Shania struts as 18,000 roar
By Jeff Spevak
Staff Music Critic
(October 1, 2003) —
Shania Twain is the greatest entertainer of the century. Of course, we’re not quite three years into this thing, so let’s see how the remaining 97 play out.
Tuesday night at Buffalo’s HSBC Arena, Twain knew how to quickly get on the side of the crowd of 18,000, strolling up to the center of the stage-in-the-round wearing a T-shirt decorated with the Sabres’ Buffalo head. Or maybe the crowd was cheering her tight blue jeans as she opened with “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”
The 38-year-old Twain is a dazzling, clean-cut beauty, which she used to its fullest effect in the videos that rocketed her to stardom. Twain was the first country performer to take video to the hip-hop/David Lee Roth level of cartoon sexuality. The crowd roared with approval when she announced that her T-shirt from the show had been auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charity and the sweaty shirt to the high bidder.
Twain relates well to her audience, frequently signing autographs and accepting flowers from fans approaching the stage. She crawled into the crowd to serenade a fan with “Happy Birthday.” Under cover of a comedy drum solo, she and her guitarist crept unnoticed into the 100-level seats and sat for an acoustic “The Woman in Me.”
Early in the show, she brought onstage a little cow gal who appeared to be about 5 years old. After some coaxing, Twain got her to sing a little of “Nah.”
Midway through the show, Twain shed her Sabres shirt in favor of a black, ankle-length dress that looked as though it had been clawed to shreds at the bottom by a cat and a brief top that did little to protect the tender eyes of her audience from her blazing-crimson bra as the New Age opening of “From This Moment On” swelled to a monumental pop crescendo. Twain strapped on an acoustic guitar for “No One Needs to Know Right Now,” but I’ll guarantee she didn’t break a fingernail while playing it.
Other fan faves visited during the two-hour show included “That Don’t Impress Me Much!” “I’m Gonna Getcha Good,” “If You’re Not Looking For Love (I’m Outta Here)” and “Rock This Country.”
“When,” “You Win My Love,” “Come On Over” and “I’m Holdin’ On To Love (To Save My Life)” were plastered together into one fat medley.
Is it country? No, the closest she came was the two-step beat of “Honey, I’m Home” and the whining steel guitar of “Forever and For Always.” “C’est La Vie,” from her most-recent release, Up!, crawls dangerously close to the territory of fellow countrywoman — or in this case, non-countrywoman — Celine Dion. Where catgut fiddles would have once ruled, orchestral violins swelled on “Thank You Baby.”
Twain was accompanied by the punkiest, mousse-haired country band you’ll ever see, a multi-ethnic group that’s the rival of any PC-conscious, reality-show cast. And her oval, multi-level stage, with six video screens as a monument to her video successes, shimmered in jewel-tone lights, like a bauble being pedaled on Home Shopping Network.
Country show stage sets haven’t used hay bales for years, now; they’re a fire hazard for the pyrotechnics. 
JSPEVAK@DemocratandChronicle.com
http://www.rochesterdandc.com/news/...ew01_news.shtml
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The legend continues
-Chris