Posted Saturday, July 3, 2004 - 12:00 am
By Paul Alongi
STAFF WRITER
palongi@greenvillenews.com
Shania Twain belts one out at the Bi-Lo Center on Friday. (Patrick Collard/Staff)
Shania Twain put on a Clemson University football jersey, posed for a photo with an Anderson man and told a nearly packed Bi-Lo Center on Friday night that she went shopping in downtown Greenville.
The singer with the supermodel body helped a few thousand in the Upstate start their Fourth of July weekend not with a firecracker bang, but with a country twang.
Kimberly Abdella, who considers herself a classic rock fan, left the arena with a curled-up cowboy hat on her head.
"I'm not a country fan, but she made me enjoy this concert," the Fountain Inn resident said.
Fans along the front of the stage held aloft T-shirts, CDs and cardboard signs. Twain signed autographs while singing.
Ann Morgan-Smith and her daughter, Megan Smith, of Williamsburg, Va., missed Twain's show in Richmond so they drove more than seven hours to see her Greenville appearance.
"She has some really, really beautiful music," Morgan-Smith said. "The lyrics, the music — beautiful."
At the start of the show, a shadowy figure in a top hat appeared behind a curtain. "Are you ready, Greenville?" a voice boomed.
The crowd shrieked.
"I said are you ready, Greenville?"
An even louder shriek ripped through the arena.
The curtain rose as the first note of "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" pounded. But no one was underneath. She had tricked the audience.
Twain, wearing a sparkling gray tank top and tight black pants, ran up the side of the stage.
Spec. Bradley Coffey of Anderson attended the show in his camouflage uniform with other members of a Greenville-based Army Reserve unit.
The ticket was complimentary for what he said may be his last concert before he ships out to an unknown destination overseas.
"It's good to be appreciated," Coffey said.
Twain told the crowd that she shopped in Greenville, including a visit to artist llyn strong, and found a place for a maple walnut ice cream cone. "I had to wait half an hour to get it, but it was worth it," she said.
Twain, 38, has sold 42 million albums in her career. She has made her name with sugary love songs and catchy pop tunes that have a country twang.
After leaving the stage before her encore, she came back wearing an orange, No. 17 Clemson jersey. Most of the crowd cheered, although a few booed.
"Wow!" she said. "You guys are really worked up!"
On a foray into the crowd, she met an Anderson man who told her he didn't like country music until he heard her. Twain posed for a picture with the man and met his sister before saying hello to two shy little girls and returning to the stage.
The round stage sat in the middle of the arena floor so fans spent as much time watching her from behind as the front. An eight-member band backed her up. One of the drummers wore ski goggles and a violinist had a flame pattern on his jeans.
Jennifer Deakin and Glenda Menger came with Twain concert T-shirts and an agenda.
They planned to hoist signs imploring Twain to "Pick us to sing, please!!!"
"We want to be in her shoes for one night," Menger said. Twain is known for pulling fans on to the stage and letting them sing.
Twain, who was born in Canada, now lives in Switzerland with her husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange, who produced her album and has also worked with AC/DC, Def Leppard and Bryan Adams.
Twain's lyrics give an unflinching female perspective on love, fashion and having fun. In "That Don't Impress Me Much," she says that being Brad Pitt isn't enough to keep her "warm in the middle of the night."
Her latest album, "Up!", comes with two CDs featuring different mixes of the same songs. The red CD has a bouncy, Top 40 feel, while the green disc has more of a Nashville twang.
Her show in Greenville was the last stop on the "Up!" tour before the Fourth of July weekend. She heads to Orlando, Fla. next for a show on July 6.
At one point, the lights came on and she told the crowd to sing along with "You're Still the One."
"Thank you! Good job," she said at the end. "Beautiful voices here in Greenville."
Staff writer Paul Alongi can be reached at 298-4746.
http://greenvilleonline.com/enterta...04070334506.htm