Review: Shania Twain at Adelaide Botanic Park, December 2
Shania Twain played Adelaide last night for the first time in 20 nearly years, and she still knows how to show the crowd a pleasin’ kind of time.
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Shania Twain — she’s still the one. And she still knows how to show the crowd a pleasin’ kind of time.
Man, I feel … okay, enough of the Shania jokes.
It’s the first time in almost 20 years the country-pop performer has toured Australian shores and those hits from two decades ago still get the boots scooting.
Her country-pop crossover style doesn’t typically appeal to a traditional country fan, of which I would usually class myself, but it is that which has allowed her to reboot her career after so many years.
It shows in the crowd — from elderly ladies to mothers in cowboy hats with teenage daughters, all the way through to blokes in their 20s.
Whether or not they were dragged along by their girlfriends remains to be seen, but it certainly didn’t stop them getting into the fun.
Twain doesn’t appear to have aged and her voice has survived remarkably well, given the Lyme disease that attacked her vocal cords. It has deepened ever so slightly — but it adds a sultry charm.
All the hits bring the crowd to their feet — That Don’t Impress me Much and Any Man of Mine getting some of the best reception.
Still The One turns into a tribute to her fans as they waved their phone lights around. When she last toured, they would have been using cigarette lighters.
But the biggest reaction of the night is reserved — quite rightly — for Man, I Feel Like a Woman.
Songs from her new album fall flat. Dancing gals sit down to give their feet a rest and the audience quietens. It’s always a risk, but it’s not enough for the audience to worry about.
Twain’s warmth for the audience is genuine and mirrors their warmth for her.
If you walked away from Botanic Park without a smile on your face, you don’t know how to have fun.
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