real happy where I am in my life right now. I'm just trying to find the woman in me." She then sang her new single, "I'm Not A Girl, I'm Not Yet A Woman." Later, she performed a dancing duel with a life-sized video image of herself projected on a giant video monitor. "I think she wants to battle me," Spears, referring to her screen self, told the audience with a wink and a grin. The remainder of the 90-minute concert consisted of a fair amount of Britney's past, including more than a dozen songs, most from her best-selling "Oops! . . . I Did It Again" and her debut album, " . . . Baby One More Time."