shania twain to kick off 2023 edition of bluesfest
the superstar country singer from timmins, ont. unveiled plans for a major tour that will include her first visit to ottawa’s biggest summer music festival.
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shania twain will make her first visit to bluesfest to kick off the 2023 edition of the festival. credit: louie banks
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mark your calendars, music fans: shania twain will kick off next summer’s edition of rbc ottawa bluesfest, and tickets are on sale now. in a remarkably early concert announcement, coming more than eight months ahead of the date, the superstar country singer from timmins, ont. has unveiled plans for a global tour that will include her first visit to ottawa’s biggest summer music festival. she headlines the event on july 6, 2023.
the tour is part of a new chapter in twain’s long and successful career as the top-selling female country artist of all time. the 57-year-old recently signed to a new nashville label and released her first single since 2017. the catchy new song, waking up dreaming, entered the charts at no. 1. meanwhile, a career-spanning documentary, not just a girl, is streaming on netflix. next up: a full album, entitled queen of me, is scheduled to drop feb. 3.
as for her bluesfest date, the festival’s artistic and executive director, mark monahan, said it was important to announce the bluesfest show along with the rest of twain’s tour dates so as not to be left in the dust in the rush to get tickets. general-admission day tickets and vip club tickets are on sale now at bf23.frontgatetickets.com
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“when major artists announce a tour, it’s good for us to be included,” he said. “instead of people buying tickets in other cities, if we know they’re coming to ottawa, why not?”
the concert is expected to be one of the few outdoor festival shows on twain’s tour, which includes 17 canadian dates from vancouver to halifax. the fact that it lands on opening night of bluesfest is intentional.
“it’s a challenge with some of the headliners because you’re literally turning things over overnight,” monahan said. “shania has always prided herself on the level of production.” twain’s production requirements are so extensive, he added, that her team wanted to ensure they had a couple of days to have the time to bring everything in.
next summer’s bluesfest runs from july 6-16 at its usual home at lebreton flats park on the grounds of the canadian war museum. the rest of the lineup will be announced early in the new year, monahan said, unless there’s a similar scenario of a confirmed artist announcing a major tour.
this year’s pandemic-recovery edition of bluesfest, which featured rage against the machine, alanis morissette and luke combs, to name a few of the headliners. the event attracted more than 250,000 fans, monahan noted, which is slightly less than pre-pandemic years.
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“we had a good year,” he added. “as i say every year, we did well enough to do it again.”
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