Over the past three decades, Shania Twain has played a huge role in many UK country fans' lives. Breaking through with her second album ‘The Woman In Me‘ back in 1995, she followed that up with ‘Come On Over', which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Since then she's racked up five Grammy Awards (among many other trophies), two Las Vegas residences and three more studio albums, as well as countless tours around the world including her Queen Of Me tour which hit the UK last year. Recently she's been back over here on another run of dates, culminating last night at BST Hyde Park in London.
Arriving on stage in a red jacket and skirt combo and sparkly lace-up boots, backed by her six-piece band (including UK country fan favourite Lindsay Ell on guitar, who later joined in for a duet on ‘Party For Two'), Twain kicked off her set with ‘Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)' from ‘Come On Over'. Right from the start she had great energy, keeping the audience dancing and singing along – although to be fair they needed no help with that whatsoever – and her vocals sounded strong throughout. It was the perfect way to kick things off, with plenty of fun and cheekiness, and the crowd roared their approval as she brought the song to an end.
What followed over the next hour and a half was a whistle-stop tour through Twain's greatest hits, including everything from early classics like' You Win My Love' (complete with slot machine-style graphics on the screen behind her) to last summer's smash hit ‘Giddy Up'. One thing which really hit me was how utterly thrilled she looked to be there, breaking off to chat to the audience frequently, thanking them for coming out cracking jokes about everything from powering through her slight cold to the perils of getting older (“I still get giddy even at my age – it's something to look forward to I promise!”). Her relentless optimism absolutely shone through, especially on the likes of the uptempo ‘Waking Up Dreaming' and ‘Come On Over', which she introduced by talking about performing with Harry Styles and the power of music to unite generations. You could really tell it means a lot to her to still be performing, especially after her well-documented health issues, and the warmth and enthusiasm just radiated off her the whole time.
Understandably for a Shania Twain show, most of the emphasis was on the more upbeat numbers including ‘Up!', ‘I'm Gonna Getcha Good' and ‘Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under'. One particular standout was ‘Any Man Of Mine', which saw Twain don a sparkly cowboy hat before launching into a dance routine that saw her high kicking and spinning her way across the stage as the audience clapped along. She also led them in a sing-off for the intro of ‘Honey I'm Home' (including getting heavily invested in one fan hitting the wrong note) before performing her seminal hit ‘That Don't Impress Me Much', with a background of leopard print everything that mirrored the sea of it in the crowd as well as an incredibly delightful laugh midway through.
However, for me some of the most special moments came during the slower numbers. ‘You're Still The One' was an early highlight, with Twain playing an acoustic guitar solo as she encouraged the crowd to join in with her, whilst her acapella rendition of ‘From This Moment On' with backing singer Paul gave me goosebumps. It would take a very hard heart not to get emotional at that one!
After ‘Rock This Country' and ‘(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here' – which featured a name check for London – Twain closed the show with ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman'. The audience erupted as those opening notes kicked in and it genuinely felt like everyone in Hyde Park was singing along even louder than they had been for the rest of the night as they jumped up and down. Throw in a wicked guitar solo from Lindsay and Twain waving and bowing to the crowd at the end, and it felt like an absolute triumph.
Overall Shania Twain gave a truly joyous performance that cemented her legendary status and showed just how loved she is by UK audiences. It was the perfect festival show – stuffed to the gills with hits, playful but with powerful moments thrown in, and a performer with incredible star presence but who managed to remain genuinely grateful throughout and looked like she was having the time of her life up there. OK, so maybe she isn't as vocally strong as she was in her heyday, but when you can deliver a show like that: honestly, who cares? It was such a privilege to get to witness her live and I really hope this isn't the last we see of her in the UK.
Set list: 1. Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) 2. You Win My Love 3. Waking Up Dreaming 4. Up! 5. I'm Gonna Getcha Good 6. You're Still The One 7. Come On Over 8. Any Man Of Mine 9. Giddy Up 10. Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under 11. Honey I'm Home 12. From This Moment On 13. That Don't Impress Me Much 14. Party For Two (with Lindsay Ell) 15. Rock This Country 16. (If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here 17. Man! I Feel Like A Woman Performance date: 7th July 2024
