By Charlie McGroarty

You can see the absolute joy on the faces of the people who are proud owners of tickets for this, the first concert that Shania had done in 3 and a half years.

The reason for this concert, which was shown on American television, was to promote the Up album.

As the massive crowd surged into the picturesque “Grant Park” which is an open air venue right in the middle of Chicago, we are treated to the sight of Ms Twain meeting and greeting her followers as part of the lead up to the show.

Actions like these may not seem much but by doing them, she is making their day even more memorable and does seem generally pleased to be doing it.

The concert begins by her asking from off stage...Chicago are you ready? My first question is Chicago is she miming?

The huge backing band that she has (I lost count when I got to 8 musicians) are well choreographed.

They don't seem to be out of breath as they contribute well to a good rockin’ opener of Man I feel like a woman.

There was then an effortless move into the title track of the album and tour called Up (now there's a surprise, its the name of the dvd too!).

I couldn't help but thinking if they hadn't discovered the battery packs that let you play instruments without massive of cables all over the place, then people like this band would struggle to put on the show that they do.

I'll give them they benefit of the doubt and say that they aren't miming
Now we all know that Gouda cheese comes from Holland, Camembert from France.

However this massive piece of cheddar comes from Canada to Chicago.

This particular cheesiness may prove to be too sweet for delicate palettes like mine, do Americans really like all that nonsense.

I mean in this show there is a surprise marriage proposal, three sparkly kids get up on stage prompted by Shania to help with I'm gonna get you good.

And finally two devotees (male) are asked up on to the platform not to sing (thank heavens) but because they have stripped to the waist with their fantasy figures name on both their chests i.e. Sha-nia.

A good advert for the male species of America?

As her song says Nah! I didn't think so too.

These diversions shouldn't distract from the effort made by the performers on stage. It is a very professional performance we are witnessing.

Musically, Shania’s songs falls in between two categories. The occasions when she is good, she is very good but there are songs that if any newcomer presented them to a record company they would be shown the door!

I mean who would be interested in a song called In my car I’m the driver

Shania is a music businessman's dream, she succeeds on so many levels. The young girls look on her as the ideal big sister figure.

The older ladies look on her as a spokeswoman for their generation and as for males...need I say more? She is rather gorgeous.

Highlights for me were terrific versions of Rock This Country and Still the one.

The downsides were the cheesiness already mentioned, some of the songs are very similar in form and when she tries to mix different musical styles, its more often miss than hit.

After that negativity. I have to say these down points are only a small part of what turns out to be a very very enjoyable show.

My suggestion is get the dvd, when you switch it on leave your brain in neutral and have a good time watching both Shania and the audience.

The two just as entertaining in their own way

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