Concert Review
Shania Twain concert focuses on fans

By Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times music critic

Shania Twain Likes to make fans part of the show

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"The crew says to throw you off the stage," the strikingly beautiful pop-country singer told a paunchy, middle-aged man who had landed the show's top honor — a duet with the star. She soon realized that the persistent guy already had hit that jackpot at an earlier show on the tour.

Obviously miffed at picking him again, Twain nevertheless gamely went on with the bit, ruining "You're Still the One," her biggest hit, in the process. She even went along with his insistence that her photographer take a Polaroid of them.

The moment was telling because Twain has built fan participation — and adoration — into her act. That can work, in moderation, but for Twain it bordered on bedlam.

As she circled the in-the-round stage singing her party-flavored, danceable pop, she also autographed — scribbled on, really — at least 100 programs, concert tickets, posters, T-shirts and whatnot. Wave after wave of fans approached, offering bouquets, stuffed animals, mash notes, and money for her charity — usually big, handmade posters plastered with dollar bills.

She had other fans come onstage to sing, get their picture taken with her, and be congratulated for collecting big sums for the charity.

All that activity cut into the music. In her 90-minute set, she performed only about a dozen songs (including a six-song medley). More than half the concert was taken up with her odd interactions with the crowd.

When she and her eight-piece band were performing, they were busy, busy, busy. The young, in-shape musicians got an aerobic workout running up, over and all around the big, two-tiered, metallic stage, sometimes in tightly choreographed moves. But they played flawlessly.

Fireworks erupted on a regular basis, including from the head of one of the fiddlers' violins. The lights were bright and plentiful.

Twain's voice sounded strained on the opening two numbers, "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" and "Up!," but soon sounded fine. She did all her hits, including "That Don't Impress Me Much," "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" and "(If You're Not In It for Love) I'm Outta Here!"

Also exhaustingly energetic was the opening act, Emerson Drive, a rock/country band of six young men who were appreciated by the mostly-female audience.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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