Let’s go, girls: Shania Twain does impress Xcel crowd very much

Shania Twain performed at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Hailey Whitters was the opening act.Tony Nelson/Tony Nelson

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May 18, 2023

In the 2022 Netflix documentary Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl, there’s a scene in which the Canadian crossover country superstar is discussing her first tour. By the time Twain finally found time to hit the road, she had three albums under her belt — two of which had already achieved the coveted RIAA diamond certification.

“Because I had waited quite a long time to tour, I really felt the pressure to make it great,” she recalls. The sequence goes on to show that Twain’s tour was well worth the wait, and she more than lived up to all the pressure. The 1998/99 Come On Over Tour was a massive success, selling out arenas worldwide. Despite that, Twain has only embarked on four additional treks in the 20 years since.

That touring scarcity makes the opportunity to catch a live Shania Twain performance feel all the more special. After her Wednesday night show at the Xcel, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone from the crowd of about 15,000 who disagrees. As part of the Queen of Me tour, the show was Twain’s third time gracing the Xcel stage. In October 2003, she set the arena’s single-night concert attendance record of 20,554 — which still stands today.

While Twain's impact stretches far beyond country music — Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Haim, Avril Lavigne, Diplo, and Post Malone all cite her as an influence — her effect is undoubtedly still felt among many modern country artists. The opening act for this leg of the Queen of Me tour, Hailey Whitters, is certainly one of them.

Hailey Whitters plays guitar and sings into a microphone — Hailey Whitters. Shania Twain performed at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Hailey Whitters was the opening act.
Tony Nelson/Tony Nelson

The Iowa-raised, Nashville-based rising star’s 2022 album, Raised, peaked at number nine on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, and just last week, she won New Female Artist of the Year at the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards. Sporting a shiny pink rodeo queen gown, Whitters took the stage with her band to get the night started. From her first note, it was clear that her recent accolade was well-deserved.

With a voice reminiscent of the Chicks’ Natalie Maines and catchy hooks plucked right out of ’90s radio country, Whitters is a breath of fresh air amongst the cavalcade of bro-country acts capturing modern mainstream country as of late. Her vibrant, larger-than-life personality equally matches her impressive songwriting abilities. Both attributes immediately captivated the crowd last night.

Being that Whitters grew up in small-town Iowa, she’s just as much a hometown hero in any Midwestern state as she is in her actual hometown. As such, plenty of friends and family were present at the Xcel to proudly watch her live out her dream.

As Twain’s showtime drew near, a bar of lights began to glow along the bottom of the stage. The rest of the stage suddenly came to life with dancing and blinking lights as the pounding drums from “Waking Up Dreaming,” the lead single off the tour’s namesake album Queen of Me, kicked into high gear.

Three identical black carts were wheeled onto the floor midway between the stage and the soundboard. Twain suddenly sprang up from inside one of them. With a quick “whoo,” she began belting out “Waking Up Dreaming.” We were off. Right off the bat, Twain’s voice seemed slightly strained during the opener. While there were several other times throughout the night where that would be the case, her voice thankfully recovered for all the songs that matter most. During those moments when her voice didn’t seem to want to cooperate, though, her extremely talented pair of backup dancers/singers stepped up to assist along with the crowd.

The cart eventually began going through the crowd and toward the stage where Twain’s band and dancers awaited. She doled out fist bumps and handshakes to many fortunate fans along the way.

Shania Twain sings into a microphone in black gown and knee-high boots — Shania Twain performed at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Hailey Whitters was the opening act.
Tony Nelson/Tony Nelson

Following “Waking Up Dreaming” came a block of hits. “Up!,” “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You),” “I’m Gonna Getcha Good,” and “You’re Still the One” all provided the exact punch of ’90s indulgence that the crowd of diehard Twainiacs desired. Such was the case throughout the entire two-hour set.

Blocks of hits interspersed with newer songs like “Giddy Up!” and “Inhale/Exhale AIR” delivered strong, energy-packed waves of nostalgia rooted in the present. With a catalog of hits as deep as Shania Twain’s (12 of the 16 tracks off Come On Over alone were released as singles), deciding which songs not to include in her set was no doubt harder than what songs to include. That said, all the big ones were there — “Any Man Of Mine,” “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?” “Honey, I’m Home,” “Forever And For Always” — and each one was as spectacular as the last.

Two things were abundantly clear throughout Twain’s set. First, she was having an absolute blast, as were her band and dancers. Never one to let dead air hang over the crowd, Twain filled any voids with random yells, “whoos,” and even straight-up shrieks. Her excitement for being onstage was palpable, making the Xcel feel like a much smaller, more intimate room.

Twain’s accompanying visuals kept the mood light as well. During many songs, the stage’s massive center screen, flanked by two large vertical screens, displayed scenes from a fictional Martian town called Twain Town. Aliens invaded and chased galloping horses (and, at one point, Twain’s fiddler) around the screens. It was nice and silly and felt a little like a world you’d find yourself immersed in at a Meow Wolf installation.

Secondly, Shania Twain really loves her fans. Besides shaking hands and fist-bumping people during the opening number, she found plenty of other opportunities to interact with fans. Several groups of fans were brought onstage to watch up close and personal as Twain and one of her backup singers sang a duet of “From This Moment On.” During the song’s intro, she posed for photos with each of them.

Shania Twain in front of a rocket and starry sky backdrop. — Shania Twain performed at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Hailey Whitters was the opening act.
Tony Nelson/Tony Nelson

Later, after revealing her love of reading fan mail, she surprised a woman named Dana, who’d messaged her earlier that day with a photo of a ticket to her 1998 show in Wisconsin. Twain asked where Dana was in the crowd and invited her onstage. The two made small talk, sang a few lines from “Up!” (Dana’s favorite Shania song), and posed for a selfie.

It would be far too easy for someone as big as Shania Twain to simply tolerate her fans as many artists do, much less embrace them. But Twain genuinely seems to cherish all interactions she gets with her fans, which is refreshing to see.

Despite many high points throughout the night, Twain’s set wasn’t without a few minor low spots. As previously mentioned, her voice did seem a little strained at times. But Twain has a complicated relationship with her voice as it is. In 2004, she took a lengthy hiatus after Lyme disease weakened her voice to the point that she could barely sing. After retraining her voice and overcoming such an almost career-ending obstacle, she’s owed more than a little vocal criticism slack.

A mid-set medley of b-sides, while certainly appreciated by the diehards in the crowd, brought the energy level down a bit too much. Many used it as an opportunity to sit and scroll through Instagram. Other lulls came during “ Roll Me On the River,” the only song Twain played off of 2017’s Now, as well as during songs from Queen Of Me, namely “Pretty Liar” and “Number One.” While these are all great songs on their own, they just couldn’t stand up to the rest of the energy-packed set.

Finally, Twain closed out the main set with the title track off Queen Of Me. While this is the album she’s touring on, it seemed odd to go out on a non-single track off an album that’s only been out for a few months when there are so many other, higher notes on which to end.

All energy lulls were wiped clean during Twain’s two-song encore — and we all know which songs make up a Shania Twain encore. By far, the two biggest hits of her career, “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” were the perfect closers for the night. During the former, the stage visuals were bathed in cheetah print resembling the outfit Twain wore in the song’s music video. And speaking of music videos, before the final song, Twain revealed that the form-fitting black dress she wore for the encore was the form-fitting black dress from the “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” video. The energy during the encore was through the roof, and, as during the main set, Twain looked like she was having a blast.

Wednesday’s show marks about five years since the last time Twain played Xcel on 2018’s Now Tour. When she embarked on her first tour in 1998, she was playing to about five years of pent-up demand for her to tour, hence the pressure she felt to make it great. After all these years and several tours later, she probably doesn’t feel as much pressure anymore. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t make this tour any less special.

Shania Twain & Hailey Whitters