'BBC Glastonbury should be ashamed about Shania Twain performance – she deserves better'

Shania Twain played Malahide Castle in Dublin on Friday night and sounded very different to her Glastonbury set on BBC.

By Fran Winston, Showbiz Reporter

Glastonbury: Shania Twain takes to the stage

Shania Twain is a Queen. There is no other word to describe her. The iconic singer/songwriter is a living country song after experencing huge hardships and heartbreak in her life.

From the death of her parents in a car crash, which saw her become responsible for all her younger siblings, to the breakdown of her marriage when her husband of fourteen years reportedly left her for her best friend. The woman has been through the wringer and come out of the other side.

She sang her way out of poverty to become one of the best selling artists of all time and is still going strong since her international breakthrough album Come On Over. There is no doubt she was deserving of the legends slot at Glastonbury over the weekend.

Unfortunately they didn't treat her like the Queen she is and Shania struggled with sound issues which completely marred her set. I saw her in concert on Friday night in Dublin - just two days before her Glasto set - and she sounded amazing. This was definitely their problem and not hers.

As she worked her way through her hits on Friday, with the cowboy boot clad crowd singing along, she hit every note and seemed to be having a great time. Lest anyone thought she was miming or relying on a track on a couple of occassions she broke into spontaneous accapella bursts of some of her tracks as she asked the audience what their favourite song of hers was.

Shania Twain smiling on stage at Glastonbury with her arms outstretched

Shania Twain played the Legends slot at Glastonbury on Sunday (Image: Getty)

At one point she brought a young girl named Annie Lambert on stage. Clearly shy, the youngster told an attentive Shania she wanted to be a singer when she grew up. Encouraged by the star she sang along with her to her enduring feminist anthem Man! I Feel Like A Woman with the crowd joining in. No backing track, just Shania and Annie, and she sounded brilliant.

The 58-year-old was happy to share the spotlight and made sure Annie had her moment even signing her pink stetson for her before she left the stage.

When she began her ballad Looks Like We Made It she initally let the audience take the lead. However this was nothing to do wth her voice and was merely her having fun with the crowd and she sat down to sing it her voice soared.

This was also an outdoor show and longer than her Glastonbury set and her voice never faltered and the sound never waivered even as she energetically danced around the stage.

Glastonbury have surely seen footage of her performances before and therefore should know what they entail. They had also suffered sound issues in the previous days with artists such as Dua Lipa and Cyndi Lauper also suffering badly at the hands of their sound technicians.

Cropped mage of Shania Twain on stage at Glastonbury raising her arms as she sings into the microphone

Shania Twain suffered serious sound issues during her Glastonbury set (Image: Getty)

As this was an ongoing issue over the weekend they should have addressed it and fixed it when they first became aware there was a problem.

You don't put a legend like Shania in an embarrassing situation like that. She was clearly struggling and was seen fiddling with her in ear monitor and battery pack, and it's shameful the festival put her in that position. Social media agreed with users lamenting the poor mix and begging someone to "rescue" her.

The situation is all the more appalling when you consider that Shania has confessed she has suffered terribly with stage fright. In an interview with Dermot O'Leary on BBC Two just over a week before her festival appearance she spilled all about her fears.

"My mother managed to get me into bars to sing for petty cash and I could only go in after the bar closed, so that was from midnight. I didn't enjoy it. I didn't love stinky, smoky bar rooms with drunk men fighting. It did make me really hate being in the spotlight. I had stage fright for a very long time.

This is far from Glastonbury's first rodeo and given how much people pay to attend you would think they could get the sound - an integral part of the festival - right. I attend a lot of shows and festivals both in a professional and personal capacity and this years Glasto had some of the worst sound issues I have ever heard. I have also worked on festivals and am aware how many moving parts there are. But the sound is integral and has to be right.

Like many I was looking forward to Shania's set on Sunday - particularly after her fantastic show on Friday. Like many I was let down. But no one was let down more than Shania and Glastonbury needs to have a long hard chat with their sound technicians. In the meantime they owe Shania a huge apology for destroying her "ultimate dream performance", which she had so excitedly shared news of on social media whent was announced.

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