Concert review: Shania Twain's wild is mild
Jon Bream, Star Tribune

Published October 29, 2003 SHAN29


Shania Twain gone WILD!

The country/pop queen went WILD! Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul by -- of course -- wearing a Minnesota Wild jersey, shaking her long, luxurious locks like a pop-metal vixen and shouting "WHEW!" after nearly every song. Truth be told, hers was a pretty tame performance.

Like her visually sumptuous videos, Twain gave an entertainingly air-brushed concert. Except, unlike her meticulously edited videos, this effort was devoid of humor, emotion and, most of all, personality. To be sure, there was plenty of flash and fireworks (literally), lots of energy and positivity, and a whole lot of hair-tossing and hometown boosterism (she wore a Vikings jersey for the encore). And the Xcel record-setting crowd of 20,554 -- 204 more than witnessed Elton John/Billy Joel -- ate it up.

Shania TwainKyndell HarknessStar TribuneBut the two-hour concert seemed like an overlong aerobics class with a loud live band and a smiling poster-perfect instructor whom you couldn't take your eyes off.

Twain, 38, delivered every song with the same tone, intensity and expression. Her current best-selling CD "Up!" -- from which she drew about one-third of Tuesday's repertoire -- was an apt description of her spirit and sloganeering songs of belly-button-baring feminism. Even the bouncy, crowd-pleasing "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" was performed in the same sunny manner, lacking the mounting anger that the lyrics suggest.

Only once did Twain demonstrate the kind of nuance that might suggest that she is a vocalist rather than an actress who has mastered choreographed moves and a cover-girl smile. When she left her theater-in-the-round stage and sat among her fans, she sang "The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You)" with a bluesy soulfulness, with an ache and longing in her voice.

Some of Twain's new tunes echoed pop favorites of the past, with "C'est La Vie" appropriating a musical line from ABBA's "Dancing Queen" and "Forever and For Always" evoking the Carpenters. However, most of her material borrowed the booming '80s pop/ rock bottom of Def Leppard, the pop-metal band that helped make Twain's producer/husband/co-writer, Mutt Lange, famous. Twain, touring for the first time in four years, didn't say boo about him or their 2-year-old son.

She doesn't share anything personal in concert. And the only moments of spontaneity were when she visited with two young girls from the audience. She brought Stephanie from Duluth onstage to sing and later coaxed a 5-year-old in a white cowgirl suit onstage because she seemed upset when Twain had passed her by in slapping hands with fans.

The heartwarming and very human conversations with the kids said more than about Twain than the rest of the night.

Jon Bream is at 612-673-1719 or popmusic@startribune.com.

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