Shania Twain Review: The queen of country-pop reigns supreme
"This is how it's done!"
They say you should never meet your idols. Sitting down at the O2 for the second of Shania Twain’s Queen of Me tour dates at London’s O2 Arena, I wondered if the same could be said for seeing your idols onstage.
Thankfully, in this case, I was wrong. Shania was sensational. I’ve been a die-hard fan since my very early years, really as long as I can remember. I joke I knew all the lyrics to the entire Come On Over album before I knew my times tables. But given I struggled with maths at school, I don’t think it’s actually a joke at all.
The star opened the show with ‘Walking Up Dreaming’ from her most recent album, Queen of Me. Appearing blonde-haired out of a box amid the audience Shania set the tone for the night, a euphoric and at times emotional set.
Over the course of the following two hours the ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ singer took the audience on a whirlwind tour of almost her entire six-album discography.
Apart from her self-titled debut album, Shania touches on every other album with 1997’s Come On Over featuring heavily. Hits such as ‘Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You),’ ‘You’re Still The One,’ and ‘Rock This Country!’ are lapped up by the crowd. She delves into 1995’s The Woman In Me with anthemic tracks such as ‘Any Man of Mine’ as well as 2002’s Up! with the titular song and ‘Forever and for Always’.
Shania even takes a moment to recognise some of her deep cuts in a seamless medley featuring ‘Nah!’ and ‘She’s Just A Pretty Face’, among others. Even ‘Waiter! Bring Me Water!’ gets stage time.
Every now and then Shania stops to talk to the audience briefly, a part of the experience she clearly enjoys, but otherwise makes it through almost her entire set in just one outfit. All in all, she proves her status as a pop icon as well as the queen of country-pop and also that she has the hits. She doesn’t need to take breaks to fill time, there’s plenty of material.
The only time Shania changes outfit is before her stellar-class encore, here comprised of perhaps her two most well-known hits – ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’ and ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’. For this section, she re-emerges on Sunday (17 September) in the iconic leopard print outfit worn in the music video for the first song. On Saturday she did the same in the equally iconic outfit for ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’
It’s safe to say the show reaches its peak here with the entire O2 Arena singing along at full volume. This is how it’s done!
In balance with these joyful moments that might just have blown the roof of the O2, Shania also provides intimate and delicate moments with songs such as ‘You’re Still the One’ and the love ballad, ‘From This Moment’.
With the Queen of Me tour Shania has cemented her role as a pioneer in music, helping redefine country-pop and bring it into the 21st Century. The album and song title feels appropriate; Shania is the Queen of herself and she might as well be the queen of us all!
The Queen of Me tour runs until 14 November. Get tickets here.