Britney Spears is still dreaming. And blowing it up real good.

The 20-year-old pop superstar's pyro-heavy Dream Within A Dream Tour, which first came to Toronto's Air Canada Centre last November, returned to the area last night to play in front of a sold-out crowd at Copps Coliseum.

Like that earlier ACC show, thousands of her screaming, mostly young female fans were treated to plenty of video vignettes, flames, explosions and fireworks. And that was just during the opening song, a rocked-up version of Ooops! .... I Did It Again.

Still, to be fair, it did feel like the explosions had been toned down considerably since their laughable frequency at the ACC show.

Elsewhere, however, it was almost the exact same concert -- right down to the set list.

"What's up Canada?" Spears screamed early in the evening and that was about as original as her stage banter got.

The night was big on costume changes -- anything tight and midriff bearing all the better. Plus add in the aforementioned effects with green laser lights and confetti, and props -- including a rotating wheel platform on which Spears was strapped to, hidden trap doors out of which she would appear and disappear, a giant ballerina jewelry box out of which she emerged to sing Born To Make You Happy, and an elevated moving platform on which she and four dancers performed I Love Rock 'N' Roll.

Oh, and did I mention the non-stop dancing with the ever-strutting Spears and her eight-person troupe making full use of the long catwalk for almost every song?

Just last week, Spears topped Forbes' list of the world's 100 most powerful celebrities, pulling in a cool $70 million in the past 12 months, drawing over 10 cover stories and attracting nearly one million hits on her Web site.

She starred in her first feature role earlier this year, playing a sweet girl who loses her virginity on a road trip with two friends in Crossroads. Spears also made one of the most talked about commercials with a Pepsi ad that aired during the Super Bowl.

Personally, however, there's been more bad news than good.

Last month there was some suggestion Spears might cancel her tour after her mother started divorce proceedings against her father.

And the breakup of Spears and her longtime boyfriend Justin Timberlake of NSYNC earlier this year has also taken its toll on the pop singer.

But she was all smiles last night, singing (lip-synching?) her little heart out for an hour-and-a-half, making sure to include all the familiar songs and trying in vain to keep her beautiful, long, blond hair off her pretty, if sweaty, face.

The only time that Spears let on that life has been personally difficult was when she trotted out a new bluesy song as she sat on a stool beside her piano player in the middle of the circular stage.

"Honestly, a lot of times, I just feel overwhelmed," she said.

Then it was back to the uber hits like the ballads, I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman and Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know.