Shania Twain
Botanic Park, Sunday 2^nd December 2018

(Reviewed by John Glennie)

First up was Swiss support singer / songwriter Bastian Kalterbacher (aka Bastian Baker) on acoustic guitar singing mostly his own compositions as well as a good (though too fast) version of Leonard Cohen’s classic ‘Hallelujah’. Excellent performer with great crowd interaction – several of the ladies near me were quite taken with him!!

Of course, the crowd went wild when Shania Twain hit the spotlight and opened with an appropriately-named track from her new album ‘Life’s About To Get Good’. She said it was good to be recording again after a 15-year hiatus between albums and she certainly hasn’t lost her touch. She then launched into a couple of
“oldies” in ‘Come on Over’ and – upon hinting at the emotional traumas of the past years, that the only was was – ‘Up!’. For this song she was elevated on a raised platform to the roof of the stage (a long way up!).

Songs from her new album were intermingled amongst the classics and after ‘Poor Me’ we were treated to two of her best: ‘Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)’ and ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’ which had the whole crowd singing along. The stage visual effects were pretty spectacular throughout the concert.

At this stage there was a pseudo-interlude with a drum solo and Kiss Cam. I had to chuckle at the drummer who, shaking her hair around madly while drumming away, reminded me of Animal from The Muppet Show!! Great drummer but still made me laugh.

A couple more new songs followed “Animal” before one of my favourites ‘Honey I’m Home’ – great beat and fiddle (violin) work in this song enthralled the huge crowd.

Another interlude had the band and backing singers performing ‘Ka-Ching!’ then suddenly Shania appeared on a mini stage in the middle of the crowd. The pace slowed a little as she played acoustic guitar and did a solo ‘You’re Still The One’. While on this stage she interacted with some of the crowd close by and brought a few up to the main stage with her – two cousins from Mildura and a young couple from Norwood – and took selfies with them. She had to take over with the couple though as he was a bit technically challenged so Shania took the selfie herself on his phone.

The guests departed the stage and Shania launched into ‘I’m Gonna Getcha Good!’ before bringing the Swiss support act, Bastian Baker, back on stage for a couple of duets including, appropriately, ‘Party for Two’.

Following ‘If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here!’ there was another brief interlude from the band before the concert finished with the ever-popular classic ‘Man I Feel Like a Woman’. The crowd definitely wanted more but, sadly, that was the end of a great concert. Throughout the show there were great dancers performing moves relevant to each song and, as mentioned, excellent lighting and backing videos.

Shania had a couple of attempts at humour which, in my opinion (and a couple of others around me) fell a bit flat. Perhaps she could forget that approach and stick to great music and her natural charm.