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Old 12-05-2003, 09:31 AM
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Mmm, baby! Shania's UP

Friday, December 05, 2003

Diva's bubbly tunes, easy rapport get crowd every time

Heath McCoy
Calgary Herald
Review

Shania Twain and opening act Emerson Drive performed Thursday at Pengrowth Saddledome. The show was sold out.

Attendance about 17,500.

It's hard not to smile when you've had the Shania Twain experience. Whether you're a Shania-maniac -- as about 17,500 gleeful fans clearly were Thursday night at the Saddledome -- or, say, a skeptical critic who finds the country-pop diva from Timmins, Ont., to be rather silly, you've got to at least crack a smile.

If nothing else, the reaction of her audience is too cute to be true.

From the milli-second Twain appeared Thursday, sprinting from her dressing room to the stage, which sat in the middle of the 'Dome, she had the crowd positively giddy.

Polite, family-friendly mayhem it was, but the excitement in the air was undeniable.

As her nine-piece band launched into the synth-coated fiddles at the kickoff of Man! I Feel Like A Woman! pre-schoolers played cheerleader in the aisles, as did dolled-up teens. Overjoyed mothers and their daughters sang along to every word; even grandparents were clapping their hands and grinning from ear to ear.

Dressed in blue jeans and a Calgary Flames jersey, Twain, 38, then served up the pop Hallmark card, Up! followed by the squaredancey bubble gum jingle, Honey, I'm Home.

Further tunes included the singalong new-country of Love Gets Me Every Time, the genuinely irresistible Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? and the anthem She's Not Just A Pretty Face, which came off as a sort of barnyard Def Leppard.

The funny thing is, the show revealed Twain to be a fairly mediocre talent. Her voice is pleasant but it's also quite thin. That's apparent on her ballads.

Her moves are textbook arena rock stuff and her dancing is less than outstanding.

She didn't even deliver as much as expected with the costume changes. When she finally did change into a tight turquoise halter top and slacks nearly an hour into the show, one man said jokingly: "It's about time. No belly button and I'm outta' here."

As for her tunes, yeah they're catchy, but so was Loverboy's catalogue, and Twain owes more to those rock cheeseballs than she does to, say, Dolly Parton.

Basically, she's all about a lite-hearted good time. She offers up her feisty, independent woman message with a wink and a smile.

She was most impressive in the rapport she created with her audience.

At one point Twain appeared in the stands to serenade her fans up-close and personal with the ballad The Woman In Me (Needs The Man In You). She went into the crowd again later to sing with a pair of little girls. She even brought out drummers from the Calgary Stampede Show Band to accompany her on (If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!

It all plays into her image. The down-to-earth, dream-girl next door who just happened to turn into a superstar overnight but never let it go to her head. It's an image her adoring fans ate up Thursday.

As for the Grande Prairie lads done good in Emerson Drive, they made for a fitting opening act for Twain with their candied Bon Jovi meets Garth Brooks tunes and arena-ready moves.

The Alberta boys got a mildly enthusiastic reception, but ultimately they had their work cut out for them, thousands of folks filing in late, and let's face it, waiting with baited breath for Twain.

And those folks left smiling.

hmccoy@trald.canwest.com

© Copyright 2003 Calgary Herald

http://www.canada.com/calgary/story...03-2DB3CE402A8C
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