Britney Spears tells critics read my lips: it's for fans

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Britney Spears has a message for the critics who savaged her performance during her first tour of Australia -- it's all for the fans.

Spears' manager and tour promoter rushed to defend the U.S. pop singer after it was reported that people walked out of her first Australian performance last weekend, describing it as boring, stiff, mimed and lacking interaction with the audience.

Now Spears, 27, whose is rebuilding her career after a high profile meltdown and roller-coaster personal life, has responded to the furor.

"I hear there is a lot of controversy in the media about my show," said Spears in a widely reported statement.

"Some reporters have said they love it and some don't. I came to Australia for my fans."

The promoter of Spears' Australian tour, Paul Dainty, earlier this week said the criticism about Spears lip-synching and a lackluster performance had left her "extremely upset" and it was a total fabrication to suggest that fans stormed out.

He added that it was well known that part of Spears' circus-themed concert was lip-synched as the singer danced her way through the spectacular show that promotes her sixth studio album "Circus."

Spears has been at the center of a debate over lip-synching since she arrived in Australia last week.

The Fair Trade Minister for the state of New South Wales, Virginia Judge, called for concert tickets to carry disclaimers about whether parts of concerts were pre-recorded and mimed.

Thousands of Australian fans flooded Spears' personal website and Twitter account to congratulate her on her comeback, describing her performances as "amazing," "awesome" and "brilliant."

Her manager Adam Leber used Spears' Twitter account on Thursday to post a link to a rave review for Spears' latest concert on Wednesday night in the city of Melbourne.

"Britney rocked it in Melbourne last night! And for the controversy, take a look at this!" he wrote.

Spears' tour of Australia ends in Adelaide on November 29.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Miral Fahmy)