Shania Twain

Last week, we saw Shania Twain in concert at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.

In general, I am not a fan of country music, but there are some exceptions.  Shania Twain is undoubtedly the biggest exception that statement, because I like pretty much all of her music, from the early, very-country-sounding songs, to the pop music that followed in later years.

According to Wikipedia, she was born in Windsor, Ontario, but moved to Timmins, Ontario when she was 2.  I had never heard the Windsor story before, because Timmins is my hometown and Shania Twain is definitely thought of as being from Timmins.  I've enjoyed telling people that I am from the same hometown as Shania Twain, but apparently that is not entirely accurate.  Don't care.  As far as I am concerned, we are both from Timmins!

We saw her in 2003 during her Up! tour and it was a great show, so we had no doubt that she would entertain us once again.  We had seats in one of the 300-level suites, and it was amazing!

Gavin DeGraw was the opening act and he was awesome.  It was the first time I've ever truly enjoyed the opening act of a concert!  He performed for about 45 minutes or so and I really can't overstate it – he was so good.  Here's his set list:

Soldier

In Love With a Girl

Fire

Sweeter

Chariot

Best I Ever Had

Big Shot (Billy Joel cover)

I Don't Want To Be

Not Over You / Heaven (Bryan Adams cover)

I loved every minute of his performance, including when he came out into the crowd, high-fiving and shaking hands, taking selfies, and interacting with fans.  Usually the opening act is something to be tolerated, but Gavin DeGraw is not really an opening act, in my opinion.  Too many great songs!

After a brief intermission, Shania took the stage.  What can I say?  She's the epitome of "superstar" and delivers such a high-energy performance!  She did a ton of her hits, was completely charming, and sounded great.  The stage and the effects were impressive and the big screens allowed for some cool scenes/images to be displayed.

Shania's set list:

Rock This Country

Honey, I'm Home

You Win My Love

Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?

I Ain't No Quitter

Love Gets Me Every Time

Don't Be Stupid

Any Man of Mine

I'm Gonna Getcha Good

Come On Over

Party For Two – with Gavin DeGraw

Up!

Today is Your Day

No One Needs to Know

Still the One

From This Moment

That Don't Impress Me Much

(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!

Man! I Feel Like a Woman (encore)

As you can see from the photos, she really does put on a great show!  At one point, she selected a little girl from the audience to join her on stage and the little girl sang "Honey, I'm Home" to the whole crowd (well, a few lines repeated multiple times, but still!).  It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Supposedly this is her farewell tour, but I hope that's not true.  I'd love to see my hometown girl out on the road again in the future!

Happy Tails to you!