June 15-17 Show Review

[Koolan]

Last weekend, I traveled to Vegas to watch three shows and to celebrate Ramona's 100th show, including a meet and greet with Celine as part of Ramona's bet with Patrick. Joining me was the "Je T'aime Girls" - Ramona, Angela, Kimberly, and Tandra.

 

Ok, shall we get to the review...

 

Friday - "The Tooth Fairy"

 

My flight departure time is at 1:30pm, I got up at 8 in the morning, had breakfast, did some last minute packing, and then headed out the door. As no one were available to give me a ride to the airport, I had to leave earlier to catch the train which didn't take nearly as long as I thought it’d be. Fast forward...5 hours later, plane arrives in Vegas about half an hour early. There, I met up with Ramona and Kimberly and then we proceeded to the car rental and then to Ramona's condo at Lake Las Vegas to change and get ready for the show.

 

We arrived at Caesar's a little more than an hour before show time. At this time, I was without a ticket so we headed to the Box Office to inquire about ticket availability. After a short while, Scully Dion (Clare) showed up, she had 2 spare tickets for 2nd mez. I actually wanted 1st mez but as there were none to be found, I wound up getting one from her at a very good price. It was almost 8:30pm, the lines leading to the entrance were surprisingly long, I thought I was going to be a bit late. After checking in the camera, I took 2 flights up to the 2nd mez. to take my seat in row K the very last row, there was only 1 person sitting next to me on my left. All of a sudden, the all familiar sound of the glass shattering..the show is underway. Tonight, Celine is officially high on who knows what. She was very upbeat and went totally off script numerous times in between the songs. After If I Could, she came down the steps and hugged the boy's father and asked the boy for a kiss. Then, she asked him how old he is "nine, ten, eleven?" He said he was eleven, then Celine said "you still got all your teeth" and proceeded to talk about how Rene Charles has lost 2 of his and how upset she was about it. She also talked about being the "Tooth Fairy" who had a hard time doing her job because RC would always be the last one to go to bed, "the only little boy in the world who puts his parents to bed first!" Celine said something about being a mamacita Then she turned around and said "I know, the French song is next." During RDMH, she couldn't hide her smirk, you could see her trying to hold back at times, like during the part where she goes "when I was a little girl" Apparently, she was pointing at Ramona the entire time, who was sitting in Orch. 3 Row AA with Kim and they were making her laugh. We all want to know why she is such in a good mood today?! Oh and during AA and All The Way, her hair isn't in a pony tail anymore. She also wears less makeup than before. And, during the end of LCMM, she continues to do the beatbox and chicken imitation. Take a wild guess on who's getting the rose. Being her goofy self, instead of holding the rose with her fingers, she places it in between her teeth as she makes her way towards the first row to give it to that eleven year old boy. Celine was being so goofy today, having fun, and interacting with the audience. Her voice was in very good shape, I love it when she is spontaneous, not the same usual script as most nights. You know those 2nd mez. seats aren’t all that bad as many of you may think! They are not too far from the stage, you really do have good view of the entire show. Seeing it from first row and the mezzanines is like seeing 2 completely different shows. You miss many small elements when you’re up so close, everyone should at least watch one show from the mezzanines.

 

Saturday - "I hope my 1 doesn't look like a 7"

 

Today is the big day-the 100th after-show celebration at Slice and Ramona's "Meet and Greet" with Celine (she has no idea about it!) The five of us will be sporting the black Je t’aime shirt, designed by Ramona. We’re all going to be in Unison, woooo! Kimberly had arranged a specialty 100th show cake to be made for this special event. We left a few hours before show time to go pickup this one of a kind cake at a local bakery.

After finally getting a glance of it, boy we were all impressed with how it turned out that we just have to let Celine see it!

The original plan was to leave the cake at Slice until after the show. The people at the box office were nice enough to hold it while we got some food. Many people noticed the Je t’aime shirt, we received quite a bit of attention at Caesar’s.

It’s almost 7:30pm and we were all anxiously waiting for Patrick near the Colosseum entrance to escort us to the not so green room. Soon, he shows up we’re now on our way down the elevator, through the hallway and finally to the room where the action will take place. We were seated comfortably, Patrick had a brief chat with us, allowed us to take some photos and offered us these delicious chocolate-covered strawberries YUM!

Of course he didn’t forget about the champagne.

One funny incident where the girls asked one of the workers for a knife for the cake, he came back with this huge butcher knife. And then we said that we’re going to use it for later. The guy had this shocked look on his face, it was so funny. Hey, we don’t want to scare Celine away so we asked for a smaller knife but he said there wasn’t any. There were three groups that day, Ramona had asked Patrick to make us last so we could have the most time. Time is now 8:20ish , the first and second groups were done fairly quick. It was one of those quick meet and greets; shake hands, take photos, goodbye. Finally it’s our turn! I looked at my phone, the time shows 8:26pm. Celine!! She immediately recognized Ramona and asked her to come up to her. Celine said "You look hot! And look at those shoes!" She made a comment on the rest of the girls' shoes (or flip flop!) She and Ramona had a picture together while Ramona was telling her something in French. It was cute the way she was guiding her through the sentence and finished it off for her and said "Ok, perfect, don't tell anyone!" We then took a group photo, Celine had in her hand a Je t’aime shirt which Ramona made especially for her. The funniest part was when Ramona handed me her phone, shall I say camera..to do as planned earlier. Ramona and Celine posed together with the signed frame. I was like “smile” and then all of a sudden one of the girls went like “you have to hold the button down”. At the same time, I moved my hand to the right to record the frame Celine was holding. She rolled her eyes and said “where are you going...right here!”. I thought you girls knew I was taking a video as instructed by Miss Ramona. That look on Celine’s face was priceless! Ramona asked Celine to say something so she could record it and after a couple of tries, Celine said nonstop "are you recording now Ramona 102 baby tonight yes man you go girl!" She went like “I hope my number 1 is.. doesn’t look like a number 7. Then, she kissed the frame, leaving the mark of her lip. and quickly took another photograph with Ramona. There wasn’t much time left, she was already late for the show at that time. Although Celine was being rushed and the scene was a bit chaotic, she still spent the longest time with us and was so nice and friendly! Everything happened so quickly and before you know it, it’s over.

 

We left the room, took the elevator up and then took our front row Orchestra 4 seats. We were all sitting together in the middle. The show was pretty straight forward, Celine didn’t go off script like the previous day but Ramona did receive a lot of attention during the entire show The rose went to one of the dancers, I think it was her first day back, otherwise, Ramona would probably have her 14th. Audience was pretty crappy today, we were like the only ones standing and clapping. After the show, we got together at Slice for the celebration. Many showed up, including Ashley, Erin, Clare, Casie, some dancers, band members, and box office employees. Pity we all couldn’t finish the cake, there was a good chunk of it left.

 

Sunday – “The young boy that wasn’t”

 

The Je t’aime girls all sat in front row orchestra 3 while I was on the row behind them. During the beginning of the show when the cameraman zooms in on the audience, this one row in the mezzanines were putting on a group wave show like --> every single time the cameraman showed them, it must have been at least five times. Everybody was laughing, this one guy to the corner with his arms crossed and a smirk just laid there still and he was zoomed on a few times. The whole thing was just hilarious, he seemed to be embarrassed, after like the third time, he looked as if he’s starting to become annoyed. Anyway, the show started off pretty good, Celine looked happy and of course she recognized us and gave us a lot of attention again. But things started going bad after IIC. Celine was continuously tapping her earphone and after a while just held her hand over it. Every song after that, she would continue to struggle with the malfunction. Eventually, she took it off. Celine didn't even look at Orch3 during IIC. The most, should I say, shocking part of the show was during the final note of I Surrender, she only held it for maybe five seconds, it jumped 1 octave lower from the note change and she ended with a broken “yeah…”. I was like... It sounded very very bad. Throughout the second half show, you could tell she was pissed off from the look on her face, it’s as if she just wanted to be done with the show and leave. Poor Celine Dion! She didn’t do her usual finger pointing at front orchestra 3 during the part where she goes “when you were a young boy…” I was so prepared to wave and smile! After mhwgo, she did not bow with all the dancers and musicians. Celine was escorted by one of her bodyguards towards the back rows of the front orchestra to give the rose to one of Mego’s family members. Celine quickly ran back on stage and took a knee then headed towards the exit. I think the band and dancers were expecting Celine to join them in the final bow, but instead Celine swung her arms signaling them to bow without her we could see RC at the exit. This is probably the worst show that we’ve seen. It took a complete 180 after the mic. problems. Too bad it had to end on such a bad note.

 

Once we got back to the condo, it was time to start packing to leave the following morning. I feel very lucky to be able to take part in this celebration and the meet and greet. Both times I was in Vegas, I got to meet Celine and also sit in front row. My sincerest thanks goes out to Ramona for flying me to Vegas and letting me be a part of this once in a lifetime celebration. And to Patrick and everyone else for making the meet and greet possible.. Ramona is one special lady, you feel like a celebrity to be around her. People would come up to her and introduce themselves. I am so blessed to have Ramona as a friend. Congratulations Ramona! You’re the best!

[Elaine]

"... Did I ever tell you you're my heroes?"

 

Thank you Vic for the review!! It's wonderful to read and kind of live this experience with you... I always picture myself there with you, not as if I were part of it, but as if I was there watching the whole scene! And that makes me feel so good!!!

You must have really had the time of your lives!

That's a pity the show went bad on the 17th, but at least you got to meet Céline again!!

 

Wonderful pictures and review!

 

------------------

 

That was so cute!! Sometimes I think Céline is not real cause she's so wonderful!

Congrats again Ramona! You really deserved it!!

 

P.S: What about having t-shirts like that for the final week of shows?? I'd lurve that!!!

[tativale]

Hello! I love your review Vic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's a shame what did happen on Sunday.

 

Yes, Ramona is a very special lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I'm so glad that we have her, as a friend!

[Erin]

Tonight, Celine is officially high on who knows what.

 

LMFAO!! i love it when she's high...hahaha.

 

It was so great to see you again, Vic!!

Edited June 25, 2007 at 01:39 AM by Erin

[clbmed02]

Thanks for your review. Congrats to Ramona, can't wait to meet you in December.

[nano]

Thanks for the review Vic.

 

that's so awesome that you got to meet Celine again..

can't wait to see everybody again in December...

[Clari]

Wow! I'm so happy for you, it must have been AMAZING to be in that not-so-green room again. Thanks for the pix and the great review! I can't wait to meet everyone in December!

[WendyB]

Thanks for posting this wonderful review. Shame I'm not going to be able to make it in December and meeting Céline TWICE. I'd love to get the chance just once

[Teodora]

Such a cool review, thank you! They wrote in ReviewJournal about Ramona's 100th

Too bad about the malfunction. Celine always gets pissed off when things go wrong for reasons that are not depending on her. Anyway, they can't be all good shows . You could see RC from your seats at the exit? That's so nice! The first concert you reviewed seemed like a lot of fun. I love it when she's like that.

I love the Je t'aime tees

Guys, do you have some of that cake or chocolate strawberries left? The chocolate addict in me wants some

[Bellamy]

Such a cool review, thank you! They wrote in ReviewJournal about Ramona's 100th

What's the link?

[tativale]

here it is the link for Ramona's interview.

 

http://www.lvrj.com/news/8162832.html

[Michael and Adrienne]

Great review Vic!! Congrats again Ramona. Can't wait to see all of you in December.

 

Michael and Adrienne

[kathyc25]

Aw GREAT Review Vic!! That is such a wonderful memory that you will cherish forever.

[clbmed02]

OMFG!! I can't believe Celine & Ramona made it into the LVRJ, that is AWESOME.. way to go.

[anghil5]

Love the review, Vic! Glad you posted it.........I wasn't finding the time to write anything long! We had sooooooo much fun and I can't wait to do it again in Dec! Woohoo!! I love the review in the LVRJ, too!!! that's sooooo awesome! love you ramona baby!!!!!