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LA Live Tree Lighting with Britney Spears was 'Uninspired'

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From left to right, comedian Adam Carolla, singer Britney Spears, LA councilwoman Jan Perry, and mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

There certainly was something to be celebratory about last night--the billions invested into LA Live is quite an accomplishment. The naysayers will say it's another Universal City Walk and the cheerleaders will call "the future." For those in the middle, it will be a pleasant technological and flashy place to visit and take friends and enjoy every once in awhile. That said, after speaking to people about last night's LA Live tree lighting ceremony, words such as "uninspired" and "boring" were mentioned more than once. They were also not too thrilled with how unimpressive the tree was (see a photo below)

"I’ve been telling anyone who will listen that they made a mistake by not having a real Christmas tree to offset all the concrete, glass, and flashy advertisements of L.A. Live," sounds off Jason Burns at LA MetBlogs. "But, it’s part of a 7-minute holiday multi-media light show, they said. What could go wrong? Nothing, if you like a botched countdown and a 'tree' that just changes colors to music. I think you can buy those at Target."

He continues:

Los Angeles missed another opportunity tonight. It could have begun an annual tradition rivaling the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center. It could have given the network reason to broadcast the event nationwide and show L.A. in a moment of festive glory. Get Kanye up there rocking a remake of Christmas in Hollis. Let the Foos do another orchestral masterpiece. Invite the Pussycat Dolls to do… whatever it is that they do. Tonight, we witnessed something cheesy, fake, and lacking in that old holiday magic. What we got, was your parents’ old aluminum tree with the color wheel, and a joint visit from all your boring aunts & uncles.

He does bring up excellent points. This is Los Angeles after all and we are constantly pointing to our city's talent. So where were they last night? AEG, the main force in organizing last night's event, is the same parent company that puts on Coachella. What went wrong? Maybe it's first year jitters. So next year, we better have something that can compete with New York City or Mayor Villaraigosa can stop calling this a world class city.
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Photo by Eric Richardson/blogdowntown

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