Official Topic: Taking Chances World Tour 2008-2009

[Céline's Blues]

Celine's crew arrives in SA

 

 

Crew started arriving in the country last week for the most anticipated International touring artist ever to hit the shores of South Africa.

 

The show is the biggest to ever tour in Africa with more than 380 000 tickets on sale around the country.

 

Her first performance in on Valentine’s Day in Johannesburg will be her first performance outside of Vegas, in five years.

 

Due to unprecedented demand by fans, Celine Dion has added a second concert at Montecasino to the South African leg of her Taking Chances World Tour.

 

Tickets for the first concert sold out within just days of going on to sale, more than a year ago.

 

Kusasa Entertainment the executive producers for the show have secured an exclusive second additional concert on Saturday, March 1, 2008.

 

<li>The other Celine Dion concerts include:

 

14 February – Gala Dinner Concert – Coca Cola Dome

 

16/17 February – Loftus Versfeld – Pretoria

 

20 February – ABSA stadium – Durban

 

23/24 February – Vergelegen Wine Estate – Cape Town

 

27 February – EPRU Stadium - Port Elizabeth

 

29 February – Montecasino – Johannesburg

 

The concerts will showcase the biggest, tailor made stage, being more than 75 metres long and 14 metres wide.

 

More than 400 dedicated touring personal have been working 24/7 to build these master pieces up at spec stadiums and venues across the country.

 

Celine will be traveling across the country with more than 75 entourage and more than 88 000kg of gear.

 

In addition to her entourage the tour is also set to attract many of Celine’s international fans, from the Celine Team, and more than 400 have already been booked by international tourists who will be visiting South Africa to see the biggest selling female artist of all time in concert for the first time in years, outside of the Vegas walls.

 

Tickets for these spectacular concerts are available exclusively from every Mr Price Store across South Africa and from Ticket Connection, or call 0861 121 333.

 

Published on the web by Tonight on February 4, 2008.

[nano]

I can't believe that the tour kicks off soooooooooon.

 

9 days!!!

Edited February 5, 2008 at 06:34 AM by nano

[nano]

Beware of Unauthorized Ticket Sellers!

February 4 , 2008

 

It has come to our attention that there are a number of unauthorized ticket brokers who have been selling tickets, some of which are counterfeit, for various concert dates on the Taking Chances World Tour. A UK based ticket broker, 'Worldticketshop.com,' has been selling tickets to concerts in South Africa, Australia and various other European countries, including tickets for concert dates that are not confirmed. These ticket brokers are not associated with Celine Dion, or any of her authorized promoters, ticket agents, or other show operations, in any way whatsoever. We advise all consumers that engaging with unauthorized ticket brokers or ticket agents is done so at your own risk, and that neither we or our local promoters/partners are responsible for any activities and/or transactions that may arise from such dealings. All official news regarding Celine's shows will be announced on www.celinedion.com and all official and authorized ticket agents will be linked from our Concert Datespage.

celinedion.com

[pepillo90]

What a shame!

[kathy4]

i can't wait for the tour to start either.

[VinnyT.]

Milan:

Prima Platea Numerata Intero Non Disponibile 345,00 €

 

CAT 1 officially SOLD OUT :kicking:

[zanif]

Fans furious over Celine

05/02/2008 18:00 - (SA)

 

Birgit Ottermann

 

Cape Town - A group of Celine Dion fans are up in arms because their tickets for the international diva's opening concert in South Africa, at Johannesburg's Coca Cola Dome, have been reallocated to the Montecasino concert on 29 February.

 

The Canadian singer will be opening her world tour with a special Valentine's Day concert on 14 February - a highlight on South Africa's social calendar for which die-hard fans booked tickets months ago.

 

"I booked my tickets well over a year ago, and now this," a very disappointed Beverley Anderson from Johannesburg, told News24.

 

"I have now been moved to Montecasino and will be sitting (rain, hail or blue sky) in the car park. I think it is disgusting. I would have thought that the promoters and sponsors would have been more helpful, even if they are not to blame," she said.

 

According to Liesl Laubscher of Cross Communication, some of the concert tickets had to be reallocated at the request of Celine Dion's production crew.

 

Dion's production crew

 

"Ms Dion's production crew has insisted that certain changes be made in the Coca Cola Dome for the singer's concert to run smoothly, and unfortunately that also included some changes to the seating arrangements."

 

"Personally, I have to say, if it had been me who bought a ticket for the Valentine's Day concert, I would have been the hell in!

 

"However, the promoters and sponsors did not really have much of a choice. They simply had to attend to the crew's demands, seeing that there are still so many other Dion concerts in February," Laubscher said.

 

"I do think, though, that they are very accommodating by offering tickets in a higher price range and offering to reimburse other expenses," she added.

 

Site line and seating plan restrictions

 

Laubscher told News24 about a Celine Dion fan of Cape Town who had even been reimbursed for plane tickets and accommodation that had already been booked for the Johannesburg concert.

 

The unlucky Dion fans were informed of the reallocation of tickets by an e-mail from Ticket Connection.

 

The e-mail explained the ticket reallocation as follows:

 

"Celine Dion's international production team, on final inspection of the seating arrangements at the Coca Cola dome have advised the promoter that due to the nature of the new Celine Dion Taking Chances World Tour production, there are certain site line and seating plan restrictions which have to be adhered to in line with international standards for the benefit and safety of the public and the production."

 

Duncan Heafield of Kusasa Entertainment, South Africa's event promoter for Celine Dion's concert, confirmed this with News24.

 

"Due to certain restrictions in relation to the magnitude and sight requirements involved in the upcoming Celine Dion show, we were forced to displace two bleachers (stands) at the venue," Heafield to News24.

 

"We have committed ourselves to accommodating these patrons in any of the other shows at a higher ticket price or have offered to refund them," he said.

 

'Bring an umbrella'

 

But, to Beverley Anderson, who had been looking forward to the opening concert for so long, this is no consolation.

 

"I and the other unlucky fans out there, have paid a lot of money for a ticket (I paid almost R1 000) and expected to see Celine at the Dome, a big indoors venue with good sound quality.

 

"Now I'm forced to go to an outdoors venue where the chances are good that it might rain. When I complained about this, I was just told 'Bring an umbrella!' I'm really disappointed and feel I deserve better value for my money."

 

 

Good news for other Celine Dion fans is that none of the superstar's other concerts in South Africa will be affected by this and, that the singer has agreed to stage another concert on 1 March at Montecasino in Johannesburg due to the huge demand for tickets.

 

http://www.news24.com/News24/Entertainment...2265062,00.html

[remykyes]

^that sucks!

[nature boy]

Wow it's the Vegas debacle all over again!

[TreSean]

ONE BIG FAT RUMOR!

 

it's a nice rumor though, but I highly doubt it... VEGAS - my gosh 4 YEARS of nonstop singing... THE WOMAN is ready for her break...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Now now, stay positive.. Celine can't have breaks, she's too restless/impatient!

 

Agreed. It would be so difficult for her if she didn't sing. I find that in watching her videos and interviews, you'll notice that at times in the middle of a sentence she will just sing something. It may just be a few notes, but it's as if the music must come out. Celine sings from her spirit and thats very hard to put a damper on. Celine can sing forever and she loves it!

[raymondedwin]

Sorry if i go off topic a bit .. i searched all over on here and couldnt find any info ... ... my question is about purchaseing tickets on ticketmaster for the teamceline seating. it says enter password. what password?? i used my team celine password and it does not work. any ideas?

 

thanks ... and sorry if this has been asked a million times before. xoxo

[mirage]

Céline Dion Performs In-the-Round with Meyer Sound MILO on "Taking Chances" World Tour

 

 

"People come to hear Céline's voice first and foremost. The sound quality of the vocals is of course the most important thing. Meyer Sound products deliver incredible vocal quality and high intelligibility; they faithfully reproduce the human voice in a way no others can."

- Francois "Frankie" Desjardins

FOH Engineer, Celine Dion

 

On February 14, Céline Dion will embark upon her "Taking Chances" world tour of over 100 show dates, following her record-shattering, multi-year resident show in Las Vegas. The tour opens with a benefit concert for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, and will bring the world's best-selling female artist to 85 cities in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe before the final stop in Florida in January 2009. The tour includes a stop in Tokyo, which features the largest Meyer Sound MILO system with a record 168 MILO line array loudspeakers.

 

The system design for the elaborate, in-the-round production is handled by Dion's long-time head of audio and first-time FOH engineer, Francois "Frankie" Desjardins, whose sound design credits include the Beatles-inspired REVOLUTION Lounge in Las Vegas's Mirage Hotel and the Cirque du Soleil®'s Saltimbanco® touring show.

 

Having used Meyer Sound loudspeakers since 1992, Desjardins is quick to point out the quality of the products made the choice an obvious one: "People come to hear Céline's voice first and foremost. The sound quality of the vocals is of course the most important thing. Meyer Sound products deliver incredible vocal quality and high intelligibility; they faithfully reproduce the human voice in a way no others can."

 

The logistics of the year-long, four-continent tour also influenced the decision. "We needed something that was compact and powerful," adds Desjardins. "This is where the advantages of Meyer Sound's self-powered system really come into play, as it's easily reconfigured. With fewer variables and Meyer Sound's tight quality control, the system can sound the same around the world, even when we're relying on local rental companies to provide equipment."

 

While 360-degree productions create a unique audience experience, they present significant challenges from a technical perspective. "It really increases the overall reverb time, so it's a bit more complex to mix," says Desjardins.

 

The touring system is provided by Montreal, Canada-based Solotech, which is also the sound provider for various Cirque du Soleil productions and Dion's resident show. The basic in-the-round arena system comprises dual main left-right arrays covering two sides of the square stage, each with 17 MILO loudspeakers and one MILO 120 loudspeaker per side. At each of the four corners is an array of 18 MICA loudspeakers for side PA.

 

The seamless integration between the MILO and MICA helps provide even coverage to the various venues on the tour. "MILO can easily carry the high energy all the way to the last seat of the arena," says Desjardins. "On the other hand, MICA sounds especially good from medium to short distances and has a wide horizontal pattern to complement the MILO. The transition zone between MILO and MICA is exceptionally smooth."

 

According to Desjardins, the music in the show is more uptempo and has a stronger rock and roll element than her previous tours. As a result, 24 700-HP subwoofers are flown and 32 groundstacked to provide the deep bass required. "The 700-HP creates the impact that I want. It is simply the most powerful subwoofer for its size," says Desjardins. "And we like the flexibility of being able to fly it or groundstack it."

 

On stage, 20 M'elodie line array loudspeakers are used as front fills and four CQ-2 loudspeakers provide monitoring.

 

A Galileo loudspeaker management system with five Galileo 616 units handles system drive and processing, including a "Master" Galileo with AES outputs. "Since the new Galileo 616 AES unit is digital in and out, we don't have to convert to analog for another unit," says Desjardins. "With the huge number of loudspeakers at long distances, we need a superior processor like Galileo. I think it's one of the best sounding speaker processors on the market."

 

Desjardins also highlights the benefit of using Meyer Sound's RMS remote monitoring system for extensive status and performance data of the system. "I can't hear the other side of the stage, so I rely on RMS to let me know if there are any problems."

 

On tour with Dion is a technical team comprised of notable sound veterans including Denis Savage who oversees the entire production, Mario St-Onge who handles the technical aspect of the sound system and tunes it using Meyer Sound's SIM 3 audio analyzer, Jean-Charles Ethier who is in charge of monitoring for Dion and the band, along with Desjardins who mixes the show.

 

Demand for tickets has been overwhelming, with the first dates selling out in mere minutes. "Céline's fans know they get a tremendous show," says Desjardins. "She always delivers her best, and she demands the best from us, and from her equipment. That's what we deliver."

 

http://www.meyersound.com/news/2008/celine_tour/web/celine_001.jpg

http://www.meyersound.com/news/2008/celine_tour/web/celine_004.jpg

[Nando Férri]

It's so LTAL tour...

[Thomas]

Wow, it looks really cool! You can see one of the platforms that extend into the crowd on the first pic. Thanks for the article, I'm a real sucker for all this technical jargon.

[mirage]

looks like we have moving screens in the middle...

 

cant wait to see more

[pepillo90]

Just ooone week!!

[Tal]

According to Desjardins, the music in the show is more uptempo and has a stronger rock and roll element than her previous tours

 

[Costa Santos]

... The stage...

[ahmed]

wow that's great

[nature boy]

Looking very cool!

[Nando Férri]

And what about the tracklist? Something new?

[binsk]

you can't even see the stage...just the speakers

[JP]

Wow, sounds so exciting about the up-tempo and the rock sound!!!

[CelineFanInSoCal]

I am getting so stoked about this! LOL Looking at the photos of the stage and the screens that looks like they come down, etc, it kinda reminds me of Justin Timberlake's last tour...

 

And a more rock'n'roll sound?! sheesh! it's what we've all been talking about... new sounds, etc. let's just hope they're talking about more than the TC songs of the show's songlist. )

[nano]

wow..the stage looks great!!

 

According to Desjardins, the music in the show is more uptempo and has a stronger rock and roll element than her previous tours

:w00tbounce:

[Shamrock_1982]

The stage looks impressive, and as another fan said it looks very similar to justins stage that he used at the o2 last year.

It sounds weird, but it now all seems real seeing these pictures that its gonna really happen, after 5 years of going to Vegas, Celine is coming to see us, and so soon after A new day... coming to an end.

I'm so excited!!

 

Darren.

[Frida]

only 4 month - 1 day left for me iiiiiih

 

 

 

thanks for the pics, they're awesome!

 

 

According to Desjardins, the music in the show is more uptempo and has a stronger rock and roll element than her previous tours

 

 

 

 

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH :w00t: I don't think I've actually realized it yet.. she's coming on TOUR!!

[Filine]

I am starting to get nervous for Céline LOL...YAJ this IS making it real isn't it

[kathy4]

i love the pictures of the stage.

[remykyes]

i am getting so excited!!!! I can't wait!!!!