Britney Spears [ tickets ] took her first steps toward resuming her music career Tuesday night (5/1) in San Diego, performing her first public concert in nearly three years.

The embattled singer--who has come under scrutiny in recent months following her divorce from dancer/rapper Kevin Federline and her subsequent rehab stint in Malibu, CA, for an undisclosed substance abuse problem--appeared on stage only briefly, working her way through four of her earlier hits during a set that lasted only a little over 15 minutes, according to some observers.

The show, which took place at San Diego's House of Blues, was kept under a shroud of secrecy until an hour after the club's doors opened, when a DJ mentioned the singer's name, according to a CNN.com report. Rumors of Spears' appearance had spread across the Internet in recent days, prompting a run on tickets by the singer's fans, some of whom paid upwards of $125 on the chance that Spears would perform, according to the website.

According to various news reports, the 25-year-old mother of two emerged onstage wearing go-go boots, a miniskirt, and a sparkly pink bra top, with a long brown wig covering the head she famously shaved in February. Spears reportedly kicked off her set with her first big hit, "Baby One More Time," lip-synching that song and three others before closing the brief show.

"It wasn't a good move for her career," Mackenzie Trimble told website SignOnSanDiego.com after the show. "When you come out and do four songs and lip-sync ... that's not what Britney fans came to see."

Not everyone in attendance was disappointed with Spears' performance. "After everything she's been through lately, I think we all had low expectations and she way exceeded them," Weston Louis Arlich, 24, told MTV.com.

Spears' last concert tour was in 2004. In a posting earlier this year on her website, the singer told her fans that she planned on making a comeback.

"I look forward to coming back this year bigger and better than ever," Spears wrote in January.