Posted on Sat, May. 15, 2004

Man! Shania rocked coliseum
Down-to-earth star connected with record number of fans; draw important for the venue.
By Carol Tannehill
of The News-Sentinel

Shania Twain's Up! Tour didn't let anybody down. Not the screaming, singing, clapping, sign-waving, autograph-seeking audience. Not the promoters. And definitely not Memorial Coliseum General Manager Randy Brown.

The Canada-born superstar performed Friday for the largest concert crowd in the history of the coliseum.

"We have no definite numbers yet, but you can quote me on that one -- it's the largest," Brown said afterward. "She even beat George Strait."

Twain wowed the receptive crowd with 1 hours of greatest hits from three albums, a few well-timed costume changes and plenty of warm and fuzzy moments.

"Fantastic! She was just wonderful. We loved it," said Dianne Hansen of Fort Wayne.

Her husband, Vince, said: "She really seems like a nice person, doesn't she?"

Marianna Crowl, 6, was sure she'd love the show even before Twain bounded on the stage. She and her sister, Lauren, 10, were thrilled to learn their father, Jason Crowl, and his fiancee, Lisa Vinson, had bought tickets to the concert. And it was not, as they'd claimed, to the Fort Wayne Gun and Knife Show this weekend at the coliseum.

"We could hardly keep the secret in the car," said Vinson, who is almost as big a fan as Marianna.

The warm reception Twain got could pull more big-name concerts to town, Brown said.

"This is big-city stuff. This is how we bring other great shows to Fort Wayne -- when we show ticket receipts to promoters and they see how well Fort Wayne compares to other cities. This is a regional concert: It drew people from Ohio and South Michigan (as well as Indiana), which is what we like to see," he said.

Twain hit the stage running at 8:30 p.m. after a 30-minute show by fellow Canadians Emerson Drive and 30-minute intermission. She sprinted through the crowd to the opening strains of "Man! I Feel Like a Woman," leaped onto a multilevel oval in the middle of the coliseum floor and strutted up a catwalk to center stage.

Dressed in a fluorescent yellow halter top -- with black bra fashionably exposed -- and a surprisingly sexy pair of baggy pink cargo pants, she kickboxed, jumped and jogged her way through "Up!," "Honey, I'm Home," "Don't Be Stupid" and "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?"

While her band introduced themselves, Twain slipped beneath the stage to slip into something just as comfortable -- a Spandex-saturated pink-and-black shirt and her formal black cargo pants with rhinestone trim. Her final costume change -- into a Fort Wayne Komet jersey and blue jeans -- brought screams from the crowd.

"I love hockey, you know," said Twain, who was raised in Timmins, Ontario.

Except for a few love songs -- "Forever and For Always," "You're Still the One" and "The Woman in Me," which Twain sang from a seat in the audience -- the show rarely slowed. She kept the crowd "worked up," as she called it, with a string of high-energy hits, such as "That Don't Impress Me Much," "Gonna Getcha Good!," "Come on Over" and "Any Man of Mine" punctuated with light effects, pyrotechnics and confetti guns.

Joni Hire of Pierceton was surprised -- and a bit disappointed -- Twain's concert and single encore didn't include two of the hot singles off her latest album -- "She's Not Just a Pretty Face" and "It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing."

"That's my favorite," Hire said, waiting in vain for a second encore.

Throughout the show, Twain proved she was down-to-earth by signing autographs, accepting flowers and shaking hands with fans who managed to make it to the edge of the stage. She also sang duets with people plucked from the audience and posed for pictures with winners of a prize-raffle drawing that raised money for Community Harvest Food Bank.

"When I grew up, we were poor and didn't always have food on the table. I don't think anyone should have to go hungry," she said, before drawing out the winning ticket.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for such a full bucket."
----------------------------------------
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwa...cal/8675641.htm
-----------------------------------------

- Tommy