Miley Cyrus Concert

This post is also known as "Our LAST Miley Cyrus Concert" or "What the heck happened to Miley Cyrus".......

A couple weeks ago Britt and I took Carlie and her friend to the Miley concert in Birmingham. I had bought tickets back in June. Carlie had been looking forward to the show for months! We had planned on taking Cam, but he bailed on the last day. Britt was a trooper and suffered through for his little princess.

This is Carlie and Lindsey before the show started

I was excited, because we had GREAT seats! By the looks of TicketMaster's diagram, we were right at the stage.

Little did I know that I would be wishing we were on the back row and the back of the arena before it was all said and done!

Then the week of the concert arrived. About two days before the show I saw the video to Miley's "Party in the USA" on Disney Channel. Now, my kids have been listening to that song for a month. It's pretty cute. Talking about her transition to Hollywood, how nervous she was. It's all in all a wholesome song about a girl from Nashville making it big. THEN I saw the video! OH MY GOODNESS! Can someone explain to me the connection between small town girl going to LA and trampy looking girls, scantily clothed, dancing in the bed of a pickup truck? I fail to see the connection.

I guess seeing that should have been my warning. But because we had been so excited about it...not to mention the $400 I dropped on tickets. (Britt was appalled saying "I didn't pay that much to see The Rolling Stones!")

Oh, did I mention this concert was "ticketless"?? Because of the outrageous markups on her last tour, Miley's company did a ticketless ticket. You have to bring the credit card you purchased the ticket with, and all members of your party must enter together. All to prevent ticket scalping. I was afraid it would be a nightmare to get in. But it went surprisingly smoothly. I imagine we will be seeing much more of this in the future. Regardless, I couldn't have sold my tickets if I wanted to.

So....we headed to Birmingham. Now, we had seen Miley on her first tour, two years ago. We went to Memphis to see her in her "Best of Both Worlds Tour". She did half the show as Hannah, and half as Miley. It was a really cute concert. Well choreographed, very entertaining. It almost made up for her lack of talent. She managed to keep both me and my husband and my then 7 year old son interested. Carlie.....was thrilled from start to finish.

We got to the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center (we locals call it the BJCC). But we were purposely late. See, Miley's brother's band MetroStation was opening for her. I didn't know but one song they sing. That "Shake it" song, and I knew that would be last. So when we got there Metro had already started their set. We went down to find out seats. Sure enough. Right at the corner of the stage. They were the best seats I've ever had at a concert. I hate that we wasted that good fortune on this concert however!

Metro Station weren't quite as far into their set as I had hoped, but I decided to grin and bear it. Britt however, volunteered to go get us snacks and t-shirts! ha! Then MS started their next song, there was a long drawn out dedication then the song started with the lyrics "I like to get high and play" and of course Miley's brother Trace had to pretend he was holding a joint to his lip when he said "get high". I told the girls I needed to go to the restroom, and quickly ushered them out of the arena!

And as a parent of a 7 year old girl I just couldn't, in good conscience, sit in there allowing her to hear that. We took just short of forever in the restroom then slowly meandered back to our seats. Much to my chagrin MetroStation was STILL on the stage. They were doing their last song when we sat back down. I was relieved that the horror was over, or so I thought. Then, Trace pulled his shirt off revealing his millions of tattoos.....

Now my girls may not have heard the "get high" song, but they definitely SAW this! I could hear mothers sitting around me commenting about him and this band. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one shocked and appalled! After MetroStation finished people all around us were talking about "Why in the world did they let THEM open for her!" I couldn't agree more! Right now, Miley's target market is 6-12 year old girls! MetroStation's target couldn't be further from that demographic!!! It was absolutely disgusting.

The only thing I can figure out is that Miley and her dancers' trashy clothing and suggestive dancing doesn't seem quite as revolting after you've subjected yourself to a nearly naked, tattoo covered, strung out looking, guy who is singing about smoking pot!!

Then Miley came out after several minutes of shrill screams and girls chanting her name...

Here's Carlie either screaming for Miley or showing me what I looked like on the inside while MetroStation performed.

Miley's entrance was full of drama. The screen let us know that we were supposedly on the moon. Then Miley appeared frozen in a chunk of ice. But we all know that isn't real, because she would've died of hypothermia within seconds considering she was nearly naked.

Oh wait...she did have on a shawl.

The show was highly entertaining. Miley rarely, if ever, had more than a tanktop and panties. I didn't want Carlie thinking it was ok, or that teenagers should dress like that so I told Carlie it was like her ballet leotard. "Miley had to wear outfits like that so she could dance. Miley wouldn't never have on anything that short if she was going somewhere, because it's not ok to dress like that." I hope she bought it.

Miley at the front of the stage. The first of many times she would squat toward the audience. Atleast this time she kept her legs together......I think this was the only time.

The back up dancers looked like absolute trash the whole time. I wish I could say that nicer, but I just can't. It's one thing to wear leotard-esque clothing so you can dance and move, but when did it become necessary to wear torn fishnets or lingerie at a concert targeting children?

Each of The Wiggles may as well start wearing nothing but a red, purple, yellow, or blue thong!

Miley's shorter version of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" dress.
See the back up dancers' costumes?

This was the one costume that left something to the imagination. I was thrilled when afterward Carlie said this was her favorite!

As bad as the costumes were, they were not the worst part. The suggestive dancing done by Miley and her dancers was shocking! If Miley squatted like a pole dancer once, she did it two dozen times. It was revolting. She is a 16 year old child!! The back up dancers were as bad if not worse! At one point, Miley sang a slow song I didn't know. A boy and girl dancer did a somewhat ballet number behind Miley. During that song a friend of mine, who was also at the concert with her 9 year old, text me and said "HIDE THEIR EYES!" The dancing was overtly sexual. And just completely unnecessary.

This was taken as Miley was about to sing a cover of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock n' Roll".

She sat on a Harley and was lifted up and circled the audience.

The low point came during the song G.N.O (Girls Night Out). Miley and the girl dancers had on construction worker gear. They were each carrying saw horses. When they got to the front stage they danced around the saw horses, leaning over them and each doing the equivalent of a lap dance. It was more than disturbing. Then when you thought it couldn't get any sleazier, they went back to the main stage and ropes dropped from the ceiling. Each girl and Miley proceeded to do a full out pole dance, grinding up and down the ropes. There is no picture for that. I was too far into shock to take a picture.

I was so glad when the show finally ended. Apparently many other parents were too. The general consensus of chatter as we left the arena was disappointment and disgust. People were talking about her dancing and wardrobe as we were walking out of the arena, and as we walked to the parking deck, and in the elevator, and in the parking garage. Everywhere we went someone had something negative to say about her.

Then day after the concert I talked to several of my friends who took their daughters. Each and every one of them regretted taking their children to see it. I joked and said "I don't remember Debbie Gibson or Tiffany being this trampy!" But it's true.

It's really sad that Miley has gone this route, and so quickly. We saw her in concert in November 2007 in Memphis. She had just turned 15. Her concert was excellent. And full of screaming, adoring young girls, who looked to her as a role model. Now she dresses like a streetwalker and performs like an exotic dancer. I would be willing to bet that more than half of the people who were at this concert won't go to another one. My guess is that Miley is trying to get away from the tween idol persona. I'm sure she wants to be seen as "a serious artist", but why bite the hand that feeds you?

So be warned if you have tickets to her show in your city. This ain't no episode of Hannah Montana you are going to see. She puts on a show that you would expect to see from "P!nk" or maybe Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera. Artists you would expect to have more mature audiences. Artists I doubt people would drag their kindergartners to see.

The bottom line is this....had this concert been a movie, you would have to be atleast 17 years old to see it. Unfortunately, the arena was packed with girls under the age of 12. And one of them was mine.