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Old 07-10-2004, 03:05 AM
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Musical pep rally

A charismatic and energetic Shania Twain trots on stage and mingles with her fans. And in between, she sings a few tunes.

By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
Published July 10, 2004

TAMPA - It's really a moot point these days to argue if Shania Twain's a country or pop star. To 21,004 loyal fans at the St. Pete Times Forum on Friday, Twain was a star, with all the hits and radiance to keep those fans screaming for 90 minutes, even when the show's pacing was uneven. Twain's charisma lured another star to her concert Friday: Hollywood actor John Travolta.

The most popular country artist of the 1990s (along with Garth Brooks), Twain bounced onto the stage set in the center of the arena, dressed in a red sleeveless top and black spandex pants. Her first song? The buoyant female-proud Man! I Feel Like a Woman! That was followed by Up!, the title track of her 2002 album. Perhaps to punctuate her emphatic tunes (notice all those exclamation points?), Twain's stage show was loaded with pyrotechnics. Loaded!

During the fiddly diddly Honey, I'm Home Twain trotted across the stage with an inflatable version of the Stanley Cup, an homage to the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was a nice gesture considering Twain is from Canada. (The Lightning beat the Calgary Flames to win the Stanley Cup).

Trotting around with a phony Stanley Cup is one thing, but calling out raffle tickets for charity is odd, don't you think, for a star to do during a concert? Yet Twain did just that. She also posed for pictures with fans. Signed autographs. Invited children onstage to gab. During one excruciating segment, the audience got to talk to each member of Twain's eight-piece band.

We got the message: Twain cares about fan interaction. But, criminy all this commotion between songs jarred the show's pacing. Raise your hand if you wouldn't have been shocked if Twain had started a slide show presentation next. Or maybe opted to play Twister with fans.

When Twain and the band did play, they sounded good, juicing up Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? with banging drums and fiddle. The band went the medley route for a dynamic one-two-three blast of older tunes When You Win My Love, Come On Over and I'm Holding On to Love. They reworked the megahit That Don't Impress Me Much into a funky dance jam with snaky bass. I'm Gonna Getcha Good! was riveting with monster electric guitar and dizzying synths. Twain shared vocal duties with guest kids on the ballad You're Still the One.

Opening act Emerson Drive, a twangy country band from Alberta, Canada, had no trouble working up the crowd with peppy originals. The sextet performed a ferocious fiddle-steeped rendition of the Charlie Daniels Band classic The Devil Went Down to Georgia, which morphed into Led Zeppelin's Kashmir.

Gina Vivinetto can be reached at 727 893-8565 or gina@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 9, 2004, 23:55:18]
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