Shania Twain had already been singing for a good 45 minutes at the Bell Center when she stepped up to the microphone alone, guitar slung over her shoulder, recounting that she had been introduced to country music by her grandparents and that she had started to composing alone in a small cabin lost in the woods. Then she intoned the first sentences of Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? in a soft, almost resigned tone.
It only lasted a moment. “I wondered what it would be like with a faster rhythm,” she said, before repeating the same piece in the version we know, accompanied by her group. With this pop energy which reverses the perspective and gives power back to the woman who, in the song, is deceived by her cowboy.
That’s the essence of Shania Twain: a singer who exploded the codes of pop and country music by placing herself in a position of power. That Don’t Impress Me Much, (If You’re Not in It for Love) I’m Outta Here! and several other songs she sang Wednesday at the Bell Center evoke this form of empowerment.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Shania Twain seems well and truly recovered from her health problems and her pop antics of the early 2000s.
His tour, like his most recent album, is titled Queen of Meand that’s what she looked like on stage: a vocal singer in full possession of her means.
Shania Twain seems well and truly recovered from her health problems and her pop antics of the early 2000s. The last time the author of these lines saw the Canadian queen of country perform, 20 years ago at the Center Bell, she had just published her album Up! and had given a very disappointing concert marked by a deafening pop beat, spending his time shaking hands while pacing a circular central stage on several levels.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Shania Twain at the Bell Center
Sparkling country
On Wednesday, on the occasion of her second visit to Montreal in less than six months, we reconnected with the country musician and singer. She transformed the Bell Center into a saloon, re-releasing old songs like Any Man of Mine – with the violins – but also his big pop hits from the mid-1990s Man! I Feel Like a Woman!, You’re Still the One, I’m Gonna Getcha Good! and some excerpts from his most recent album, including Waking Up Dreaming And Pretty Liar.
Shania Twain seemed in a particularly playful mood, inviting the crowd to sing and dance with her. We found in her this sparkling side which already distinguished her 30 years ago in the still very conventional and codified world of country music. Quite frankly, we didn’t understand the space theme of some of the animations nor the golden Wonder Woman costume that she wore during most of her show, but that wasn’t of much importance: Shania Twain – who spoke mainly in French – charmed everyone.
Talk stands out
It’s rare that an artist who performs as the opening act at a show elicits a reaction beyond polite enthusiasm. Talk, however, easily drew the crowd into his game with his 1980s-tinged arena pop-rock. His powerful vocals and catchy choruses easily filled the amphitheater, eliciting such an enthusiastic response from the audience – during Run Away to Mars notably, of which the crowd sang the chorus – that we almost had the impression that the audience was there for him. Here’s one who made new friends in Montreal.