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Tommy · Guru

RE: 2018 "NOW" tour

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Hey Dallas! Are you ready to create some more memories tonight? #ShaniaNOW

Video from Shania's 1999 "Come On Over" TV special in Dallas - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1004407574660354048

1:00 PM ET - 6 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Bastian Baker was interviewed on WFAA-TV Channel 8 in Dallas today.

Tommy · Guru

Despite bumps during Shania Twain's Dallas concert, she triumphed

By Thor Christensen | The Dallas Morning News/Guide Live | June 7, 2018

Shania Twain created so much momentum with 1997's Come On Over -- 30 million copies sold and counting -- that the album is still carrying her all these years later. On Wednesday night, she definitely needed the boost.

The Canadian country-pop singer performed a sometimes bumpy show at American Airlines Center for a near-capacity crowd of moms, daughters and the occasional guy -- all of whom seemed pleased to have her back. Three years ago, Twain announced her "retirement" tour, but then changed her mind, like so many fickle stars before her.

month into a new tour to promote Now -- her first studio album in 15 years -- Twain struggled with technical glitches at the start of the show. She couldn't get her in-ear microphone headset to work properly, and twice, a roadie had to come onstage and dig through her flowing mane of hair to fix the wiring.

The bigger issue was the show's pacing, or lack thereof. A series of costume changes drastically slowed things down, as did Twain's leisurely strolls through the crowd. But the main problem was the singer's stilted banter between songs.

When she wasn't spewing clichés -- "The sun will come out tomorrow!" "There's a light at the end of the tunnel!" -- she seemed stiff and nervous while talking about her new songs. One segment were she invited fans onstage was just plain awkward, especially when one fan climbed atop a grand piano to sit next to her, and Twain asked her to climb back down.

Vocally, Twain sounded better than expected. Not exactly a powerhouse singer to begin with, she's struggled in recent years with dysphonia, a voice disorder that has recast her voice in a lower register. But with help from her backup singers and some minor electronic effects on her mike, Twain came through loud and clear on old hits and new songs about overcoming life's obstacles, like "I'm Alright" and the show-opening "Life's About to Get Good."

Several new tunes found her experimenting with different flavors, including the reggae-tinged "Swingin' With My Eyes Closed," which she sang with opening act Bastian Baker. But she devoted the bulk of the two hour-show to sure-fire singalongs from Come On Over, from slight numbers like "That Don't Impress Me Much" to the 24-karat pop of "You're Still the One."

Despite her slick-pop leanings, Twain can still sell a country song with conviction. The fiddle-laced "Any Man of Mine" and "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under" sounded like the best songs Loretta Lynn never recorded.

Twain's unretirement tour hasn't generated nearly as much excitement and discussion as, say, the Dixie Chicks' comeback tour in 2016. But despite the problems, Wednesday night's show was still a two-hour blast of mindless diversion, packed with dazzling visuals, flashy dance numbers and amusing touches like Twain swaying high above the crowd on a swing shaped like a guitar case. As she succinctly put it in a new song, "More fun is all we need."

https://www.guidelive.com/music/2018/06/07/despite-bumps-shania-twains-dallas-concert-triumphed

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Austin! Let's get steamy tonight 🔥 #ShaniaNOW

4:01 PM ET - 7 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain is living her best life ‘Now’

By Jake Harris | Austin360 | June 8, 2018

Shania Twain’s latest show, named for her new album, is called the “Now” tour. It could just as easily have been called the “Now and Then” tour. Culling from nearly 30 years of hits Thursday night, the Canadian pop-country star highlighted her new album while also giving fans a retrospective of her entire career.

The audience ate every bit of it up. But the person having the most fun at the Frank Erwin Center was probably Twain herself.

She took the stage by waking down through the stands and onto the floor, greeting fans along the way. And speaking of the stage, it played host to one of the most intricately designed sets I’ve ever seen, with platform box stages rising and falling according to the tempo of each song, highlighted by a unique light show for every song. Twain was singing from the top of the rafters on the final chorus of “Up!”

Other fun highlights: At one point in the show, she allowed fans to escort her back to the stage, where she paused the show to hug them and take selfies with them. Elsewhere, she disappeared through a hole in the stage for her five costume changes. She flew through the rafters while sitting on a chair made of a guitar case. She employed her four male backup dancers to perform a “Magic Mike”-inspired dance routine while she watched.

(Side note: Those backup dancers/singers, along with two other female dancers/singers, a female drummer and a female violinist/accordionist/pianist and two male guitarists, make up one of the most talented and diverse bands you’ll ever see.)

But, much like the “Now” album, the night was not all highs. Twain herself spoke about some of the lows in her life, namely her messy split from husband and producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange, which she alluded to in “Poor Me” and “I’m Alright.”

Introducing the former of those songs, she told the audience, “What goes up must come down...most of the songs on my new album are from some of the lowest points in my life, and I wrote them for anyone who’s going through a rough time to know that you’re not alone.” She punctuated that with a laugh, and the next song after “Poor Me” was “(Don’t Be Stupid) You Know I Love You.” Twain came to Austin to tell her story, but she also wanted to have a good time.

Many in the audience seemed to enjoy the new songs, but reserved their standing and dancing for the hits. The only misstep of the night was “Soldier.” The song soundtracked the trailer for the war PTSD drama “Thank You For Your Service,” which played in the background as Twain performed. Compared to other songs in her set, it seemed off. But that number was where she flew through the rafters while seated on a huge guitar case, so it looked interesting.

By the time the encore rolled around and Twain sang “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” she proved why she’s country music’s greatest pageantry performer since Dolly Parton. Every fan was on their feet. Everyone was singing along.

And Twain looked like she was having the time of her life, whether reflecting on “Now” or looking back at “then.”

Thursday night, Shania Twain showed that the best thing about being Shania Twain was the prerogative to have a little fun.

Setlist:

“Life’s About to Get Good”*

“Come On Over”

“Up!”

“Poor Me”*

“Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)”

“That Don’t Impress Me Much”

“Let’s Kiss and Make Up”*

“Any Man of Mine”

“Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”

“Honey, I’m Home”

“I’m Alright”*

“Soldier”*

“You’re Still the One”

“More Fun”

Music video snippet montage: “The Woman In Me,” “You Win My Love,” “Don’t!”, “Forever and For Always”

“From This Moment On”

“I’m Gonna Getcha Good!”

“Party For Two” (with Bastian Baker)

“Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed”*

“(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here!”

Encore

“Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”

“Rock This Country!”

*Denotes songs from the “Now” album

https://www.austin360.com/news/shania-twain-living-her-best-life-now/xmyjmTSO93ISZTE234RNnI/

Tommy · Guru

Swiss singer Bastian Baker makes U.S. tour debut with Shania Twain

By Kevin C. Johnson | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | June 8, 2018

Who is Bastian Baker? He’s the Swiss newcomer enviably tasked with opening for Shania Twain on her “Now” tour, coming Wednesday to Enterprise Center.

Though he has toured extensively abroad, this is his U.S. touring debut.

“It’s a pretty amazing first tour to be on,” Baker says. “It’s giving me a pretty good impression of the U.S.”

The singer-songwriter also has opened for Elton John and Bryan Adams.

“There’s all these good vibes around the tour,” he says. “There’s 13,000 to 15,000 people every night. As the opener, I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t know how the audience would react.

“I go onstage with just me and a guitar. So far, the reaction has been great. I can’t complain. And I get to sing a duet with her every night. That makes it all perfect. There’s a lot of love in the air, and you can really feel it.”

Baker and Twain met six years ago in Switzerland. He had been performing at an event affiliated with the Montreux Jazz Festival, near where he grew up. Twain was at the festival, and after his acoustic performance, she invited him to lunch.

“She wanted to say hi and that she appreciated my performance, and we started talking about music,” Baker recalls. “Her husband was there, and we became good friends. She’s an amazing mentor for me.”

He was just 20 years old at the time and was getting play on radio stations in Switzerland.

“It was an amazing opportunity to ask questions about the industry,” Baker says. “I knew Shania, but I didn’t know all the music and about all her crazy achievements.”

He says that first interaction with Twain was “a very normal conversation,” and he was able to get a bit of career advice. “She told me very basic stuff I didn’t know at the time — that I had to believe in myself, keep writing and stay true to myself,” he says.

The “Now” tour will be his first visit to St. Louis.

“I know about the St. Louis Blues,” says Bastian, whose father, Bruno Kaltenbacher, had been a professional hockey player. Baker also played hockey before switching to music full-time.

“I like getting to places I’ve never been, like St. Louis,” he says. “I like to discover the city I’m in, like asking where to go for lunch.”

Baker is influenced by artists such as Damien Rice and Angus and Julia Stone, and especially Bruce Springsteen.

“I’ve seen him twice, and it gives me goosebumps just to think about it — how much heart he puts in his music,” Baker says of the Boss. “He makes me want to become a better musician. He’s so inspiring.”

When it comes to his own music, Baker says, he doesn’t try to fit into any category. Instead, he aims to write melodies that sound good and mean something to him. “I keep it as honest as I can,” he says.

Baker’s debut was 2011’s “Tomorrow May Not Be Better,” which features “Lucky” and “I’d Sing For You.”

He’s working on his upcoming album with the single “Love on Fire,” which came about after meeting a young woman in Switzerland. She asked him what he did for a living. Instead of explaining it to her, he showed her, grabbing a guitar and writing a song.

“By the end of it, she said, ‘Dude, you should record it.’”

On the upcoming album, he’s working with producer Jacquire King, who has also worked with Kings of Leon, James Bay, Norah Jones and Twain.

“I was really inspired to work with a big producer,” Baker says. “It opened my spectrum of music. I also opened myself up to co-writing. I’m a very normal person talking about normal stuff, my fears, what I’m excited about, what disappoints me.”

He compares the sound of his last record, “Facing Canyons” (2015), to that of Mumford & Sons. “This will be more pop, more modern,” he says. “And I don’t see this album as my fourth. I see it as my first album for the second time. It’s the beginning of a new adventure for me.”

What Shania Twain, Bastian Baker • When 8 p.m. Wednesday • Where Enterprise (formerly Scottrade) Center, 1401 Clark Avenue • How much $22-$395 • More info 1-800-745-3000; ticketmaster.com

https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/kevin-johnson/swiss-singer-bastian-baker-makes-u-s-tour-debut-with/article_acc40acc-64f8-5dd7-bc31-32796839d4e3.html

Tommy · Guru

Another Dallas concert (June 6) review.

Shania Twain Flies Over Her Audience, Sticks the Landing at Concert at AAC

By Kevin Ryan | Dallas Observer | June 8, 2018

The house lights faded as the stadium thump of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” thundered to life. Perhaps you’ve heard “We Will Rock You” at the American Airlines Center before — during a Mavericks or Stars game — but you’ve never heard it like that, not with the fog, at that volume, with the lights off, with an arena full of people who did not expect to hear it, smiling as it blasted.

“Buddy you're a boy make a big noise ...”

The Brian May guitar screech hit like a bolt of lightning that explains the thunder. That is how you start a concert. That is how you jolt a crowd into beautiful mayhem.

When the Queen song ended, a solitary figure emerged at the back of the floor seating, on a riser barely taller than the soundboard — about where the Mavericks take free throws on game days. Head down, covered by a shock of long silver hair, the figure stared down at two massive drums. She was frozen like a statue, like a plaster-cast of a healthy Kurt Cobain. Then, in an impetuous burst, she slammed the beat of “We Will Rock You.”

A lizard-like synth melody spread over the drumbeat, and the crowd’s mood shifted, distracted by an outbreak of localized cheering. Most of the audience began a frantic search for the source of the commotion. Eventually, people found it, the house-left section 107. The whole arena started cheering.

Shania Twain descended from a balcony, all romped up in elegant heels and a mirror-sequined dress with a wide slit up to her waist, an outfit that was both elegant and scandalous — part chandelier, part disco ball.

In the fog and the stiletto gleam, Twain was cool and hypnotic, a flesh-and-blood portrayal of “Return of the Mack.” She wove through the crowd, adorned by a triangulation of spotlights, surrounded by fans who cheered with a mixture of disbelief, elation and frazzled confusion — that starstruck blank face people get when they meet a celebrity. Twain ascended to the stage as “Life’s About to Get Good” leaped into action.

The show was the 13th stop on Twain’s Now Tour, with 42 dates in U.S. and Canada. Then she's off to Brazil and Europe, wrapping up in Australia and New Zealand.

There are myriad reasons the Now Tour is monumental — and not just for Twain fans. Thematically, cinematically and musically, it achieves that superlative hugeness only possible from a musician of her status and caliber; the cost alone exceeds some countries' GDPs. And while Twain is unquestionably the life of the tour, its heartbeat is 22-year-old drummer Elijah Wood, the shadowy figure who started the show with a drumbeat.

She landed the Twain gig when she was 19, for the Rock This Country tour, backing one of the best-selling music artists of all time. So Wood undoubtedly is a talented drummer. Her style is a meld of her heroes: Taylor Hawkins, Steve Gadd, Cindy Blackman, Steve Ferrone. When she unleashes herself onto the drums, she does it with a brutality much like Dave Grohl circa In Utero. Her style has a breathable flow to it, without collapsing into the loose, octopus-like flail of Ginger Baker or the stumpy lag of Ringo Starr.

Wood grew up in a musical household, heir to a musical lineage — her father was a founding member of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She’s played onstage since she was 14, when she began touring with her parents’ music education program, Electrify Your Strings. Its mission, according to the website, is “to empower traditional orchestras, bands, and choirs with 21st century skills, and provide the means for young people to think and act creatively through music making and music sharing.”

Onstage, Wood actualizes every part of that mission statement. Moreover, her involvement with a forward-looking orchestra makes sense. Sure, she can beat the living **** out of the drums, but she also knows how to pull back, how to enhance the show with a reliable thump that people may not even notice.

Throughout the first half of the show, Wood shone, but always in the background, in that fundamental way. Then it happened. The drum solo.

Drum kit mastery, above jackhammer quickness, involves a simplicity that can erupt into chaos at any moment, always back and forth. Plenty of drummers can parade around a drum kit — often at an impressive clip — but few have mastered its secret monasticism.

At Wednesday night’s show, Elijah Wood proved herself one of the enlightened drummers. Jammed into an embankment of drums — big drums, a Gretsch kit, candy-apple red, with a tight snare and four tom-toms, loud, massive. If you saw it with the music muted, you’d swear Wood — with the long silver hair and a coal-black outfit — was a heavy-metal drummer. Her solo had the wild sharpness of John Bonham, a longtime hero of hers. Like Bonham, she’s a head-down drummer, seeming so enraptured by the beat that she involuntarily faced the floor as she thrashed at the drums, the drumsticks and the clear drumheads colliding with a dangerous intensity that shook the entire stadium.

The drums were just part of what made the show a festival. After all, when you shell out the triple-paycheck money for an A-list musician like Shania Twain or Justin Timberlake or Beyoncé, you expect some Houdini-level theatrics: musicians vanishing into trapdoors, fireworks that spell things, Jumbotrons bigger than houses, or, if it's Kanye West, stage levitating above the audience.

Twain has not been outdone by Kanye. Throughout the night, platforms levitated. One of Twain’s tricks was so bizarrely good that it sounds like an Ambien dream. She floated over the audience on a guitar case, singing a patriotic song with hints of T-Pain-style autotune.

To be clear: Shania Twain Peter Panned over the audience on an acoustic guitar case. For about seven minutes. It doesn’t matter what musical genres you like or dislike. If you’re at a show and the artist levitates on instrument storage containers, you can call it a damn good experience.

Also unexpected was the Molly-friendly laser show, shades of Pink Floyd. Overall, the graphics might have benefited from a more MDMA-influenced weirdness, but that’s not something most people want from a Twain performance.

More important, the musicians and the dancers were flawless, gifted. Twain selected the finest artists she could find. At first glance, there seemed to be a disparity between the number of musicians onstage and the amount of sound and the number of instruments that Twain’s music incorporated. In reality, each musician was a multi-instrumentalist — moving from piano to fiddle, guitar to mandolin, bongo to bass. All of them are young, so we’ll likely be hearing more about them as they move forward in their careers.

The show had a staunchly Vegas feel to it — explosive in its pageantry and flash, entertaining to the hilt, but stylistically Broadway-esque at times. Best of all, people enjoyed themselves, and isn’t that what matters?

Every stop along the Now Tour is regimented: the same set list, same dance routines, same graphics. Of course, logistically, that's the only option. Based on the amount of gymnastic choreography, a unique, crafted show would be outlandish and possibly tragic. The sameness reveals a lot about Twain, that she cleverly personalizes the show every chance she can. After the levitation Wednesday night, she took selfies with three shell-shocked fans, one of whom beamed as she told Twain, “We’re going to hang this picture over the fireplace in a frame.”

Twain is a natural entertainer, able to walk into an arena with 20,000 people and bring, somehow, each person into the moment, beside her. She’s a pro, no doubt. And she captivates an audience with her genuine congeniality. She is Mary Poppins on a guitar case.

She’s music royalty for a reason, and without a doubt, she has earned it. Say the phrase, “Man, I feel like a woman,” and the melody instantly goes bobbing around your head. Everybody knows the song. Everybody knows Shania Twain. She ranks among the best-selling music artists of all time, with 188 awards of various origins, including five Grammys, eight Billboard Music awards and 27 BMI Songwriter awards.

She has concrete stars on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Canadian Walk of Fame. Five studio albums, two live albums. She has collected so many platinum, silver, and gold records and singles that if money ever got tight, she could melt all that metal into a small fortune. Come On Over, her third album, ranks as the sixth-highest-selling album in music history, the highest-selling album of all time by a female artist.

Musically, the Now Tour, like Now as an album, symbolizes a kind of rebirth for Twain. She retired in 2004 after a serious bout of Lyme disease that led to dysphonia, leaving her vocal cords shredded — all of which was depicted in a miniseries on the Oprah Winfrey Network. For more than a decade, she was married to the notorious producer Robert “Mutt” Lange, who sculpted some of the greatest rock albums of all time; who was also known as “One More Time” Lange because he demanded take after take until artists had recorded perfection; and who is, by most accounts, a complete @sshole.

Lange often watched Twain’s shows from the side of the stage, counting her mistakes then berating her for each of them after the show. Their divorce and her subsequent marriage to the ex-husband of the woman Twain's ex-husband married, were well documented by the tabloids.

Now, her first album in 15 years, includes performances from more than three dozen musicians, legends and young blood alike. More important, it’s the first album since her debut not to feature “One More Time” Lange as a producer since her 1993 debut. It was her first time with full control of the wheel.

“I told anyone getting involved musically to forget about my other records,” she said in a recent interview. “I didn’t want it to be related to Mutt’s productions at all. I wanted a more organic approach. … I'm a different singer now. There was a lot of coming to terms with that. It's been one of the obstacles in my life I've just had to learn to live with."

Like the album and the tour, the takeaway of the Dallas show is refreshing, and it can be summarized by the lyrics of the song she started with: “Life’s about joy, life's about pain. It's all about forgiving and the will to walk away. I'm ready to be loved, and love the way I should. Life's about to get good.”

Whether you like Twain’s music or not, it accomplishes a rare task worth appreciating: It brings love and optimism into the world on a massive scale. We humans tend to bicker. We have a tendency to fight, to degrade, to destroy, and the world can be a sad, broken place. Thankfully, even the merest spark of hope or kindness can lead us to a cure, no matter how sad or broken the world gets.

Music is one of the greatest remedies we’ve been given. And Shania Twain is among a select group of musical figures whose words and melodies have woven into every aspect of life. So next time you’re at a wedding or a restaurant or a store and you hear “You’re Still the One,” whether you like the song or not, stop for a moment, listen, and remember that life would be lonelier and darker without it.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/music/review-shania-twain-6-6-18-at-american-airlines-center-10774604

Tommy · Guru

Back on May 11, photographer Adrian O'Brien tweeted:

I recently met up with Allison in Vancouver, during the final couple of days of rehearsals for Shania's upcoming tour to create portraits for the tour program. The tour is now underway...and it's top notch. Go see it! @allisoncornell

https://twitter.com/AdrianOBrien/status/995078656606199808

I don't know why they wouldn't have tour program books ready at the beginning of the tour so everyone who wants one could buy one. We are over a month into the tour and there aren't program books on-sale at the concerts. I'll be pissed if they are coming out later since I went to the concert last Monday.

But it might be a VIP photo book like they started giving out mid way through the "Rock This Country" tour.

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain brings her country-pop dazzle to Houston

By Joey Guerra | Houston Chronicle | June 10, 2018

"Are you ready to have some fun?"

That was the key, the theme, the pronouncement that drove Shania Twains' Saturday night stop in Houston, part of her NOW Tour. (Her caps, not ours.)

The two-hour show was built on escapism, a let-your-hair-down and drink-frozen-margaritas night out with the girls. Or guys.

It was full of big, crowd-pleasing moments, starting with her walk through the crowd from the back of the venue up to the stage. There was a kiss cam. There was a raffle winner who got to come onstage and sing "Honey, I'm Home" with Twain.

"Houston strong, baby!" he shouted before leaving.

And of course, so many songs designed for top-of-lungs singalongs. Only the newer stuff from her "Now" album prompted fans to take their seats or rush up the aisles for a drink/restroom break.

Twain rallied with the pep of a cheerleader and the sparkle of a diva. She sang strongly and clearly, her voice now taking on a richer tone. And she was backed by an effervescent, excellent band.

She kicked off in a sparkling gown with a slit up to her thigh. The stage was dazzling, all rows of lights and staircases and LED cubes that moved in time with the music.

"It's a bit complex," she quipped.

Twain sometimes tripped over her hems, many of which dragged the floor. But it was more endearing than anything else. She laughed off a slight, mid-song staircase stumble during "Let's Kiss and Make Up."

She frequently addressed the crowd with an earnest awkwardness that again only served her well. She said she's learned in recent years to express herself through her music. And she talked about growing up poor and having to fend for herself.

"I've made it the other side after a lot of lows," she said.

But again — the fun. It was impossible to resist the music when she launched into "Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)," compete with pseudo-Riverdancers. A few seconds later, she sashayed through a powered-up "That Don't Impress Me Much" wearing a bodysuit worthy of a "RuPaul's Drag Race" runway. (Top looks of the week, of course.)

Even the most country section of the show — "Any Man of Mine," "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" — was covered in Las Vegas razzle dazzle. It was red boots and leather, shiny buckles and cowboy hats. And a squad of athletic dancers.

Signature tune "You're Still the One" was a sweet singalong, Twain suspended above the crowd in a harness. She was escorted back to the main stage by a pair of awestruck fans who were repaid with a selfie.

Power ballad "From This Moment On" was a standout in its simplicity — and was peak drama at the same time. Twain stood still to the side of the stage as images of flowers bloomed on a scrim behind her.

"I'm Gonna Getcha Good!" boasted LED costumes and played like a laser-tag musical. (Brilliant idea, you're welcome.) Opener Bastian Baker joined Twain on "Party For Two." The band punched up "(If You're Not In It For Love) I'm Outta Here!" with a bit of an '80s groove.

And though the crowd knew most every lyric of every country-pop classic, they were loudest and rowdiest during "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" It was a double-espresso blast of frothy fun.

https://www.chron.com/entertainment/music/article/Shania-Twain-brings-her-country-pop-dazzle-to-12981611.php#item-85307-tbla-53

matteotempo · Guru

2018

Tommy · Guru

2018 "NOW" tour

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain proves she's 'still the one' with first Gulf Coast performance in 14 years

By Jeff Clark | The Sun Herald | June 11, 2018

New Orleans - It's hard to believe it's been 14 years since Shania Twain last performed on the Gulf Coast, but her last show in New Orleans was on June 29, 2004.

Twain returned to New Orleans on Sunday, June 10, for a two-hour show at the Smoothie King Center. And while the Canadian-born songstress paid plenty of attention to the past, the focus of the tour was on the present.

While it would have been easy for Twain to put together a greatest hits tour and pack arenas across the country, the center of the "Now" tour is the album of the same name.

Released in 2017, "Now" is the first album Twain has released since 2002's "Up!." It's also the first album she's made since her breakup with husband and producer Mutt Lange.

And "Now" was all over Sunday's show from the opener "Life's About To Get Good" to the somber "Soldier" and the empowering "Swingin' With My Eyes Closed." With a 21-song set, Twain spent about a quarter of the two-hour show focused on her new album.

But the hits were there. There was "Come On Over," "Any Man of Mine," "Honey, I'm Home" — Twain sure does have a lot of hits for an artist that has only released five albums.

The show was not without its poignant moments such as "Soldier,"' which featured a video montage of the film "Thank You For Your Service." Twain performed the song from a seat secured on a wire above the soundboard at the Smoothie King Center.

It was from that very spot where Twain gave the show its emotional weight with a laid back rendition of "Still The One." It was tender moment in a night filled with backup dancers, dancing skeletons made of springs and no less than six different outfits.

The theatrics, however, never overshadowed Twain, whose voice was in excellent shape. She showed that she can still compete at a high level with the best of her disciples, including Taylor Swift.

After more than a decade in exile from the public spotlight, Twain returned to the stage with a high-energy mix of country and arena rock as if she had never left.

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/by-the-way/article212937084.html

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Life was good in New Orleans last night, thank you guys 😘

12:10 PM ET - 11 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain knocks out the New Orleans crowd

By Doug MacCash | The Times-Picayune | June 11, 2018

Shania Twain, the all-time champ of country record sales, strode into the Smoothie King Center Sunday night (June 10) like a prize fighter. Spotlights followed her glinting, sequined cowboy hat as she and an entourage of body guards waded through the adoring crowd from the back of the house to the stage.

As the 52-year-old Canadian chanteuse walked and waved, a feral platinum-haired percussionist pounded out an explosive drum beat that seemed to have escaped from a Metallica concert. It was the most stirring Smoothie King Center entrance ever.

Twain, whose poppy persona lies somewhere between Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, kept the energy level on eleven for the rest of the night, as she belted out the Millennial-era make-out songs that made her a superstar's superstar. Her voice was steely, her delivery was beyond confident, and her backing band kept her surfing on wave after wave of arena-filling rock. Sure, there might have been a fiddle and a mandolin involved, but I swear, in the name of George Strait, it was a rock show.

Production values were stratospherically high, with endlessly shifting stage risers, dazzling projections, choreography, fog, a sort of floating trapeze, and you name it (I especially loved the rolling mannequins made of huge metal springs).

Costume changes were plentiful. At different times during the show, Twain sported a bad-guy black cowboy outfit befitting Liberty Valance (except for the translucent floor-length skirt and scarlet high-heel boots), she wore a smoldering snow leopard-patterned split smock, and a glittering flesh-toned body stocking that she might have borrowed from Cher.

At the end of the show, as the house lights rose and the silver streamers settled, a young woman turned to a friend and said, "Well I don't ever have to go to another concert." It was safe to say Shania had connected with her acolyte and satisfied her utterly. The same could probably be said for the vast, vast majority of Smoothie King attendees.

This being New Orleans, there was naturally a small group of eccentrically clothed female fans who had taken their devotion to Twain to dizzying heights. During Mardi Gras 2018 the women formed a new parading group in which each member impersonated a different Twain incarnation: Pink Urban Cowgirl Shania, Wild Man Shania, Sporty Spice Shania, Cabaret Shania, Classic Canadian (denim), Tuxedo Shania, etc.

The Shania clones were inspired by their love of the singer, whose music was the soundtrack of their youths. They were further inspired by the discovery that there is a brand of boxed wine called Shania, though, they said, the name of the wine is apparently just a coincidence and it is unaffiliated with the singer. They said they use the word Shania to describe inebriation, as in: We went out and really got Shania-ed last night. They have a lengthy and largely incomprehensible theme song / manifesto that ends with the line "with the spirit of a feline cowgirl and the patina of a gently used frying pan, we are the krewe of Shania Twain. Let's go girls."

https://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2018/06/shania_twains_knocks_out_new_o.html

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain was heavy on spectacle, light on subtlety at the Smoothie King Center

By Keith Spera | The New Orleans Advocate | June 11, 2018

Shania Twain knows how to make an entrance.

As a recording of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” rattled the Smoothie King Center’s rafters on Sunday, Twain emerged among the lower-bowl seats toward the back of the arena. Accompanied by a phalanx of security, she made her way across the floor, high-fiving ecstatic fans along the way.

Arriving at the stage, she handed off her cowboy hat to an assistant – a small but symbolic gesture.

Like Taylor Swift years later, Twain used the country music industry as a sort of Trojan horse. Las Vegas, not Nashville, was her true destination as she aspired to single-name pop-diva stardom.

Her current “Now” tour, following her 2017 comeback album of the same name, is a Vegas-worthy spectacle. The set itself was in constant motion, changing for every song, and often during songs. Five 10-foot-tall LED cubes, the main design element, ascended and descended, staggered or aligned in a row, often with musicians atop them. Stagehands spent nearly as much time on stage as the musicians and dancers, moving around staircases, the drum riser and props.

At times, it was too much. One of the show’s simplest effects – an enormous flower projected onto a scrim, continuously opening its petals during the ballad “From This Moment On” – was one of the most effective. But overall, subtlety was in short supply.

As with many divas, Twain has experienced both triumph and tragedy writ large. The latter include a bout of Lyme disease that diminished her voice. She spent years rehabilitating it to the point that she could resume her career, a long and difficult process; her voice is still not what it once was.

For all the effort that went into building and plotting the show, she occasionally let her guard down, which made her seem more human. She concluded “That Don’t Impress Me Much” atop a staircase as a dancer dipped her, then swung her up into an embrace. Twain decided they needed a do-over.

“He’s going to lift me again, light as a feather,” she said, slipping in a self-deprecating crack. (Though, as she noted later, she may no longer be capable of the back flips her younger self executed in long-ago videos, at 52 she still cuts a striking figure.)

Late in the show, opening act Bastian Baker, a handsome Swiss singer-songwriter who is a major star in Europe, returned to lend his voice, guitar and personality to the proceedings. But he couldn’t elevate “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed” beyond another excuse for a bathroom break. That song's placement as the penultimate song in the regular set, when momentum should have been building to a crescendo, was especially odd.

Kicking off the encore, the opening fanfare of Twain’s signature “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” electrified the room once again. There was flash aplenty – for no good reason, Wood was once again levitating 30 foot up on a cube –but also something more. Spectacle is so much more effective when paired with a great song.

http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/entertainment_life/keith_spera/article_197aec56-6d18-11e8-84f6-0b3dcfdca799.html

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain opener Bastian Baker calls her a mentor, readies for show at The Q

By Chuck Yarborough | The Plain Dealer | June 11, 2018

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bastian Baker doesn't mean to name-drop, but it's just a byproduct of his reality.

The guy who essentially discovered him was Claude Nobs, the late founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Yeah, THAT one, in Baker's native Switzerland, the one that Deep Purple referenced in "Smoke on the Water.''

Then through Nobs, he met Shania Twain, who lives in Switzerland with her current husband. And now, Baker is touring the United States as the opening act for Twain's comeback after a 15-year hiatus. The tour stops at Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday, June 16.

"I met Shania at an event at the festival,'' said Baker, calling from a tour stop in Florida. Nobs, who died in 2013, was already a fan and reached out.

"Dude called me and said, 'I'm going to throw this event before the festival. Come and play, just you and your guitar. It can only be good for you,' '' Baker remembered.

It was a morning performance and afterwards, Nobs came up to him and said this "singer from Canada'' liked his music and wanted him to join her table for lunch.

"That was six years ago,'' said Baker, who just turned 27. "We had lunch and talked about live music.

"The funny thing was that I knew Shania from 'Man, I Feel Like a Woman,' but I didn't know about the 100 million records sold or the five Grammys,'' he said. "She's such an adorable, grounded person you would never think she was that legend.''

The friendship they began that day has linked them not just for this tour, but for everything leading up to it.

"They (Twain and her Swiss-born husband) began coming to my shows,'' he said. "She really is my mentor in terms of music. She's been advising me a lot on my music and connecting me with a bunch of people, and she thinks the new songs are ready for this market.''

Though Twain is marketed as a country act, she's really more of a pop singer with country leanings . . . and Baker is neither, which caused him some concern.

"I was a little nervous for the first show,'' said Baker, who speaks five languages and writes and sings in English rather than his native French. "I wondered if I'm country enough or pop enough to have people liking my music.''

But audiences here have been receptive to his sound, which is sort of a smooth pop, with some undertones of Michael Stipe. And for good reason.

"The first song I knew by heart was REM, 'Losing My Religion,' '' he said. "My dad had a sports bar in Switzerland - his father and brother were professional hockey players, and Baker himself was a center on the Swiss national team before deciding to devote himself to music. "I would be singing that song for the clients.

"I was recreating the sounds I'd heard, but I had no idea what I was talking about,'' Baker said, laughing. "It's funny human ear is able to recreate these sounds.''

The key isn't so much the melody or the lyric, he said, but the emotion. If he can impart that to the song no matter the language, he chalks it up as a win.

This tour has had an added bonus, as well.

"The biggest difference and the reason it's amazing for me to tour the U.S. is I sing in English and write my songs in English,'' said Baker, whose real name is Bastien Kaltenbacher. "When I tour Europe, people may not be getting it. One thing I'm sure about here, everybody gets the lyrics.''

Baker confessed he used that language barrier to his advantage when he was starting out.

"At 15, I started writing songs in English, and the first reason why was because it sounded better to me,'' he said, and then laughed. "The second reason was it was very convenient. I could talk about personal stuff and not everybody would understand when I was talking about really [fouled] up stuff.''

Audiences here do understand the words, and they've been giving him a warm reception as he continues to build his career. Perhaps not surprisingly, hockey still plays a part in his music world, too.

"I always remember my dad telling me, referring to Wayne Gretzy: 'Always do better.' ''

Gretzky, eh? Name-dropper.

PREVIEW

Bastian Baker
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 16.
Headliner: Shania Twain.
Where: Quicken Loans Arena.
Tickets: $29.95 to $149.95, plus fees, at the box office, Discount Drug Mart locations, online at theqarena.com or by phone at 1-888-894-9424.

https://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2018/06/shania_twain_opener_bastian_ba.html

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

How cool is this?! Cory's view during Getcha Good! #ShaniaNOW

VIDEO - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1006589449168392192

1:30 PM ET - 12 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain

Little Rock, are you ready for a show tonight?

Choreography video - https://www.facebook.com/ShaniaTwain/videos/10156068073897655/

5:00 PM ET - 12 Jun 18

http://www.facebook.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

CONCERT REVIEW: Shania Twain impresses with North Little Rock show

By Jennifer Christman | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | June 13, 2018

Sexy in a sparkly skintight body suit, superstar Shania Twain had opening act Bastian Baker join her Tuesday night in performing her playful duet “Party For Two.”

But what the Canadian queen of country-pop really did at North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena was put on a party for 11,118.

Touring in support of her 2017 album Now, Twain offered two hours of proof that she — to borrow the partial name of sensitive ballad she sang simultaneously while strumming the guitar and riding a swing over the crowd — is “Still The One.”

She’s still country. She not only broke out the red cowboy boots for several numbers, she brought the honky-tonk “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under” and fiddle-happy songs like the stompy “Any Man of Mine” and catchy, Celtic-light “Don’t Be Stupid” as her versatile troupe of dancers performed Irish footwork.

She’s still pop. The crowd ate up the upbeat “Up!” and other dancier grooves like “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “I’m Gonna Getcha Good.”

She’s still showy. Fabulous and flirty at 52, Twain rocked countless sequined, slinky and slitted costumes. Moving platforms and plenty of other moving parts — graphics, lasers, streamers, confetti — made for an elaborate stage show.

She’s still friendly. She not only made her opening entrance — surprise! — from an arena staircase where she shook hands with fans, she later invited a trio of girls (who escorted her back to the stage after a different journey into the crowd) onstage for hugs and selfies.

She’s still bold. Twain not only belts out her groundbreaking women empowerment anthems like “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,” “Honey, I’m Home” and “I’m Outta Here,” she backs them up by having female musicians — including her drummer and a multi-instrumentalist who played everything from accordion to the trumpet — in her band.

She’s still resilient. Sounding strong of voice — especially after losing it for years to Lyme disease — Twain introduced several new songs written in the aftermath of her scandalous divorce and second marriage (she wed the ex-husband of the best friend who stole her husband). Besides the hopeful opener “Life’s About To Get Good,” none of the new songs were particularly memorable in a good way. The dreary “Poor Me,” did elicit pity — self-pity at having to endure it. But it’s nothing compared to what Twain has endured so she gets a pass.

She’s still Twain. Still we enjoy the music she made then, more than what she’s making Now.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/jun/13/twain-impresses-north-little-rock-show/

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Before showtime

Video of Shania playing Ping Pong last night before her concert in North Little Rock - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1006902761357705217

10:15 AM ET - 13 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain at Verizon Arena: A Review

By Bill Paddack | Arkansas Times | June 13, 2018

“… The beauty of a woman only grows with passing years.”

― Audrey Hepburn

Talk about aging beautifully. Shania Twain has it down.

At 52, the country superstar is back on tour and both looking and sounding great. She brought her "Now" Tour to Verizon Arena in North Little Rock on Tuesday night and wowed a crowd of 11,118 with many of her top hits from the 1990s as well as a number of songs off her 2017 album, also named “Now.”

Of course, those fans were also delighted by the stunning slinky, shimmery, flowing outfits, the backup singers, the dancers, Twain’s terrific band members and their mastery of multiple instruments, the first-rate opening act, the artist flying across the arena on a swing, a blast of streamers, an ever-changing light show and a confetti boom.

It was all quite a show, more a Vegas-type extravaganza than a concert.

But through it all, the music was still the highlight.

Three songs back-to-back-to-back near the middle of her roughly two-hour show proved just how much the Canadian sensation is still appreciated and adored and how, despite all she’s been through in the past several years (divorce, medical problems, etc.), she’s still very much a show-stopping performer. Her voice is a little more mature, maybe a little – what’s the word? – huskier or throaty. And that’s just fine. Maybe even better.

Those three hits from her heyday – “Any Man of Mine,” “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” and “Honey, I’m Home” – had many of her fans standing, dancing, singing along and pretty much worked into a fever pitch.

And speaking of boots, she simply dazzled in those high red ones. Well, OK, she dazzled in all those outfits.

A pair of songs into her act, Twain bragged on the Central Arkansas crowd and its thunderous greeting. “You guys have made my day,” she said. “Two songs and I’m so pumped.” She was literally all over the place – on stage, on a higher platform, down in the audience, flying in that swing while singing the emotional “Soldier” – and made it all work.

Just as she also moved easily from slower, poignant numbers like “Poor Me” (a song she said was therapeutic for her) to the upbeat “Don’t Be Stupid.” She saved “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and “Rock This Country” for her encore.

And at one point Twain admitted: “It’s fun being me.” Maybe it took her awhile to get back to that place in her life, but we’re glad she did. It’s good to have her back.

Swiss singer/songwriter Bastian Baker opened the show and impressed in a short six-song set that was highlighted by his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as well as the catchy “Tattoo on My Brain” and his new single, “All Around Us.” He later joined Twain back on stage for a pair of songs, including a fun “Party for Two.”

https://www.arktimes.com/RockCandy/archives/2018/06/13/shania-twain-at-verizon-arena-a-review

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @shaniatwain

Here’s to you St Louis!! 💫 #ShaniaNOW

1:31 AM ET - 14 Jun 18

http://instagram.com/shaniatwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

We're having so much fun on this tour I can't even tell you. I want to introduce you guys to my amazing band, first up - @ElijahWoodMusic, my unbelievably talented drummer ❤️ #ShaniaNOW

VIDEO - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1007299127233789952

12:30 PM ET - 14 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain shows she's got plenty left to give during Enterprise Center show

By Kevin C. Johnson | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | June 14, 2018

It turns out Shania Twain’s reneging on her farewell tour declaration a few years ago wasn't such a bad thing.

She brought her “Now” tour to Enterprise Center (formerly Scottrade Center) Wednesday night in front of 12,000 fans who were clearly glad she hasn't gone away just yet.

Twain, after all, has a new album to push, “Now” (how is this only her fifth album?) and its arrival last fall could have only meant a another tour would follow.

Twain, who didn't address her return to touring, showed there’s still plenty left to give on the stage, and pulled out all the stops during her two-hour dazzler that drew heavily from “Now” while also pouring on all the classic hits.

The show opened with Twain’s drummer Elijah Wood pounding away on a small satellite stage at the rear of the arena floor under a solo spotlight, all of which was a distraction as Twain walked down the aisle between sections 102 and 103, strutted onto the floor, and made her way to the stage as fans flipped out appropriately.

“Are you ready St. Louis? I said, are you ready St. Louis?” she asked the roaring crowd, surely rhetorically, before throwing herself into “Life’s About to Get Good” and “Come On Over.”

Accompanied by several dancers and an oversized production, Twain made the stage her playground full of six mobile cubes that shifted up and down behind and above her into different configurations, serving as both video projection and a platform for she and her band members to perform on.

During “Up!,” she stood atop a center cube that rose high above the stage, while dancers with a balloon apparatus attached to them pranced below (it was as silly as it sounds really).

As the cube lowered, she said she has experienced a lot of downs and hoped the next song, “Poor Me,” would inspire others as much as it inspires her as she performed the song behind a transparent, leopard-spotted screen.

Sounding as far away from country as she has ever been such as on the best of her new songs “Let’s Kiss and Make Up,” Twain kept the state-of-the-art production, her cavorting with dancers, numerous costume changes and her still down home personality front and center on songs such as “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” and “Rock This Country.”

“We’re on fire St. Louis,” she said before going back to her country roots in full throwback mode, attire and all, for “Any Man of Mine, “Honey, I’m Home” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under,” though at this point in her career it came off as playing dress up.

“I’m Alright” brought out her dancers and singers in black choir robes for a song she says has lifted her spirits the last couple of years. “More Fun” was fully inspired by the male stripper movie “Magic Mike,” while “From This Moment On” came packed with a lasers display.

During “Soldier” from the movie “Thank You For Your Service,” she slowly sailed out over the audience’s head, and stayed there for “You’re Still the One.”

She brought out newcomer pop singer-songwriter Bastian Baker, her support act for the tour, for fun duet “Party of Two,” which she recorded with Billy Currington (Baker’s set last included his rendition of “Hallelujah” and his new song “All Around Us”).

At one point, Twain pulled two women and two girls from the B stage area and walked them through the crowd with her to center stage where they took pictures. Twain was thrilled once she learned they were a grandmother, her daughter and two granddaughters.

Twain's show is the last concert before the venue shuts down for the summer for another round of renovations. It'll reopen with the Maroon 5 concert Sept. 13.

Shania Twain setlist

“Life’s About to Get Good”

“Come On Over”

“Up!”

“Poor Me”

“Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)”

“That Don’t Impress Me Much”

“Let’s Kiss and Make Up”

“Any Man of Mine”

“Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”

“Honey, I’m Home”

“I’m Alright”

“Soldier”

“You’re Still the One”

“More Fun”

“From This Moment On”

“I’m Gonna Getcha Good”

“Party for Two”

“Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed”

“(If You’re Not in It For Love) I’m Outta Here”

Encore

“Man! I Feel Like a Woman”

“Rock This Country”

https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/kevin-johnson/shania-twain-shows-she-s-got-plenty-left-to-give/article_d2dff0a5-3972-5aa3-a03c-254a1a3be250.html

Tommy · Guru

Review: Shania Twain impresses -- much -- at Little Caesars Arena

By Stacey Sherman | Oakland Press | June 16, 2018

DETROIT -- She may have been gone from the spotlight for a few years, but Shania Twain still knows how to dazzle.

It was all sparkles, glitter and lights on Friday, June 15, when the Canadian-born country-pop singer’s Shania NOW Tour stopped at Little Caesars’s Arena. And it didn’t take long for the substantial crowd to remember how entertaining Twain can be, and the two-hour, 21-song show DID seem to impress them much.

Twain -- in a slinky, thigh-high black dress, her rhinestone-studded black cowboy hat glinting in the spotlights -- entered the arena from the rear and walked through the crowd shaking hands and smiling at fans as if she was reintroducing herself after being away for awhile (three years). “Are you ready Detroit?” she shouted. “I said ARE YOU READY? Because life’s about to get good!” before launching into the 2017 single of the same name.

Twain’s stage production was top-notch and lent itself to the party atmosphere. Five giant video cubes moved into various configurations in time with the music and were the playground for Twain and her troupe, serving as platforms, changing rooms and shadow boxes at different times throughout the night. Six dancers also doubled as backing vocalists, and their Celtic Riverdance atop the cubes was a highlight of “Don’t Be Stupid.” Twain rose atop the cubes herself during “Up!,” while the four male dancers executed a Mylar balloons routine on the stage below her.

Twain over the crowd seated on a swing (ingeniously designed to look like an open guitar case) for a poignant “Soldier” and a heartfelt “Still The One,” which had the arena twinkling with fans’ cell phones. There were very few moments that felt flat as Twain kept things moving with the upbeat spirit of a pep squad leader -- only stumbling when she got entangled in the train of one of her numerous flowing costumes when walking back through the crowd a second time.

Twain also became visibly emotional at times when talking about the low points of her life and writing songs after her personal struggles. “Poor Me and “I’m Alright,” both from her latest album “NOW,” both featured touching introductions by Twain.

But the night was not about being down; It was about the party and feeling good. Though the new album is called “NOW” but her fans at Little Caesars were all about the songs from back then. And Twain delivered, with hits that had people dancing and singing along. Nods to her early country faves included “Any Man Of Mine,” “Honey, I’m Home” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under,” during which Twain sported sparkling red platform cowboy boots. Her four-piece band was spare but more than up to the task of playing faithful renditions of the songs.

Anthems such as “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “I’m Gonna Getcha Good” brought more costume changes, including a leopard print number of Twain video fame and a skintight, see-though body suit reminiscent of Cher. Twain’s vocals, huskier than before, had a surprisingly pristine sheen on several of the songs, but that only served the Vegas-style show, which came complete with a blast of streamers for the main-set closing “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here.”

The night closed out with a “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” sing-along and a confetti-punctuated “Rock This Country.” Rock, Country, Pop - Twain brought it all to Little Caesars and reminded us, in glittering fashion, that honey, she’s home.

Opening act Bastian Baker returned to join Twain for a rendition of “Party Of Two” and stayed on stage for “Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed.” Baker, a Swiss singer/songwriter and former judge on “The Voice Belgique (Belgium),” delivered a tight 30-minute set earlier in the evening, including originals such as “Leaving Tomorrow,” “All Around Us” and a beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Baker also joked with the crowd, telling them he was single and then asking them to “make as much noise as you will when the Red Wings make the playoffs!”

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/general-news/20180616/review-shania-twain-impresses-much-at-little-caesars-arena

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain to fans at the Q: 'Honey, I'm Home' (concert review)

By Chuck Yarborough | The Plain Dealer | June 17, 2018

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Shania Twain is a case study in why an open mind might just be both the rarest and most valuable asset in music criticism.

Fifteen years ago, what I referred to as her "cotton candy'' brand of country music - tasty, but not necessarily filling - left a bad aftertaste following a show what was still known as the Gund Arena. Pitchy singing, suspect vocals that hinted at taped overdubs and gimmicks like sporting a William Green jersey to elicit woofs from Browns fans who were blissfully unaware of the coming years of futility made the night slightly worse than a visit to the dentist.

So when the Canadian singer-songwriter came to the now-designated Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday night, expectations were not exactly in the stratosphere.

First off, it'd been 15 years of nothing from her. In those ensuing years, she suffered a bout of Lyme disease that left her with a case of dysphonia, an ailment that left her physically unable to sing.

Worse, her personal life sank even lower. She was divorced from producer Robert "Mutt" Lange, whom much of the music world credited with turning her into an artist who has sold 100 million records and won five Grammy Awards, after learning that he was having an affair with her best friend, Marie-Anne Thiebaud. Oh, and to complete the soap opera, Twain is now married to Thiebaud's ex-husband, who was the one who confirmed the affair to her in the first place.

Maybe there is some truth to the axiom, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.''

And therein lies my own true confession: I went to The Q Saturday night expecting to be underwhelmed.

I was wrong.

I wouldn't wish the personal sadness she's had to endure on anyone, but I think all of it - the health issues, the personal issues, the tabloid exposure - has made her better. I thought I was going to see a horrible show, and I saw exactly the opposite.

Maybe it's something as simple as dropping the key for the Twain chestnuts like "Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You),'' "Any Man of Mine,'' "Honey I'm Home'' and "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under,'' but I don't think so.

There's a strength in her voice that wasn't there before. Oh, nobody's going to confuse her for opera singer Beverly Sills, and she still has to slide into the occasional note rather than hitting it straight on. Call it a "maturity'' in her vocals - and don't say it like it's a bad word, because it's not.

Making great use of a set that featured five cubes adorned with video screens, rolling stairs, a flying drum riser (manned to perfection by transgender drummer Elijah Wood) and six lithe and agile dancers who sometimes added background vocals, Twain was able to captivate the Gund, er, Quicken Loans Arena crowd for the best part of two hours.

Some of the show came from her comeback album, "Now,'' including a song born of her romantic travails called "Poor Me,'' and a wrenching homage to the military called "Soldier.'' Those two tunes really were the best of the new lot, but it was perhaps the opening song "Life's About to Get Good,'' that may be the one that proves prophetic.

But the ones the fans came to hear were those stalwarts, and for some reason, they seem to have a new energy. "You're Still the One,'' "Man! I Feel Like a Woman'' and "From This Moment On'' carry more oomph than ever. Yeah, it's still not Dylan (Thomas or Bob) when it comes to the writing. But it fits her and it fits the genre.

Back in the day, a critique of a Twain show most likely would say, "That Don't Impress Me Much.'' That assessment is no longer true.

Swiss singer-songwriter Bastian Baker opened with a personable six-song that allowed him to win over an impatient crowd with his tenor and sense of humor. Plus, his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah'' was outstanding.

When he was 17, Baker quit the Swiss national hockey team to pursue a career in music. Good call.

https://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2018/06/shania_twain_to_fans_at_the_q.html

Tommy · Guru

The second leg of the tour ended last night in Cleveland. Shania doesn't hit the stage again until June 25 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Thank you Cleveland ❤️ I’m outta here!! #ShaniaNOW

Video of Shania leaving - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1008296298993373184

6:32 AM ET - 17 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

--------------------------------

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

You sounded beautiful! #ShaniaNOW

Cleveland crowd - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1008296873512366081

6:34 AM ET - 17 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

mkk · Veteran Member

2018

Tommy · Guru

RE: 2018 "NOW" tour

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Any man of miiiiiine better walk the liiiiiine 🎤 Now you sing!

12:01 PM ET - 17 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

mkk wrote:
why there is no box office data of the finished concerts. So far we only know the result of the first concert....

I've been wondering that too. I look every 2-3 days and there's not anything on the Billboard boxscore page for Shania's concerts.

Tommy · Guru

Tommy wrote:
mkk wrote:
why there is no box office data of the finished concerts. So far we only know the result of the first concert....
I've been wondering that too. I look every 2-3 days and there's not anything on the Billboard boxscore page for Shania's concerts.

Out of 558 concerts currently listed, there is not one Shania concert. I don't understand why!

June 18 - https://web.archive.org/web/20180618152745/https://www.billboard.com/biz/current-boxscore

mkk · Veteran Member

yes, it's weird. It's like they are not willing to reveal the number.

HumbleKevy · Senior Member

mkk wrote:
yes, it's weird. It's like they are not willing to reveal the number.

seriously????? stop being so paranoid All shows were packed. Do you get a percentage of the money she brings in at concerts?🤤why so concerned that the boxscores were not given to billboard yet?

Tommy · Guru

HumbleKevy wrote:
mkk wrote:
yes, it's weird. It's like they are not willing to reveal the number.
seriously????? stop being so paranoid All shows were packed. Do you get a percentage of the money she brings in at concerts?🤤why so concerned that the boxscores were not given to billboard yet?

We are just wondering why only the boxscore for the first concert in Tacoma has been posted. We are way over a month into the tour. Boxscores for her "Rock This Country" tour were posted regularly.

HumbleKevy · Senior Member

Tommy wrote:
HumbleKevy wrote:
mkk wrote:
yes, it's weird. It's like they are not willing to reveal the number.
seriously????? stop being so paranoid All shows were packed. Do you get a percentage of the money she brings in at concerts?🤤why so concerned that the boxscores were not given to billboard yet?
We are just wondering why only the boxscore for the first concert in Tacoma has been posted. We are way over a month into the tour. Boxscores for her "Rock This Country" tour were posted regularly.

I know but i don't think it has anything to do with them no wanting to reveal number. There could be a number of reasons for them delaying giving the boxscores to billboard. Sometimes they wait till a boat load of concerts are done and then post all the concerts from the past month in the same week.

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Really glad we got to bring @Bastian_Baker out for the #ShaniaNOW tour. Such a talented guy!

12:19 PM ET - 20 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Some of you probably already know the incredible @AllisonCornell. But for those who aren't familiar... #ShaniaNOW

"Meet The Band" VIDEO - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1009473451676008448

12:30 PM ET - 20 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Festa do Peão @barretaooficial

Ansiedade nível máximo!!! Dia 18 de agosto você tem um encontro marcado com a rainha da música country @ShaniaTwain aqui na Festa do Peão de Barretos. Adquira seu ingresso: https://goo.gl/K8uyQm #FestadoPeãodeBarretos #BarretosÉShow #ParqueDoPeão #ShaniaemBarretos

Maximum level anxiety!!! On August 18th you have an appointment with the Queen of Country music here at the pawn party. Purchase your ticket https://t.co/9uZux4qNaX #FestadoPeãodeBarretos #BarretosÉShow #ParqueDoPeão #ShaniaemBarretos

6:00 PM ET - 20 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/barretaooficial

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Shall we have a little karaoke fun of our own? I have a pair of tickets for each upcoming #ShaniaNOW show. For a chance to win, upload your videos singing along to one of my songs with the tag #SingForShaniaSeats and which show you want to attend and I'll choose my favorites! 🎤

1:18 PM ET - 22 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain touring eastern Canada

By Carmel Kilkenny | Radio Canada International | June 22, 2018

Shania Twain might be home for Canada Day this year.

The girl who grew up in northern Ontario is currently on her 2018 ‘Now Tour’, and will be leading the sing-a-longs in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City next week.

At 52, Shania is the woman who sold over 100 million records, becoming the best-selling female artist in country music history, as well as one of the best selling artists of all time.

Her early life and her recent life are the stuff of country music. She has overcome challenges and hardships and is on this comeback tour to celebrate them.

There are still tickets available at some venues. Enjoy the show!

http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/06/22/shania-twain-touring-eastern-canada/

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Canada! Looking forward to being back with my NOW Tour. See you in Ottawa tomorrow! #ShaniaNOW

Video of concert setup process (with Shania's "walk-in" music) - https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/1010945654078574592

2:00 PM ET - 24 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Smiles all round. See you tonight Ottawa! 😘

11:45 AM ET - 25 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Ottawa ❤️ you guys were so LOUD! Thank you!! #ShaniaNOW

9:16 AM ET - 26 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Still the One! Shania’s Back to Rock This Country

By Andre Gagne | Ottawa Life | June 26, 2018

“This has been my dream since I was 3-years old,” squealed one of the Shania Twain triplets that had just been pulled on stage by the real reigning queen of country herself. Standing alongside her were two friends, all three bedecked in outfits from Twain’s videos, all three of them also wearing looks of disbelief.

Twain, having just soared above the crowd amidst the twinkle of cell phone stars while cooing “You’re Still the One” atop a guitar case swing, spotted the look-alike trio and couldn’t resist a reunion of sorts with her past selves.

“It’s like looking into a mirror but the mirror is from 20 years ago,” the singer said with a chuckle before some hugs and selfies. “I mean, this is bringing back some wonderful memories but look at that flat stomach!”

This was but one highlight in a highlight reel of a show that started with the Instagramable moments right out of the gate. Twain, always one for a grand entrance (remember that team of sled dogs pulling her through a blizzard at the Grey Cup?), descended from the upper levels of the Canadian Tire Centre in a glistening gown looking like she was off to the ball and not a country rock pop concert extravaganza.

“It’s really great to be back home in Canada. I started in small town Canada and there were a lot of ups and downs on my way to the top,” said Twain as the stage set lifted her skyward. “From where I’m standing there’s no way but up from here!”

Ups and downs was really the theme of the night, and I’m not just talking about the mammoth set pieces that shifted and stacked like building blocks throughout the night, the elevator lowering the singer through the smoke, and that previously mentioned swing. Though you couldn’t tell on this night, there was a moment where Twain questioned whether or not she’d ever sing again after battling Lyme disease and a bitter divorce. After starting the show with three tunes featuring the usual fare you’d expect from a Shania show –glorious outfits, amazing choreography and tunes that blur the borders between a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll—Twain opened up to the audience about her decade of peaks and valleys.

“Everything that goes up must come down,” relayed Twain in her intro to new song “Poor Me”. “This song has been a very therapeutic one that I’ve relied on more or less just to vent a lot of my emotional stuff. I think that through all the negative in our life something good always comes out of it. We learn a lesson or we just come to realization that we have to have crappy moments to appreciate the good ones.”

Twain didn’t dwell too long in the struggles of the last 15 years, however. Her comeback album’s title tells you that she’s living in the Now. This party wasn’t going to be filled with pity, especially with a collection of balloons stage side and two confetti blasters set up in the arena. As she sang, yeah, “Life’s About to Get Good.”

While known for her mesh of genres that helped coin the phrase “new country”, she can squeeze out some Twain twang when the tune calls for it. I mean, she’s not the best-selling female country musician for nothing, you know? Sporting outfit number three of what would be eight –this one a black leather jacket, dress and cowboy hat– the mid-set kicked up some boot scoot boogie in a honky-tonk bar setting for “Any Man of Mine” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under”.

For two hours, Twain belted out the hits like these showing that she still has the chops (most evident on the powerful crescendo to “From This Moment On”) and the moves, even if it means doing a rollback to get one just right. During the crowd pleaser “That Don’t Impress Me Much”, she hurried up a flight of steps to jump into the arms of one of her male dancers. Admittedly out of breath from the jaunt, she called for a redo and nailed it with a delight scream.

All smiles, Twain was obviously happy to be back in the saddle, jamming everything she had into one hell of a show that brought a little of that Vegas strip spectacular to O-town. You had lasers, dizzying heights, holographic dancers, those cherry-red boots ready to shimmy, shake, make an earthquake and, oh yes, there was a whole lotta’ confetti.

Shania may have gone through the ringer in recent years but she’s a survivor that’s come out the other side with more spunk, freedom, and grace. After a show like this there can be little doubt that the Queen of Country has reclaimed her crown.

SET LIST:

Life’s About to Get Good
Come on Over
Up!
Poor Me
Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)
That Don’t Impress Me Much
Let’s Kiss and Make Up
Any Man of Mine
Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?
Honey, I’m Home
I’m Alright
Soldier
You’re Still the One
More Fun
From This Moment On
I’m Gonna Getcha Good!
Party for Two
Swingin’ With My Eyes Closed
(If You’re Not in It for Love) I’m Outta Here!

Encore:
Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
Rock This Country

http://www.ottawalife.com/article/still-the-one-shanias-back-to-rock-this-country?c=2

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Thank you Ottawa! Montreal, you ready? #ShaniaNOW

1:10 PM ET - 26 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain

Tommy · Guru

Review: Shania Twain proves she's still the one, hints at new direction

It’s worth reminding ourselves just how astoundingly, unprecedentedly big Shania Twain was at her peak

By Ian McGillis | Montreaal Gazette | June 27, 2018

The word “comeback” is never spoken, but clearly that’s what this is.

Shania Twain’s Now Tour show in front of 13,700 fans at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night was a lesson in the double-edged nature of grand-scale popularity: it never really goes away, but it can make forward progress tricky.

It’s worth reminding ourselves just how astoundingly, unprecedentedly big Shania Twain was at her peak. In Canada she has three of the 10 best-selling albums of all time. Those turn-of-the-century multiplatinum free-for-all days can feel like an awfully long time ago, but Tuesday carried multiple reminders of how influential the work Twain did with her former husband and producer Mutt Lange has been. Taylor Swift’s country-to-pop shift, for one thing, would be unthinkable without Twain’s groundwork. While early Twain’s connection to the country music tradition was sometimes tenuous, at a certain point that became irrelevant. This music marked the moment where country didn’t so much go mainstream as become the mainstream — a position it has since ceded to hip-hop.

Success beyond measure notwithstanding, Twain eventually discovered that making it all the way from Timmins, Ont., to a chateau in Switzerland doesn’t make you immune to life’s bruises. She fell victim to a Lyme disease-related condition that left her temporarily unable to sing at the same time that her marriage and working relationship with Lange was sundered when he was found to be cheating with one of their best friends. Twain’s late-2017 recovery and re-entry album, Now, was an interesting creative response to all that trauma: she took a more active hand in the production, made her lyrics more introspective, generally conducted herself less as a brand planning a new campaign than an artist making a personal statement.

So, how would that lower-key approach play in a massive hockey arena? Well, we never really found out, because after an introductory mission statement in the form of the new Life’s About to Get Good, the focus turned squarely to the hits, and Twain rolls her hits out with the confidence of someone who knows they are foolproof. Don’t Be Stupid, That Don’t Impress Me Much, Any Man of Mine, Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? These girls-night-out anthems were crafted with the assumption they’d be sung in big venues, and they continue to inhabit that space unimpeachably. When new songs were interspersed, they sat awkwardly among their mass-singalong neighbours in the setlist.

Twain’s between-songs banter, much of it in French, had an endearing awkwardness, but overall the show’s pacing could have been tighter. A rendition of You’re Still the One sung from from a vertiginously elevated trapeze swing was a highpoint, but an interminable interlude involving local wrestler Kevin Owens, followed by a corny “slide show” of excerpts from old videos brought things to a virtual standstill. We knew there were still hits in reserve, though, and indeed they came to the rescue. Resistance is futile when a power ballad like From This Moment On gets everyone hugging each other, while first encore Man! I Feel Like a Woman! (before you ask, she did indeed don the iconic miniskirt and thigh-high boots combo) was less a song than an all-devouring juggernaut, fully earning its two exclamation marks.

So, then, a beloved Canadian global megastar comes back home to restate her case after it appeared it might all be over. The story would be unadulteratedly feel-good had Twain not stated in an April interview with The Guardian that if she were American she would have voted for Donald Trump in 2016. For an artist who counts women and gays among her most loyal supporters it was a shocking thing to say, and her subsequent attempt to walk it back, tweeting that her words needed “more context,” didn’t hold water. This reviewer cannot have been alone among the crowd in wondering how she would acknowledge the considerable fallout.

As it turned out, she didn’t, but if there was disappointment, no one voiced it. Maybe it was unrealistic to think that a pre-sold house of devotees was the place to address the question; maybe, in this bewildering historical moment, the whole thing will simply blow over, forgotten in the 24/7 cycle. But it deserves to be remembered, and Twain deserves to be held accountable, especially given what happened to the Dixie Chicks for speaking out against George W. Bush.

Opener Bastian Baker took the challenge of facing someone else’s room alone armed only with an acoustic guitar and turned it to his advantage, addressing the crowd in French (he’s from Switzerland, not that you’d guess it from the subtle Nashville twang of his singing voice), performing the ubiquitous Hallelujah in its composer’s home town, and even returning late in the headliner’s set for a pair of duets. Stardom looks like his for the taking.

http://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/arts/shes-still-the-one-shania-twain-brings-the-hits-hints-at-new-direction

Tommy · Guru

Shania Twain @ShaniaTwain

Arrived in beautiful Quebec at 3am. See you guys at the show tomorrow!

9:58 AM ET - 27 Jun 18

http://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain