Britney Spears gets 'thumbs down' Down Under

Poor Britney Spears. Just when the pop star gets her personal life together, leave it to those hateful Australians to give her a complex over her live shows.

"Hundreds of fans stormed out of the Burswood Dome concert -- some as early as three songs into her set -- furious with her lacklustre performance," Perth Now reports as Spears continues her Circus tour in Australia. "One security guard said he had never seen so many people walk out of a concert."

Hmmm, maybe there's more to Australia than Outback Steakhouse, Paul Hogan and really big cans of Foster's beer.

"Barmaid Amanda Hawlet, 22, drove two hours from her home town of Northam, and spent nearly $500 on her weekend to see Spears. She left little more than half an hour into the action," the paper said. 

"I want my money back or I want her to sing properly," Hawlet told the reporter.

Sing properly?!? She did know it was a Britney Spears concert she bought a ticket for, right?

"Britney is aware of all this and she's extremely upset by it," tour promoter Paul Dainty said Monday, according to a report on PopEater.com. "She's a human being. I'm embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting."

What's inaccurate ... the part of the lip-syncing? The Australian government even addressed the issue last week, issuing a statement to ensure fans knew what a Brit-Brit show was like.

"It is Britney's 'prerogative' to lip-sync, and it is my job to make sure consumers know what they are paying for up front," the nation's minister for fair trading in New South Wales said in an an official government statement.

Wow. We love all the drama. And common sense! Why can't the U.S. be more like Australia?

[Times file photo: Luis Santana]