Why did Britney never performed Criminal ?

[Cheshire-B]

I was wondering, after seeing @Dark.Knight topic about Favorite tour version performance from each single, why Britney never performed Criminal live ? 

We could think that they didn't had time to add it on the Femme Fatale tour but why did it never appeared on the Piece of me tour either ? 

It's not a bad song and if I'm not mistaking the single did pretty well, didn't it ? 

Do you think it has something to do with Jason Trawick being in the video ? It's not my favorite song but I would love to see how she would have done it live.

 

 

[Midnight]

It's probably because Britney doesn't like it I guess.

[Roxxy]

I think Britney just does not identify or relate to that song. 

There's already 2 ballads on the FF tour. She mentioned during the Oops era that her favorite from the album was Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know. She also mentioned in a Femme Fatale promo interview that one of her favorites from the album was He About to Lose Me. I don't think Criminal was ever her favorite and that might be why it was never considered for any show setlist, post era. 

[Mxra]

I personally just can't imagine what type of choreography would work with that song, especially as she'd be most likely just dancing.   So the answer might just be as simple as it wouldn't be very fun to perform. 

[Silhouette]

At the time it was released they had been cutting so much stuff from the show, like songs, parts of the stage, props etc. so I can't imagine them being in the mood for rehearsing a new number, and then it didn't make much sense to have it on POM because it's not her most impactful song and she probably didn't like it that much (like most of the Femme Fatale songs). It would be really interesting to see her performing it though, I can imagine it being a very theatrical number with her and her dancers bringing the story of the song to life and doing some small choreography during the choruses 

[Roxxy]

8 minutes ago, Silhouette said:

and then it didn't make much sense to have it on POM because it's not her most impactful song

So Boys was impactful huh. 

[Silhouette]

4 minutes ago, Roxxy said:

So Boys was impactful huh. 

It seems to have impacted HER as she's done it in all of her tours so 

[Roxxy]

1 minute ago, Silhouette said:

It seems to have impacted HER

Ok, tea. I'll take it. 

[Blackout2006]

15 minutes ago, Roxxy said:

So Boys was impactful huh. 

Spoiler

Boys is one of Britney’s most favorite songs tho

 

[icybaby]

Yes I think it has smth to do with her ex boyfriend being in a video. I also think it just didn't suit the concept of piece of me

[none]

3 hours ago, Midnight said:

It's probably because Britney doesn't like it I guess.

she was excited when she announced it that it'd be the new single though

 

I'm guessing they didn't wanna bother adding a new song on tour (for FF anyway) as they were already scrapping things left and right. For POM I have no idea, maybe what @zenden said

[none]

2 hours ago, Roxxy said:

So Boys was impactful huh. 

didn't you see Freakshow being #1 in all the planets in the solar system? Obviously why Britney performed it

[Roxxy]

4 minutes ago, Dark.Knight said:

didn't you see Freakshow being #1 in all the planets in the solar system? Obviously why Britney performed it

Omg Knighty I forgot about Freakshow. 

[ColdAsFire88]

I feel like it has never been performed because she wasn’t into it. She wasn't into HIAM and she didn’t seem that into IWG. She seemed into TTWE and performed it in POM. Didn’t she cut out IWG during her first POM leg?

[Charlotte_the_Harlot]

3 hours ago, ol123 said:

I personally just can't imagine what type of choreography would work with that song, especially as she'd be most likely just dancing.   So the answer might just be as simple as it wouldn't be very fun to perform. 

Exactly 
It would be ok if she would just sing it live, without dancing, but we know it's not possible 

[BabyBabyBay]

Maybe Jamie didn't want people to think it was about him, Louisiana style 

[lustwecantcontrol]

Well the song honestly should’ve never been a single, it’s boring and wouldn’t translate well into a performance.

 

(Drop Dead) Beautiful should’ve been the final single even though Sabi ruins it! It was one of the best performances on the FF tour and would’ve done well on radio! Up N Down would’ve been a good choice as well, again it was very radio friendly and since casual fans probably didn’t buy the deluxe edition sales for it would’ve done well! 

[Isla]

9 hours ago, Midnight said:

It's probably because Britney doesn't like it I guess.

I don’t think that’s the case. I remember Britney saying in an interview before Femme Fatale was released that Criminal and He About To Lose Me were her two favourite songs from the album, I also remember her saying that she was pleased fans had chosen the song to be the fourth single.

I’m not sure why she has never performed it. The only reason I can think of is it didn’t fit the concept for either the Femme Fatale Tour or POM so it was left off the setlist.

[Cheshire-B]

Well I remember Britney liking the song too, and I don't think it would have been one of the choices of the BS.COM poll if she really didn't liked the song. I think it's very weird she never performed it, even about the "didn't fit the concept" idea, I'm not so sure : It was PERFECT for femme fatale tour, the concept is a criminal woman running away from cops all around the world. 

and about piece of me, I agree that it's harder to imagine it somewhere in the setlist but still, it could have been remixed and blend with another song maybe. 

I think there's some hidden potential for a live performance of this song 

[BritneySpurs]

It's one of her faves from FF and it was a single so I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is that her shows usually only have one ballad these days and she chose DLMBTLTK bc it's her fave song of hers and she hadn't performed it live in nearly a decade at the time of FF Tour. Then for POM she did Everytime bc it's one of her greatest hits and Perfume bc it was new.

I'm not upset that she never performed Criminal - it's a good song but it's not amazing. She certainly has better ballads. She lips them anyway so they're never overly exciting. Plus it wasn't a hit.