OK. First of all, let me say that it was an amazing night. For those of us who won a
pair of tickets through the TeamCeline contest, we were all completely surprised and
shocked that our seats were on the first three or four rows of the stage. Luckily
enough, my seat was located on the secong row just next to the center piece of the
stage, which was like having a first row seat as there was nobody in front of me.
Celine sang most of her songs on that centre piece of the stage and it was just plain
awesome to see her that close for the whole show.

She opened with the radio mix of "A New Day Has Come", wearing tight pants and a
blouse (I won't get into details with the outfits since I'm not very good at
describing that kind of stuuf ;-) ). She got a huge ovation at the end of that song,
obviously, and then did some talking in between songs, which most of it was not taped
(she was really funny throughout the evening).

The second song was "I'm Alive", and what a cool song that is! Of all the tracks she
sang last night, this is the one I remember the most. It's got a nice uptempo beat,
kinda like african-sounding with all the percussion and the conga, engaging beat and
infectious rhythm. I LOVE it!!

Then she did her first change of the evening while they played on the big screen,
located at the back of the stage, "The Power Of Love" video for us. She came back
with a reddish, sequined, laced and beeded dress showing her entire right leg and
covering her entire left leg. She wasn't too comfortable wearing that as she started
the next song sitting down on the steps connecting the stage to the audience. "Have
You Ever Been In Love" was the next song she sang to a very lucky couple sitting just
across from where I was sitting. It's a nice ballad not too loud and not too soft
with a nice catchy chorus.

The third song was "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)", another ballad. I'll have to
listen to this one again... Obviously an emotional song that a lot of people can
relate to.

Fourth was "Aun Existe Amor", the Spanish version of "L'amour Existe Encore". Celine
was telling us that, during her break, she learned to speak Spanish and that she
still need to work at it to become fluent. I have to say that I'm a bit prejudiced
when it comes to translated original songs of hers as I didn't like the song as much
as the original version. But again, that's just me, and we all know the song, so... I
don't have much to say here.

Then she had to sing "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)" again as a techinical problem
occured the first time around. What a treat for the lucky couple...

Time for another change of dress. We were treated to another video of hers, "All By
Myself", while waiting for her to return to the stage. Celine came back with a "very"
short sequined gold/silver dress, and I mean, very short ;-) Now I think she sang "At
Last" accompanied by some Chinese" violonist guy (sorry, I can't remember his name).
What a nice song and what a great rendition. I love it when Celine covers old 40s
song, and this one is a treat and showcases her voice that any power ballad songs of
her can't.

She then went on to sing "Ten Days" (I think). With Mego and Andre Coutu at her side
playing guitar. This is the English adaptation of the French song "Tomber". It is a
bit more "rock" sounding and nice to hear. Not a typical Celine song per se, but
totally cool.

Next was time to do the segment with Destiny's Child. They are so beautiful and
great... They came down the huge staircase, wearing black outfits, singing their
latest single "Emotion" in duet with Celine. It was great as each of them got to do
their little vocal thing. Nice highlight of the evening (for me anyway).

The immediately segued into Celine's "When The Wrong One Loves You Right", an
R&B-oriented song with a strong steady beat. I am looking forward to hear the
original song from Celine, without Destiny's Child, but I like the combination of
vocals here :-)

Then I think Celine went back to change again while we were treated to the "To Love
You More" video. Please note that the order of the songs I'm listing doesn't really
matter as they'll be mixed up during the editing. So Celine came back on stage with
her previous outfit, the reddish dress (the one-leg showing dres ;-) ) to sing a
medley of three of her movie theme songs starting with "Because You Loved Me". Her
band and backup singers were all surrounding her for this segment, just like the
accousitc medley in her "Let's Talk About Love" tour (or the accoustic segment in her
"Au Coeur Du Stade" video/DVD).

Second "accoustic" song needed an introduction for her special guest as she was about
to sing "Beaty And The Beast". Brian McKnight came on stage to do the duet with her
and he was great. I love his voice... some of you may remember him singing his number
one song "Back At One" a couple of years ago (he also did a duet with Vanessa
WIlliams several years ago called "Love Is"). That was a surprise for all of us as no
one knew he was going to be there. The funny part was that Brian didn't know all of
the lyrics and was reading them off a cue card. It was obvious to us sitting so close
by, but I'm sure it won't show on camera (I hope).

Third and last song from this "Unplugged" segment was "My Heart Will Go On". I don't
know if it was just me, but I hadn't listend to the song in a long time, and it was
just so nice to hear it again, without the fanfare this time around. She got another
ovation at the end of this one, a well deserved one.

Then time for another change of costume. While waiting for her to return, they played
the "Falling Into You" video, something that many people never saw since it wasn't
realeased in the USA.

She came back with her last dress, a long red gown, very elegant and bright. Only one
more song before the end of the evening.. "Nature Boy". She was accompanied at the
piano by some reknown Spanish (??) older guy named Jorge (I think). She had to redo
the introduction to the song several times for this one. During the rendition, we
could see pictures of Rene-Charles on the big screen. It was so nice to hear Celine's
voice with just a piano accompnying her. At the end of the song, she turned to the
big screen at stared at a picture of Rene-Charles for several seconds, then turn back
to us, all teared up and waved us goodbye.

She had to return on stage to do some still photo shoot for promotional stuff and a
lot of the fans waited for her to be finished so they could get autographs. So nice
of her to do that after a long night of work. There were fans who flew from Brazil,
Germany and Israel for this show. Our own Destin member James Breard got to go on
stage at one point to receive a hug from Celine. I'm sure he'll tell us all about his
experience.

Well, that's all folks. I don't want to get into more details than that as this is
already getting too long...

Don't forget to watch the TV special on CBS (in the USA) and Global Network (in
Canada - although most of the Canadians get CBS anyway) on April 7th. I know it'll be
televised around the world at a later date. Please let us know when you find out it's
airing in your part of the world.

Written by :Andre (http://www.queenceline.com)

Back to main