When Estevam asked me to write a review of the first two concert-nights in Las Vegas, I was a bit worried. How on earth could I explain to all of you what it had been like, how can you explain something that is so great, so impressive that there are no words existing for it? I can try to tell you what it was like and I WILL try to do it, but to know what it is like, you have to see it yourself! Forget the bad reviews in American newspapers (thank God there were good ones too, it’s a shame that only the bad ones get a lot of attention) and read this review, of a fan that loves Celine but wouldn’t hesitate to tell you if there was something not so nice too. Hope you will like it and for the people that don’t want to know the details of the show: STOP reading! I am going to tell you all the details I remember, because I think it wouldn’t be complete if I left things out. It will be a long review, because there is so much to tell!
Here we go, where should I begin? We (my mother, a huge Celine-fan too, and I) travelled to Vegas at the Sunday before the show, a very long and heavy trip. We arrived at the airport of Amsterdam in the morning and even before we could check in for our tickets, our suitcases were opened and the security-men looked inside of them to see if there were any forbidden things in it. They do this with practically every suitcase, but still, it’s a bit confusing when you see them search through your underwear ;-) We were lucky, the guys didn’t take all our things out and they put everything back right where it belonged, so no worries about that… After that we had to stand in line for the tickets, passport-checks and then we still had about an hour to wait before the plane would start boarding. Just enough time to search through some international magazines and see if Celine was in it! Didn’t find anything, but time went by quick and we went to the gate. When they started boarding the plane, the line in front of it was so long that we decided to wait until it would become shorter. There was a guy sitting next to us who had to take the same plane and he had the same idea, but we got a little worried when the time that the plane would leave was coming closer and closer and the line stayed enormous. But everything turned out fine, we didn’t have to stand in line very long and got in the plane right in time! We were flying to Detroit and from there we would take the plane to Las Vegas. It was a long flight, very long and I was really happy when we arrived in Detroit. But that was where it all started! We thought that the inspections in Amsterdam were heavy, well, forget it, that was nothing compared to Detroit! We were checked several times, our suitcases again, our handluggage, we had to walk through a scanner ourselves, everything was checked. I walked through the scanner and I was fine, so I was waiting for my handluggage and heard a guy from the security shout: “We have a woman in lane 1!”, he was calling very loud. I looked back to see what criminal they caught and saw… my own mother! That’s when I found out that they will take anyone out of the line, these scanners are very sensitive and they even react if there is metal on your shoes! I thought it was pretty funny, my mother had to sit down on a chair and she had to take off her shoes, they scanned her with a little machine. After that she had to stand up with her arms up high, and again they scanned her. Everything was alright, of course, and we could go to our gate. The airport is really big and you take a subway to the different gates, I couldn’t believe my eyes! At this gate we had to wait for a long time, our plane was broken and they had found another one, but the broken plane was still there and they couldn’t move it away at first. Finally we could board the other plane from another gate and we left for Vegas, a couple of hours later than planned. There was a nice man sitting next to us who told us some things about Vegas and I couldn’t wait to see it for real! But it would take some time, the flight took 4 hours and before we could leave the airport of Las Vegas another hour went by… We had to wait for our suitcases, there was a huge line to get a taxi, it was terrible and I was so, so tired! When it was our turn to get in the taxi I was really happy and I was surprised when we arrived at the Strip. All those lights, so busy, you can’t believe your eyes! We were staying at Excalibur and again, a very big line in front of the check-in-desk. When we finally arrived in our room, about 24 hours after we left our own house, I was completely exhausted and wondered if I would ever be able to walk again… We went sleeping right away but guess what: I woke up at about 01:30 and was completely awake and hungry! The time-difference between Las Vegas and The Netherlands was a bit too big for me, my internal clock said to me that it was late in the morning and my stomach missed it’s breakfast!
I did sleep a bit that night but not too much and the next morning we went down to get a breakfast early in the morning. You can’t believe it, there are lots of people gambling in the early hours, some people gamble 24 hours a day, they don’t even leave the casino! The first day we went to Caesars Palace to get our tickets for the two shows of Celine and to the Bellagio to get the tickets we reserved for ‘O’ of Cirque du Soleil, later that week. When we arrived at Caesars I couldn’t believe my eyes, now that’s what I call a HOTEL! WOW! It’s very big and very, very beautiful, inside and outside! We found the ticketbox really quick and I went to get the tickets. The girl behind the counter was very kind (although I was a little worried because it took her a lot of time to get the tickets…) and then I got them: THE TICKETS! When we walked away I saw the Celine-boutique and of course, we were going inside too! It’s pretty funny, I got the filmcamera with me and filmed the moment we went in. I am a bit ashamed when I hear myself, I sound like an addicted person that finally found her stuff, talking about “the dream of every fan” and things like that. I bought some little things and smelled the new perfume, now that was nice! After we got the tickets for ‘O’ and we had walked at The Strip for some time, we went back to the hotel to watch Oprah. I knew Celine would be in it and we were tired anyway, so it was the perfect thing to do next: lie in bed and watch Oprah! Oprah was great and really funny and I was surprised to see that Celine’s hair was really short and blond! Looking good! At night we got something to eat and we didn’t stay up long, too tired and we wanted to be in good shape for the show the next day! Believe it or not, I woke up at 01:30 again and couldn’t sleep, but now it wasn’t just because of the time-difference, I was very excited because the time had finally come, the time I looked forward to for so long, March 25th!
At THE day we got up not too late, had breakfast in the hotel and still, I couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived! Before we went to Vegas I had been e-mailing with some other Dutch fans, Stephanie and Dennis, and we made an appointment to meet at the Celine-board at Caesars Palace, the one that is well-known from all the pictures. This was a chance to meet my friend Estevam from Brazil as well, we know each other for a long time already but never met in person! He would be there too, very exciting! We left the hotel early because we wanted to have enough time to get to Caesars. About half an hour before we were supposed to meet, my mother and I walked near the big sign in front of Caesars and suddenly I heard my name! It was Stephanie, who recognized me from a picture, because we had never met before! She was in Vegas with her parents en we went inside Caesars together, to find a way to get another look at the Colosseum (they were rebuilding outside and you couldn’t really get near the Colosseum). We couldn’t find another exit and I decided to ask a woman who worked in Caesars. We got in a conversation with her and she was totally amazed that we came all the way to see Celine, she said she was sure we would love the show, she saw it when all the staff of Caesars was invited to attend a show! She was wildly enthusiastic about the show, it was so nice to hear this! We found another way out but ended up at the big Celine-sign outside again and that’s where we met Dennis. We waited for Estevam but after about 20 minutes he still wasn’t there and we decided to go inside to get a lunch. When we walked near the ticketbox, I saw Estevam, I recognized him from a picture! It was so nice to finally meet him! We went to a restaurant to get lunch, and on our way to the restaurant we stopped by at the Celine-shop because the new album had arrived and they had showbooks too! When we passed the entrance of the Colosseum, we saw that they were putting a red carpet in front of it and all kinds of flowerdecorations. They were expecting some big guests, that was for sure! Lunch was great, we were so excited and happy!!! After the lunch we went back to the hotel to take a shower, put on some other clothes and get ready for the show.
That night Estevam met us at the hotel, his hotel was not far from ours, and we took a taxi together. I won’t forget that taxi-drive, that’s for sure! There was a trafficjam at The Strip and the driver said he would take another way. It was very hot in the taxi and Estevam, who wanted to be as fresh as possible for Celine ;-), asked the driver if the car had an airco. The driver put the airco on, but I only felt hot air! Apparently Estevam noticed this too, because he opened a window, but the driver closed it again and said the airco wouldn’t work with the window opened. A few minutes later Estevam opened it again and the driver closed it, they drove each other crazy, very funny. The driver was a bit strange and not very nice to us, but he did get us at the hotel in time. We met with Dennis, Stephanie and her parents and went inside to see what was happening there. And, surprise, the doors were opened already!!! WE COULD GO IN! We walked to the entrance and I was a bit shocked when I noticed there was only one way to get in: the red carpet! We had to go over the red carpet! This was so funny, because there were lots of people lining up to see who was walking inside, there were filmcrews, photographers, can you believe it? We stepped at the red carpet, really sophisticated like we didn’t do anything else all day, but I was a bit nervous and was thinking: Whatever you do, just DON’T FALL! In the meantime the crowd was stretching to see what famous people came by, you could almost hear them think: who are those people??? When they realised there was nothing famous to see they put their camera’s away again, very funny to see. Everything went ok, thank God, and we were INSIDE! Believe it or not, one of the first things I saw when I was inside was Celine’s family! Her brothers, her parents, sisters, they just walked by me and I was amazed! Her parents went in the Colosseum before the other people did, we had to wait in the foyer. After some time we were allowed to go in too and of course we went inside right away. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the theatre is so beautiful, so big, so high, the decorations are great, they did a great job! The seats are like in a cinema, big, very comfortable and with a lot of space for your legs. They even have a place where you can put your drinks! Everybody was escorted to their seats personally and when we arrived at our seats, at the THIRD row, we discovered a Celine-bag underneath the chairs. I couldn’t believe what was in it: the new album, the perfume, the showbook, a card to thank us for coming, a bookmark, a keyring from Chrysler, really nice! The first minutes all I could do was sit down, look around me and be really, really impressed. The videowall is so large, it’s huge and the stage seems to be a bit lower at the front than at the back. It’s not straight, that’s for sure! After some time they started to show the people that were in the audience on the big videowall with a frame around it, very nice. We were on screen too, I was too impressed by everything to do anything and all I could do was talk to my mother and say: “Can you believe this?” It took a lot of time before everyone was in their seats and I started a conversation with the man that was sitting next to me, a really nice man. After this conversation I discovered that he might have been a famous person! The girls behind me thought he was famous and my mother said she recognized him from something too, but I had no clue! Guess who was sitting in front of my mother: Jane Seymour! Wow! There were more famous people, lots of Celine-producers like David Foster, Luc Plamandon and Rick Wake. Ricky Lake, David Hasselhoff, Tim Allen (of Home Improvement), Barry Manilow, Lance Bass (of ‘N Sync) and Paul Anka, they were all there among many other celebrities. And Garou and Josh Groban were there and we didn’t even know it! Talking about a missed chance! But they were all sitting behind us and we didn’t see them, even Celine’s parents were sitting behind us! We waited and waited and finally the lights went down and the videowall showed an image of breaking glass, the images of the audience ‘broke’ and went away. After that we heard the first notes of ‘Nature boy’ and we could see a very little Celine at a staircase, on top of the videowall. She walked down, step by step and then, suddenly, she was on stage! This moment was so strange, you knew it would happen but still it was a big shock! She sang the song and I was completely in shock, wow, the show really started! It was different from what I expected, the song was very subtle and modest, but it was just so well chosen! I think everybody expected a huge start, with lights and dancers and bombastic sounds, but this was the complete opposite. And it brought a very intimate feeling in the theatre, just what we all wanted! After this first song it was really dark in the theatre and then Celine appeared with other clothes on, the red suit that you can see on many pictures. She sang ‘The power of love’ and this was the moment that I started to lose it a bit, it’s indescribable what I felt, it was just so overwhelming! The way she hit the high note, unbelievable! The dancers were on stage too right now, but all I saw was Celine and this would stay that way for the entire show. How many times can you see her so close, not much, I think! After this song she got a big, big standing ovation and I would have liked to continue this for the rest of the night, I was so impressed! Celine talked to the audience, telling us what a thrill it was to be at the premiere, finally, after rehearsing for such a long time and in an empty Colosseum. She told that her parents were in the audience and that they had attended the rehearsals many times too. She told that she could almost hear her mother breathe through every song (she imitated her, holding her breath for a moment), she meant that her mother was very nervous, worried if everything would go right. Then she said: “Mam… Don’t worry, I am alright!” That was so funny and sweet! She also said that it was strange to give such a big premiere at a time like this, with a big war, but she hoped we could try to forget all the bad things for just a little while and enjoy the show. And that’s exactly what I did! I didn’t even know there was an outside-world when I was sitting there! I will try to describe as much songs as possible, I don’t know the exact sequence anymore but I think that’s not the most important thing! Celine sang a few real classics, ‘It’s all coming back to me now’ (with a beautiful image at the videowall, it looked a bit like a castle and there were thunderstorms too), ‘Because you loved me’ and ‘To love you more’ with a violinist. She sang ‘Have you ever been in love’ and ‘I’m alive’, with very bright and happy images at the videowall and the dancers giving their best. And ‘Seduces me’, when she did this song she sat down in a chair, with the male dancers dancing around her, pushing each other away because they all wanted to be with her. After the song the dancers rolled away, really impressive, and Celine got up and walked to the audience. All she said was: “Pfoeh…” and she stood there, without saying anything, just standing with her hand touching her face. Then she said: “Thank you Franco, that was a great idea!” Everybody started to laugh and then she asked someone in the audience: “Do you want to sit in that chair?” So funny! She also sang a song that she dedicated to Rene-Charles, ‘If I could’. And that’s the part where I definitely lost it… This song is so beautiful and she sings it with so many emotions, this is why I love Celine so much! She sat down while she sang this song and just at the moment I was wiping a few tears away (yep, I surely lost it, not one tear, a complete waterfall), she looked at me. This was probably the best moment of the whole show for me, that moment, knowing she sees how her voice truly touches you… It was clear in one moment, without words, just like that. I am a person that is really down-to-earth normally, not someone that is completely lost when she meets her idol, but even I was impressed by this moment! They projected a tree at the videowall and there was a tree blossoming at the stage, there were people at swings, it was so well done, it was great! Another moving moment was when she sang an Italian song, ‘Ammore annascunuto'. A great classic song, and they create a kind of atmosphere that fits the song very well. On the videowall you see a square in Italy, and I could swear I smelled Italian food, but maybe it was my might-be-famous-neighbour that had some Italian food before the show? ;-) Celine did it again, she got the whole theatre dancing, including the VIP’s, with ‘Love can move mountains’. The dancers go in the audience with this song, dancing and doing crazy things, I loved it! And yeah, Celine did fly… First she came back after putting other clothes on and she sang ‘I surrender’. She already had a head-microphone and I was thinking: Is she going to fly already??? But no, she sang ‘I surrender’ with a normal microphone in her hand (with this song you see images of fire at the wall and Celine’s face appears through it). Then she started to sing ‘The first time ever I saw your face’ and there were dancers coming down from the top of the building. When they were down, Celine went up and they went up again too! I saw this thing at Oprah and I think it asks a lot of you to sing in such a position! But she did it, and at the end of the song she disappeared somewhere, high away in the building. During these breaks there would be an instrumental piece, with the dancers, really well done. There is one break with a woman in a amazing dress, flying from one side of the theatre to the other side, and one of the dancers (a main figure, with a white face and bold head) tries to give her a rose. She doesn’t move and the dancer looks sad. Then Celine comes on stage and the dancer walks to her and gives her the rose. She takes it and he runs away, jumping because he is so happy. Celine looks at him and then looks to the audience with a look on her face saying: He’s crazy! Then she gives the rose to someone in the audience! I love this part, the music is really nice and the part with the rose is special too. When Celine came back after a break like this one, I first noticed nothing strange, but she said: “Well, as you all can see, I have no shoes on… That was not Franco’s idea… It wasn’t my idea either!” Everybody started to laugh and Celine said she couldn’t believe it, how could this happen to her, she, addicted to shoes with so many shoes at home and now her shoes got lost! She also asked if there was anyone in the audience with size 8 but at that moment one of the dancers (the piccolo, he is the other main character in the show, he is very funny and will sit on the lap of someone in the audience after a song in the show, applauding and screaming: “BRAVO!!!”) brought her the shoes. She asked him to hold the microphone for her. But before she handed it over to him, she said: “DON’T sing!” (again, everybody laughed). And then, while she was making a knot in her shoelace: “Mam… DON’T worry!”. She was so funny! Celine did a lot of covers, she also did ‘At Last’, ‘I’ve got the world on a string’ and ‘Fever’. The way she dances, you have to see this yourself to believe it! ‘Fever’ is so great, she sits on a piano and sings the song, while the dancers do their thing at the stage. She also dances at the piano and comes down to dance on stage. Really nice! Another cover was ‘I wish’, I think the original is from Stevie Wonder. She dances a lot in this song, very good! Unfortunately she did only one song from the new album, ‘I drove all night’. But it sounded great live and she started this song lying down, can you believe it? And still her voice was so powerful! During the show she said: “Maybe you all wonder where my band is…” and she was right, I did! She told us that some of the bandmembers were at the side of the stage, in front of it, like Mego and Elise. She introduced them to us, but still, there were some members missing! Guess what: they are underneath two platforms at the stage and you can only see them when the lights are on it! Celine maked jokes about it, saying: “I locked them up under there for 3 years! Don’t worry, I gave them some water, I take good care of them” and “They are never too late for a show, it’s great!” I can understand that there isn’t enough room for them on the stage but still, they aren’t very involved in the show and that’s the only thing I regret. Most of the members are from Celine’s old band and they also made her to what she is today, I wish they could be more involved, really! I hope they will find a way to give them a prominent place too… ‘My heart will go on’ was with a beautiful background again, there was a full moon at the videoscreen that moved to the right, becoming smaller and smaller. The last song she did, was ‘What a wonderful world’. She introduced this song with a talk to the audience again. She told that sometimes it seems like the world has gone crazy, 24 hours a day these images on the television (she didn’t say it with so many words, but I noticed she didn’t really agree with the war), but when she looked at Rene-Charles sleeping in his bed, and when she thought about all these other children in the world, and that we have to give them a chance, she thought: What a wonderful, wonderful world… And then the song started. They projected images of the audience on the screen, not in full-colour and the images were slow-motion, it was very intimate and subtle again, like the beginning of the show. At the end of the song Celine said goodbye and all the dancers and her band lined up on stage. The audience went wild, we all exploded! Unfortunately there were no extra songs, but Celine once made that clear in an interview: she is not allowed to do encores… After the show we went to get something to drink again (with Dennis, Stephanie and her parents, Estevam was missing) and we were all so excited! And the evening got an even nicer end thanks to the taxi-driver we had on our way back. He asked us if we had a nice night and we told him about Celine. He asked us all about the show, wanted to hear it all and then he said: “Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeline, Ceeeeeeeeeeeline, Celine, that girl has got it going on!” He grabbed for his radiotelephone and called his taxistation, shouting: “I’ve got the Celine-crew coming in!!!!” They didn’t understand a thing of what he was saying, there was a moment of silence and then they shouted: “SAY WHAT????” It was very funny!
The night of the 26th was great too, I think the audience was even nicer than the night before (the 25th there were may VIP’s in the audience and they were a bit reserved). It already started before the show, when they projected the audience at the videowall. Many people started to do funny things and the audience loved it! It started with two boys. The one boy saw they were at the videowall and he grabbed his friend and gave him a big kiss! The audience went wild! There was a man that put his hands at the same height as the frame on screen, just looking over the edge of it, so it looked like he was climbing in the frame! Very funny and the audience gave him a big applause! There was a man that apparently was with his girlfriend, she was sitting at his left. He started to stretch himself, and while he did that, he put his arm around the girl at his other side! His girlfriend pretended to be angry and she started to walk away. But she came back, they sat down and he was sitting in the middle again, very silent and good behaving. Then he started to stretch himself again and he put his arms around both of the girls next to him, so one arm around his girlfriend and the other arm around the girl at his right. His girlfriend jumped from her chair, pretending to be angry again, but while she did that she accidentally pushed his drink and it fell all over him… The audience was completely lost and everybody laughed its head off, it was so funny! Then Rene was on the videowall, with Garou sitting next to him and Luc Plamandon, they were sitting in the audience too, so everyone gave Rene a big applause, he deserved it! The atmosphere in the audience was great and the show was great too, we were sitting at the first mezzanine and this time I got the chance to see the entire show, with the dancers and special effects. I have to be honest with you, when I first heard Celine’s show would be with so many dancers, I was afraid it would be too much. But I have to say, the balance is great and the dancers bring an extra dimension to the show, it is like you feel the songs even more! If you have to chance to go to Vegas, do it. Our trip to Las Vegas was heavy and I had some terrible days after the show, I got really sick (foodpoisoning) and we had to cancel ‘O’ and our trip to the Grand Canyon that we had planned, the trip back was bad and they lost our suitcases at Detroit (we got them back 2 days later) but still it was more than worth it. I would do it again, and maybe I WILL do it again (and I hope she will sing some French songs then too!!!)! It’s like the Celine-shop, it’s addictive, once you have seen Celine in Vegas, you want MORE!!!! So, if you go to Vegas, make sure there is enough room in your suitcase for all the presents you will bring back home and ENJOY!
Laura Dubbeldam