Twain To Take
'Up!' On The Road
By Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.
Shania Twain will tour North America this fall, Billboard.com has learned.
Due to be officially announced tomorrow (Aug. 19), the trek will kick off the tour Sept. 25 in Hamilton, Ont., and is scheduled
to last through a Dec. 7 stop in Vancouver. The initial list consists of 18 shows, with the tour's first leg expected to play
about 40 dates.
The trip will be Twain's first extended performance schedule in support of her
latest album, "Up!," released in November by Mercury Nashville. The tour will be presented in the round, with 360° stage in
the center of the arenas allowing Twain to perform to fans on all sides of each venue.
Tickets
for each show will be sold through Ticketmaster in the U.S. and in Canada. Specific information regarding on sale dates is
forthcoming, presumably with the tour's official announcement.
Along with confirmation of the
tour, tomorrow will also bring the NBC concert special "Shania Twain: Up!" The two-hour broadcast is culled from a free
July 27 performance in Chicago's Grant Park, and is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Since
releasing "Up!" in November, Twain has staged only a handful of live appearances, including a concert last month in London's
Hyde Park. She was among those performing at Willie Nelson's 70th Birthday Concert in April in New York and joined No
Doubt and Sting during the halftime show at Superbown XXXVII in January. Twain has also made several daytime and late night
talk show visits and performed on the American Music Awards and the CMT Flameworthy Music Video Awards.
"Up!" debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. It has sold 4 million copies in the
U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. Last week, Mercury issued a version of the album in the high-fidelity Super Audio CD
(SACD) format.
With seven nominations, Twain leads the field for the Canadian Country Music Association
Awards. She is up for top female artist; top single, song and video for "Forever and for Always"; the fan choice award; album
of the year for "Up!" and top video for "I'm Gonna Getcha Good." Twain could also notch an eighth win in the non-voted category
of top-selling album. The awards will be handed out Sept. 8 at the Saddledome in Calgary, where Twain will perform a concert
on Dec. 4.
Here are Shania Twain's upcoming tour dates:
Sept.
25: Hamilton, Ont. (Copps Coliseum) Sept. 27: Ottawa, Ont. (Corel Centre) Sept. 29: Pittsburgh
(Mellon Arena) Sept. 30: Buffalo, N.Y. (HSBC Arena) Oct. 2: Toronto (Air Canada Centre) Oct.
4: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena) Oct. 7: Boston (FleetCenter) Oct. 8: East Rutherford,
N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena) Oct. 10: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center) Oct. 11: Albany, N.Y.
(Pepsi Arena) Oct. 12: Uniondale, N.Y. (Nassau Coliseum) Oct. 14: New York (Madison Square Garden) Oct. 17: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center) Oct. 24: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills) Oct.
28: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center) Dec. 4: Calgary (Pengrowth Saddledome) Dec. 5: Edmonton
(Skyreach Centre) Dec. 7: Vancouver (Pacific Coliseum)
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