FirstOntario Centre was buzzing with Shania Twain fans just anticipating her first time back in Hamilton in 11 years. The lights went down, and her band started playing “Rock This Country”. Shania started appearing behind smoke and was lifted up through a rising platform on stage. After that she only kept pounding out the hits with Honey I’m Home, You Win My Love, Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under.
She then announced that they were going to a do a song that they never performed on tour before. Then came a Shania classic “Ain’t No Quitter”, which anyone who saw her Vegas show has had the pleasure of seeing live. After a few more songs she announced that she could hear everyone singing loudly, but couldn’t see everyone too well. She wanted to get to know everyone better, so she came down the left side of the stage into a glass wagon on wheels. Security surrounded, and helped push her around the outside of the venue while a go-pro was on a selfie stick out the front. As she was being pushed around she was stopping to take photos, and shake hands with her fans.
The pyrotechnics on stage started going wild as they played another fan favourite, I’m gonna get you good. They were perfectly timed with beats of the song, and made the crowd go wild. Shania then invited Wes Mack onstage to play another song that’s never been done on tour before, her duet with Billy Currington Party For Two. They two Canadians definitely did it justice and fans went wild.
Later on she slowed things down a bit for a mini acoustic set, just Shania, a stool, and her guitar. Where she played her latest single Today Is Your Day, that she debuted during her mini-documentary series Why Not. The song is full of encouragement as it was Shania’s very own way of overcoming not performing for 11 years. She then started talking about the last show she played in hamilton and moved on to a rendition of Still The One, where she proclaimed “Hamilton, You’re Still The One”.
She went on to talk about how they did all their rehearsals from her previous tour in Hamilton. And continued on by saying “It’s great to be in Canada again. It’s great to be home. It’s been a long time coming and there’s no place to go but up from here.” At that moment, the mechanical bull she was sitting on started slowly rising and she started singing Up!
It’s safe to say that even after 11 years, Shania hasn’t lost her touch. I think Shania’s fan’s desperately hope that this won’t be her last tour.
