Shania Twain had been singing for a good 45 minutes at the Bell Center when she came 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 sang the opening lines 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.
This is 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.
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 was 20 years ago at the Center Bell, she had just released 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.
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 her 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 get the space theme of some of the animations or the gold Wonder Woman costume that she wore for most of her show, but that didn’t matter much: Shania Twain – who spoke mainly in French – charmed everyone.
It is rare that an artist who performs as the opening act for 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 in particular, where the crowd sang the chorus – we almost had the impression that the audience was there for him. Here’s one who made new friends in Montreal.
