Britney Spears kicked off her tour in New Orleans night on March 3 .

The troubled pop princess descended from the ceiling of the New Orleans Arena dressed as a ringmaster to perform the title track of her album "Circus".

The tour is Britney's first run of arena shows in nearly five years and featured jugglers, clowns, ninjas and aerial acrobats.

The singer showed off her newly-buff body in a series of slinky, revealing costumes, including thigh-high black boots and a feathered cheetah headdress.

However, Britney lip-synched on almost all her songs.

The Pussycat Dolls warmed up the crowd from 8pm, playing 40 minutes of their hits including "Don't Cha", "When I Grow Up" and "Bottle Pop".

The crowd erupted when Britney appeared onstage at 9.20pm and didn't stop screaming until her encore performance of "Womanizer" 90 minutes later.

She performed "Baby One More Time", "Piece of Me" and "Gimme More" but refused to speak to the crowd until the very end of the show, when she said: "Thank you New Orleans, I love u guys. Did y'all have a good time? Thank you so much."

The tour will take in 25 US dates but there is reportedly already tension brewing between Britney and her ex-husband Kevin Federline, who is being paid ￡3,500 a week to join the singer so she can have their sons Sean Preston, three, and Jayden James, two, by her side.

Kevin had promised to support Britney during her last dress rehearsal on Monday but he abandoned the singer and went to a New Orleans casino with friends.

A source said: "On Monday, when Britney was preparing, you might have thought he would have been at her side with the boys.

"Instead he spent the night in Harrah's Casino, hitting the blackjack tables and knocking back drinks with three pals."

"The Circus Starring Britney Spears" moves to Atlanta March 5.

(China Daily/Agencies March 5, 2009)