Shania Twain Stirling Summer Sessions review: cowboy hats and The Slosh on a chilly night

Any first time visitors to the city didn’t need directions to the field where it was being staged - all they had to do was follow the procession of cowboy hats heading in one direction. Dressing up is very much part of the Shania experience. There were enough leopard print breeks to cover the cobbles throughout Stirling town centre, and you simply won’t see quite so many sets of cowboy boots anywhere outwith a rodeo.

The rootin’ tootin’ hoedown feel drifted across the field on a night when we were only ever one chorus away from a mass outbreak of line dancing. The group next to me even added that quintessential Scottish touch - The Slosh. In five decades of going to gigs, I can say that was a first.

“I hope you're all nice and cosy shoulder-to-shoulder”’ she told the crowd. Cosy was perhaps stretching it as the temperature dipped, but she still had everyone bouncing along to her feel good greatest hits, perhaps less so for some of her other numbers in a mid-set lull. It probably took until the home straight for things to really light up a chilly night.

But, there were still gems to enjoy - Don’t Be Stupid made an instant impact as the opening number, while phones were held aloft en masse for You’re Still the One, before reigniting the tempo with I’m Gonna Getcha Good. The on-stage conversations were a bit flat and a tad drawn out on a night you needed to keep everything moving to avoid losing all feeling with your toes in those cowboy boots.

Naturally she finished with Man! I Feel Like a Woman! and the crowd took over as she, and they, knew they would.

Shania talked about savouring the moment because “it's not going to last forever.” She may have said more, but the wind muffled the sound every few lines early on, prompting a wee hike round to the other side where things were significantly better.

With a cracking band providing full support, she certainly sounded better than at Glastonbury, with teasing unaccompanied bursts of her greatest songs showing her voice is still there despite the impact of a 20-year battle with Lyme Disease.

A nod too to Rag ‘N’ Bone Man for his excellent support slot. Twain’s infectious enthusiasm for the occasion clearly rubbed off on him.