IN CONCERT: Britney’s Back

Judging from the size of the Verizon Center crowd, thousands of Washington-area concert-goers support a Britney Spears comeback — at least that’s the way it looked Tuesday night when the pop princess brought her Circus tour to the downtown arena.

Fans were certainly in the mood to show Miss Spears some love. They staged sing-alongs outside the venue and also dressed like the star, based on their favorite phase of her career. Some swarmed the merchandise tables, others screamed like horror movie-watchers — and they all shelled out the roughly $40 to $130 for a ticket.

Perhaps a few in the crowd may have been hoping to see a train wreck. It is, after all, just two years removed from the star’s bizarre antics — like inexplicably shaving her head, attacking a sports utility vehicle with an umbrella and earning the title as the worst performer in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards. But these doubters would have been better off finding an Amy Winehouse gig to attend, because the Britney of old was back — and in tremendous shape, by the way.

For 90 minutes, Miss Spears strutted, writhed and bounced around the stage on par with the best of her pop music contemporaries. We won’t talk about her singing, though, since it’s hard to say if she actually did any of it. But she certainly attacked the complex choreography she’d been given and commanded the three-ring circus taking place on stage.

There were dancers, gymnasts, hula hoopers, martial artists, clowns, aerial performers, pyrotechnics and props galore. And when a giant cylindrical screen surrounding the stage wasn’t showing video footage to distract the audience during costume changes, Miss Spears was soaring on a bejeweled umbrella, getting sawed in half by a magician and rocking her way through a good, old-fashioned dance break. Her worst mishap in the whole concert? A toppled top hat.

The performer relied heavily on her newest material, including last year’s successful “Circus” album (which spawned the No. 1 hit “Womanizer”) and 2007’s critically acclaimed “Blackout.” A few oldies but goodies such as her breakout track “Baby One More Time” made the set list, but several of her best-loved tunes, including “Oops!…I Did It Again” and “Overprotected,” were missing. The sold-out crowd didn’t seem bothered by the omissions.

If anyone in the audience was disappointed, it was likely the parents with children in tow, as they quickly realized Miss Spears’ spectacle was a tad bit raunchy for young eyes. (Seriously speaking, who would take their youngsters to this show without having at least an inkling of what they were getting into?) Raunchiness aside, it was a triumphant evening for Miss Spears. Given her troubled past, we don’t know what lies ahead. But for now, at least, she’s in the zone.