Dion machine invades Caesars
Pop star sings tonight
STAGE HANDS: Workers begin to construct the stage Friday for today's Celine Dion concert at Caesars Windsor.
Photograph by : Nick Brancaccio, Windsor Star
Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009
Five- thousand fans, $500 tickets, 100 workers, 18 big rigs and one mega-star.
The massive machine that is Celine Dion's production convoy rolled into town early Friday to set up for what could safely be said is the biggest show to hit Windsor.
"It's our biggest ever," Caesars Windsor spokeswoman Holly Ward said Friday.
"We've just been a beehive of activity today, because we're preparing for a production that is actually four times larger than anything we've had before."
Superstar pop diva Celine Dion hits the stage in Caesars Windsor's Colosseum at 9 tonight for a much-anticipated, sold-out gig on her Taking Chances world tour.
She was expected to fly into Windsor sometime today. Her entourage arrived a day early to have enough time to set up for the production-heavy show.
Chatham Street was blocked off next to the casino as truck drivers backed transports two at a time into the belly of the Colosseum. Inside, there was a flurry of activity. After driving all night and arriving around 3 a.m., about 100 people worked to unload gear, erect a giant video screen and set up lights. They had a forklift to ferry heavy items. They put in stairs and extended the stage.
The Dion team, fresh off a show in St. Louis on Wednesday, brought in nine buses and nine transport trucks.
As a comparison, Donna Summer, with all her props and costume changes, brought two trucks when she played the casino. Ward said that's about average. "Usually it's one bus and one or two tractor-trailers," she said. "Then you've got about 20 crew members."
If you're still not blown away by the sheer magnitude of the Celine circus, consider this: they left behind 20 transports full of equipment for building stages on basketball courts and hockey rinks.
"We have a stage and we have the rigging that you normally wouldn't see in a stadium," said Ward. "They actually haven't brought as much equipment and gear as they usually do. We're not the stadium stop that she's used to."
Dion fan Larry Poissant was impressed. "We were just talking about that -- the convoy she has to get around," he said, looking at the row of trucks outside the casino. "You hear about those things, but when you see it first hand, it really sets you back. It's that big of a production."
He's not the only one excited about the show. Tickets, priced at $150 and $200, sold out in minutes.
"We had fans waiting overnight in front of our box office when tickets went on sale," said Ward. "We had people who came with friends and family and booked a hotel room, and they would take turns waiting in line until the box office opened."
On Friday, some of those tickets were for sale online at more than $500.
At those prices, Poissant didn't think he'd be seeing the show, despite some subtle hints. "Unless my wife wants to buy me a ticket," he said.
Disappointment aside, Poissant said the show will be a boost for Windsor's ailing downtown, even if only for a day or two. His friend Ron Nugent agreed.
"I'm glad Caesars took over and they can get these kinds of acts into their properties," said Nugent. "I was surprised Jay Leno would want to spend his New Year's in Windsor. It brings a lot of money into the city.
Jason Heikkila, heading into the casino Friday, said he never bought into the Celine "hype." But even he couldn't deny it was a pretty big name to hit little old Windsor.
"It's a big deal," said Heikkila. "She's a headliner at Caesars in Vegas. For her to come up here, it really is putting us on the map in terms of entertainment."
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