Shania Twain is all about taking things back to her small-town roots. After playing a string of shows as an opening act for Harry Styles at London’s Wembley Stadium, the Canadian country-pop icon offered fans a more intimate performance this weekend.
On Friday night, the “You’re Still the One” songstress took to the stage in front of dozens of fans at the Horseshoe Tavern, a tiny dive bar on Toronto’s Queen Street West that holds roughly 500 people. Coming from the 90,000 seats at the U.K.’s largest stadium, it was a complete 180-degree turn that kicks off her final week of promotion for her upcoming album, Little Miss Twain.
“The bars of Ontario are where I cut my teeth learning how to perform, entertain and hold a room,” Twain penned in a social media post on Saturday, a day after her performance at the Toronto pub. “So making my debut last night at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern all these years later felt pretty surreal and super special.
“I’ve really made it now!! Thank you, everyone, who came. You don’t know what it means to me.”
Across social media, fans raved over Twain’s 75-minute set, which she began with “Come On Over” and “Any Man of Mine.” The concert — which was announced a day before tickets went on sale and sold out within minutes — left many people stunned over the rare chance to see the global star sing just metres away.
“Horseshoe may be a tavern but you made it a castle for a queen,” someone in the comments section of her Instagram post shared.
“So, so lucky to have shared this night with you, one I will never forget,” a fan added.
“I love you. This was an amazing night and an amazing show I will never ever forget. I’m not sure any concert I ever attend will top it,” an X user added.
“We had such an amazing time. Thank you so much for doing this. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. What an incredible night,” someone on Facebook raved.
Twain gearing up for the release of her seventh studio album this coming Friday. The 60-year-old’s latest collection of work, Little Miss Twain, drops on July 24, but listeners can already hear three singles off the LP.
Ahead of hosting the ACM Awards, Twain announced the release of the upcoming album on May 13, putting out her first single, “Dirty Rosie,” on the same day. The second single, a title track featuring Tanya Tucker, was released in late June, and Twain released her third single, “Faded Blue Jeans” featuring Joshua Homme, earlier this month.
Twain has had a busy year. From hosting the ACM Awards to opening for Harry Styles’s 12-night residency at Wembley Stadium, she’s now gearing up for an album release. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ACM)
Twain’s upcoming album revisits her early days as a young performer growing up in Timmins, Ont. During that time, her mother would bring her to bars across the province to sing when she was as young as eight years old.
“I’m in this really important moment of my life and of my career and of my songwriting where I’m reflecting on Little Miss Twain, and that’s the person that existed before I had a record contract, and before I went off into the big world of performing on big stages globally,” Twain recently told The Canadian Press.
It’s not the first time the Queen of Country Pop performed at a small venue this year. In early June, Twain took to the Shacklewell Arms in east London to offer a surprise show that left many locals shocked.
Twain’s upcoming album three years after 2023’s Queen of Me, where she opened up about honesty and overcoming fear: “It’s about being in charge of ourselves and being confident in your own thinking,” she told Yahoo Canada that year.
About Little Miss Twain, the singer told CBS News it’s “me, now, looking back at my child’s self and the journey that child went through, from starting out in those bars at eight years old, right up to when I got my recording contract in Nashville.”
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