FinnFreak
05-24-2004, 5:30am
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MUSIC REVIEW - Shania Twain - Sunday, May 23, 2004
Peppy workout a crowd-pleaser
Tracy Zollinger Turner FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shania Twain is becoming the Oprah Winfrey of pop music stars. She writes songs about going out to have fun with girlfriends, keeping lovers faithful, and having bad skin days. She even celebrates female parking valets, gas station attendants and pilots as being more than just pretty faces.
The music is designed with the kind of hooks and punches that get women to sing along loudly, move their heads from side to side with attitude and wag their fingers knowingly.
If the songs haven’t already cemented her role as pop music’s premiere Everywoman, she seems to be determined that her concerts will.
From a large oval stage in the center of Value City Arena, the Canadian country-pop star high-fived, talked to, sang with, signed autographs for and took long-stemmed roses from dozens, if not hundreds, of her fans Friday night.
Dressed like a sexpot gym teacher in a neon yellow tank top, black stretch pants and sparkly wrestling shoes, Twain spent the bulk of several songs on the edge of the stage, barely lifting her head as she simultaneously sang and kept her hands in the crowd.
Drawing from 1997’s Come on Over and 2003’s Up!, she performed a string of hits, from the opening clarion call, Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, to the viral I’m Gonna Getcha Good.
When she wasn’t indulging groups of fans with quick touches and hasty signatures, she and her wireless band pranced around the stage perimeter as if they were doing low-impact aerobics.
She skipped back to the center after several songs just to make large arm gestures in tandem with small fireworks displays.
The music seemed like an afterthought because Twain remained so focused on her fans.
This may have been a thrill for those who were able to get close to her, but it was often awkward to watch. Twain repeatedly paused between songs to say "I want to meet someone from the audience," and walked into the crowd to ask people whether they’d like to sing a few lines of one of her songs.
One young woman stunningly told Twain that she was brought out of a coma by Twain’s music, while a little boy Twain brought onstage charmed her by giggling and calling her "Shania, ma’am" repeatedly.
A mother and daughter were brought to the stage as part of a fund-raising raffle for a food bank and then the mother sang She’s Not Just a Pretty Face with gusto. Twain read off the winning ticket number as if she were the leader of the local Kiwanis club.
Another girl was brought to the stage to help sing Still the One.
If all of those touches weren’t common enough, Twain came out for her encore clad in an Ohio State University jersey.
http://www.dispatch.com/reports-story.php?story=dispatch/2004/05/23/20040523-D2-02.html
John - :)
MUSIC REVIEW - Shania Twain - Sunday, May 23, 2004
Peppy workout a crowd-pleaser
Tracy Zollinger Turner FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Shania Twain is becoming the Oprah Winfrey of pop music stars. She writes songs about going out to have fun with girlfriends, keeping lovers faithful, and having bad skin days. She even celebrates female parking valets, gas station attendants and pilots as being more than just pretty faces.
The music is designed with the kind of hooks and punches that get women to sing along loudly, move their heads from side to side with attitude and wag their fingers knowingly.
If the songs haven’t already cemented her role as pop music’s premiere Everywoman, she seems to be determined that her concerts will.
From a large oval stage in the center of Value City Arena, the Canadian country-pop star high-fived, talked to, sang with, signed autographs for and took long-stemmed roses from dozens, if not hundreds, of her fans Friday night.
Dressed like a sexpot gym teacher in a neon yellow tank top, black stretch pants and sparkly wrestling shoes, Twain spent the bulk of several songs on the edge of the stage, barely lifting her head as she simultaneously sang and kept her hands in the crowd.
Drawing from 1997’s Come on Over and 2003’s Up!, she performed a string of hits, from the opening clarion call, Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, to the viral I’m Gonna Getcha Good.
When she wasn’t indulging groups of fans with quick touches and hasty signatures, she and her wireless band pranced around the stage perimeter as if they were doing low-impact aerobics.
She skipped back to the center after several songs just to make large arm gestures in tandem with small fireworks displays.
The music seemed like an afterthought because Twain remained so focused on her fans.
This may have been a thrill for those who were able to get close to her, but it was often awkward to watch. Twain repeatedly paused between songs to say "I want to meet someone from the audience," and walked into the crowd to ask people whether they’d like to sing a few lines of one of her songs.
One young woman stunningly told Twain that she was brought out of a coma by Twain’s music, while a little boy Twain brought onstage charmed her by giggling and calling her "Shania, ma’am" repeatedly.
A mother and daughter were brought to the stage as part of a fund-raising raffle for a food bank and then the mother sang She’s Not Just a Pretty Face with gusto. Twain read off the winning ticket number as if she were the leader of the local Kiwanis club.
Another girl was brought to the stage to help sing Still the One.
If all of those touches weren’t common enough, Twain came out for her encore clad in an Ohio State University jersey.
http://www.dispatch.com/reports-story.php?story=dispatch/2004/05/23/20040523-D2-02.html
John - :)