Shania Twain began the UK leg of her Queen of Me tour as she meant to carry on – with equal doses of glamour, eccentricity and accessibility, being wheeled through the crowd in a raised trolley, pressing the flesh with her fans, radiant in fabulous shades, swing bob and stylish coat. She looked immaculate and sounded manicured on the Taylor Swiftish Wake Up Dreaming.
Meanwhile, on the stage her face was plastered onto an animated rocket about to launch the latest Shania party. Coat cast off, she manifested in a denim mini dress with patches referencing her song titles (a customised gift from a fan). Minutes later, she was astride a Harley Davidson for no good reason but hey! this is the queen of the exclamatory song title so we’ll let it ride.
Twain contended that this tour was the most fun she had ever had on stage; the various kooky elements were entertaining and in keeping with her mostly frothy commercial country sound but the banal music dragged down the energy levels. Highlights generally involved audience interactions, not least with a lone attendee Matty who was hauled up on stage to duet (somewhat tunelessly) on his favourite song Life’s About To Get Good.
With her mawkish ballads You’re Still the One and From This Moment On and the sincere but dull Inhale/Exhale AIR dispatched, the show was also about to get good…just as she hit the encore, saving up her two sassy anthems from her breakthrough album, Come On Over, for last. That Don’t Impress Me Much, performed in the original leopardskin hooded dress from the video, remains a funny brush-off, while Man! I Feel Like A Woman! was daft, irrepressible and entirely on Shania brand.
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