When I found out that Shania Twain decided to come out of her hiatus and tour for her album Queen of Me, I was so excited. Though my concerts usually tend to fall in the rock genre, I jumped at the chance to see her live, especially since it had been quite a while since her last tour (“Rock this Country” in 2015). Her most popular songs and music videos had peppered my college years. Her music and videos were on constant rotation on radio, MTV, and CMT. Yet, I don’t remember any tour dates close to where I lived. Granted, I didn’t really start going to concerts until after I’d graduated and moved to the DC-Metro area.
I know that country tours tend to have elaborate stage set-ups, and Shania’s was no exception; she had a huge LED screen that backed the stage—playing graphics ranging from a , a cute fluffy dog in a cowboy hat, aliens, a bar with glowing bottles and an animal skull with flashing eyes, a leopard, and more to accompany her setlist. But the first visual to appear on the screen was a large rocket with a round window where you could see Shania’s face.
Expecting to see her take the stage, Shania surprised her fans by appearing at the back of the pavilion for her first song. Covered rolling carts had been wheeled by crew on the walkway at the back tier. Shania popped out of one, wearing bejeweled sunglasses and a hooded cowl, to be slowly rolled from one side to the other, singing as she greeted fans and gracing a few that were close enough to her with fistbumps.
Once she finished that song, there was a slight pause as she was somehow taken to the stage. A countdown began for the projected rocket…then “steam” came out from the bottom; Shania emerged from the cloud, wearing a white two-piece bodysuit topped with a jewel-studded jacket that had a long, ribbon-like fringe coming from the bottom. The second and third songs seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye. As we photographers were leaving the soundboard to put away our equipment, Shania emerged on the coolest unicorn-shaped motorcycle. I was a bit envious I wouldn’t be able to document that on “film.” (It’s featured in photos taken by her tour photographer on her Instagram though.)
Returning to the pavilion as soon as I could, my review ticket seats were AMAZING. Located three rows from the general admission pit, in the center, I was close enough to see Shania without having to rely on the screens at the side of the stage. She had two backing vocalists that also functioned as dancers, as well as a full band.
One of my favorite things about Shania’s show was that she was very devoted to special moments with her fans. There were more pauses in the show than I was used to, but she engineered those segments to call fans up to the stage—one instance was James who had sent her a Tweet to let her know how much a particular song of hers meant to him; the other time, she said she noticed two little girls while she was singing her first song at the back of the pavilion, described their outfits, and then asked that they make their way to the stage. I believe one was 6 and the other was 8, and they were both as cute as buttons. One had even shared that she’d written her own country song and shared the lyrics with Shania and the audience. Shania proclaimed her the “future of country.” The precious moment ended with selfies for each girl with Shania and their respective mothers. Shania also had a dedicated point in the show where people were escorted to several bar-height tables; she then moved from table to table to sing, “From This Moment On.”
For the encore, there was another pause…it turned out that it was for a costume change, as Shania emerged wearing the long coat and top hat from the “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” video. She took the coat off to reveal the corset and mini skirt, also from the music video. She said she’d pulled the costume out of retirement to bring on tour with her (and it appears that she’s been debuting several different costume options). Shania definitely has maintained her fitness to be able to still fit into an outfit that was debuted in early 1999. (I wish I had that kind of self-control…LOL.)
I really enjoyed the show, as the majority of it contained the popular hits that fans wants to hear. But she did play some of her new songs as well. If you get a chance to go, you’re in for a treat! She sounds fabulous! Check out Shania Twains full setlist here.
Words & Photos: Deanna Escobar