Britney Spears kicked off the UK leg of her Circus tour at The 02 arena in Greenwich last night to the delight of her fans.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton introduced the star, who descended from the rafters in a circus hoop.

Dressed as a ringmaster in a sequinned hat, blazer, fishnet tights and knee high boots, she opened with her current hit Circus.

She's done it again: Britney Spears burst back into the limelight at The 02 after several years in the pop wilderness

She then leapt into a cage and shed the blazer to sing her hit Piece Of Me.

The star looked to have shed the pounds she piled on over the past two years, showing off a tanned and toned midriff as she performed Radar in a jewelled bra and shorts.

The mother-of-two looked healthy rather than super skinny like younger artists such as Girls Aloud.

Fans loved the grand theatrical production, which saw unicycles, Miss Spears sawed into pieces in a magician's style box, and clowns.

But her at times her singing voice was lost in the theatrics.

The star shouted to the audience: 'What's up London. I am so happy to be here tonight.'

Ringmaster: Britney incorporated the circus theme throughout her performance

The stadium audience was on their feet cheering as she belted out crowd favourites Toxic and a 1990's hit Hit Me Baby One More Time.

Miss Spears left the stage in a blaze of smoke before returning five minutes later for the encore.

She played an extended version of Womanizer dressed as a sexy policewoman.

The singer ended her gig in a blaze of confetti and fireworks.

Daily Mail review

Her life has often appeared to be something of a freak show, but Britney Spears put her troubles behind her last night as she opened her European tour with a wonderfully theatrical concert with a Big Top theme.

Billed as The Circus Starring Britney Spears, it was a relentlessly high octane and superbly choreographed affair that delighted 23,000 fans.

The 27-year-old superstar's fortunes had appeared to be on the wane two years ago, with her singing career increasingly overshadowed by a messy divorce, a stint in rehab and a custody battle for her two young children.

Scantily clad: The singer showed no sign of the extra pounds she had been sporting lately

But, musically at least, things have since looked up dramatically.

With her affairs now handled by her father the singer's last two albums, Blackout and Circus, have re-established her credentials.

Moving away from the bubblegum tunes of her teen years, the Louisiana-born singer has skilfully repositioned herself as a grownup diva who leans heavily towards electronic dance music and modern R&B.

This show, the first of eight in London and one in Manchester, capped what has been a remarkable comeback.

Presented in the round, with three circular stages positioned amid flashing lights in the middle of the arena, it afforded every member of the largely female audience an excellent view of proceedings.

It was certainly a vast improvement on 2004's Onyx Hotel tour.

The opening salvo focussed heavily on songs from Blackout and Circus.

The show had been proceeded by a video introduction from Hollywood gossip columnist Perez Hilton, in which Spears was billed as 'the mistress of ceremonies'.

Dressed as a ringmaster in a black top hat and red tails the singer made a grand entrance, descending into the hall from above, suspended in a harness.

She then sang the title track from Circus before launching into another recent hit, Piece of Me.

Cheeky: Britney looked tanned and toned during her dance routines

For this song, a bikini-clad Britney was paraded around the three stages while gyrating in a gilded cage - a metaphor, surely, for a life lived in the spotlight.

Surrounded by scantily-clad dancers, a blonde Britney looked trimmer than of late as she lifted the audience out of their seats dancing to her third song, Womaniser.

The show, which took some inspiration from recent tours by Madonna, placed visual values on a par with musical content although the majority of the fans seemed more than happy with this.

Britney might possess a breathless, raspy voice with an appealing Southern twang on record, but she has never been one of pop's more stunning singers on stage.

Her dance moves, too, were so energetic that it was sometimes difficult to assess whether all of her vocals were fully live.

But those dance moves were mostly brilliantly realised: one song, Boys, featured her interacting with a troupe of MBX cyclists; another, Me Against the Music, boasted a thrilling Arabian Nights theme.

While the show concentrated predominantly on recent hits there was room at the end of the show for old favourites Toxic and Baby One More Time.

Only the foolhardy would predict that Spears' offstage problems have all been consigned to history. But on the evidence of the spectacular witnessed in Docklands last night she is currently staging one of pop's most remarkable comebacks.

Seemingly against the odds, Britney has done it again.

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Britney Spears at the O2 arena

Pete Paphides