May 8, 2008 - London, United Kingdom (O2 Arena)

[ImAliveUK]

Im SOOO excited!! See you all later - at HA HA Bar!

 

Kev

[destin139]

Today is the day people!!!! Aaagh, I cant control my excitment!! See you all later!

[felinedion]

Woo! I can't wait for the concert... Am in BK 111, Row A, Seat 353!! Man, if I can get a picture with Celine, I think I'd just die of happiness...

[miracle_girl]

 

Im Soo Exited!! :D:D:D:D:D

[tobywoby]

hey eveyone who,s going to 02 tonight have a really good time

 

just a word of warning to anyone who is meeting up at the Ha Ha bar, on tuesday it was like jam packed in there and was taking 30 mins just to get to the bar.

 

enjoy yourselves!!!

 

wendy x

[hutz13]

Have a great time and take lots of pics!

[tonybower]

Celine is probably singing Because You Loved Me right now! Wish I was there!!

[Shaun]

Iain just texted me. On stage right now doing "Eyes On Me"!!!!

[pepillo90]

Just heard MY LOVE!!! (Albert have phoned me)

 

It was brilliant

 

Perfect!

[VintageCeline]

wow!! She is singing RIGHT now. I hope everyone is having an amazing time!!!!

 

I wish I could have gone to tonights show too One night is NOT ENOUGH!!! lol x

[CelineRox]

I want to be there right now!!! Edited May 8, 2008 at 09:04 PM by CelineRox

[cdfan32]

Just got back from an amazing second night!! She was amazing again and my area of the crowd was much better tonight as we were all on our feet and dancing throughout most of the show. I didn't get the super close up view that I had on Tuesday, but I could actually see her closer in person during most of the night from the floor.

 

When she came out she had TWO of those gigantic diamond bracelets on, one on each wrist!!! She didn't wear it this time with the white dress/laced boots outfit though. Coolest part was probably when she was leaving and was walking through the crowd, one guy leaned down from the lower tier to try to shake her hand and she stopped, jumped up and gave him a high five. Everyone cheered.

 

Oh, and there are videos of the photoshoots for the tour book...they played a bunch of clips of the shoots before TIAMW and I filmed it!!

[VintageCeline]

I hope everyone had a brilliant night!

 

I'm waiting for the updates to come on in! woop!

 

I hope someone filmed the "high5" bit x

[miracle_girl]

WOW WOW WOW!!!

Is basically all i can say!!

she was soo amazing just got home thought i'd tell you guys how perfect

my night has been!! even though my camera was taken away buy security

because the zoom was to high lol!! so i couldnt take any pictures

However celine defantly made up for it!! she was amazing!! at first i couldnt actually

believe how close to her i was so i was sitting like this for the first two songs!!

then i totally lost it and was up on my feet most the night!!

the best part for me was when she sang all by myself and everyone in the arena

stood and clapped for like 3 minutes!!

Even my dad who doesnt really like her that much said she is soo good live!!

and he even hinted that he might take me again!! haha!!

 

Hope the rest of you guys had a good night!! /X

[ImAliveUK]

Well

 

Just back form the show with IrishJames

 

What can i say

 

AMAZING but i must say a few words about the bunch of idiots behind us who was TELLING, not asking politely, for us to sit down and poking us.

 

Totally ruined the upbeat songs

 

Other than that it was really good!!!

 

Pics to follow shortly :-)

 

Oh and where was everyone at 6pm? we were in the HA HA bar and only Amy showed - good on you Amy! Thanks for sitting with us whilst we ate - and good luck in ur exams :-)

 

Kev (and James)

[tonybower]

WOW WOW WOW!!!

Is basically all i can say!!

she was soo amazing just got home thought i'd tell you guys how perfect

my night has been!! even though my camera was taken away buy security

because the zoom was to high lol!! so i couldnt take any pictures

However celine defantly made up for it!! she was amazing!! at first i couldnt actually

believe how close to her i was so i was sitting like this for the first two songs!!

then i totally lost it and was up on my feet most the night!!

the best part for me was when she sang all by myself and everyone in the arena

stood and clapped for like 3 minutes!!

Even my dad who doesnt really like her that much said she is soo good live!!

and he even hinted that he might take me again!! haha!!

 

Hope the rest of you guys had a good night!! /X

 

Sorry to hear your camera was taken off you... but if I'm honest it was probably a blessing in disguise. You were probably able to fully appreciate the show 100%, which is impossible with a camera. I only took a few (awful) pictures with my mobile then came out feeling like I had watched the whole thing through a lense. Not good! I kicked myself for not just enjoying the show and giving Celine 100% of my attention.

 

I'm sure somebody managed to capture great audio clips and images tonight which will make up for not being able to take your own...

[hutz13]

Did she do the same set as May 6?

[bonninpili]

Independent.co.uk

Celine Dion, O2 Arena, London

 

Reviewed by Pierre Perrone

Friday, 9 May 2008

 

Many singers perform in their second language and manage to sound convincing. Despite selling a reported 200 million albums – including 27 million copies of that Titanic soundtrack – Céline Dion is not one of them. Time and again, during a 105 minute-long set, the Canadian superstar warbles, mangles English syllables until they're unrecognisable and inserts unnatural pauses into lyrics like "I hold... on... to your body" in "The Power of Love".

 

Considering that most of her show consists of love songs, this is rather a drawback. In fact, as an interpreter, Dion only truly inhabits Jean-Jacques Goldman's "Pour Que Tu M'Aimes Encore", her French signature song, and "My Love", a Linda Perry bespoke number from Taking Chances, her misnomer of a current album, which has underperformed despite the involvement of dozens of writers and producers.

 

She opens with "I Drove All Night", the yearning Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly composition that served Roy Orbison and Cyndi Lauper so well, and which was Dion's last UK hit in 2003. She's only revving up but, even if her 10-piece band, heavy on the cheesy synths, are never quite loud enough, Dion is soon at full throttle and making light work of power ballads "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" – from the Jim Steinman/Meat Loaf canon – and Heart's "Alone". It's like Magic or Heart FM in front of your very eyes.

 

"It's been way too long," Dion apologises to her British fans as if to make up for the fact that she chose to play a record-breaking Las Vegas residency for five years instead of touring the world. Of course, the O2 has become an offshoot of Vegas, hosting Elton John's Red Piano show last year and now this soulless production.

 

The drummer must have played "All By Myself", Eric Carmen's guilty pleasure Seventies song, hundreds of times but still manages to sound leaden. Despite raising her eyebrows, at no point does Dion invest the song with any feeling. Undaunted, she collapses at the end and celebrates her vocal callisthenics as if she'd scored a touchdown.

 

The conveyor belts on which she slides and glides become metaphors for the whole shebang, which also features an ill-advised soul medley and ends rather flatly with "Love Can Move Mountains". Inevitably, the beached finale on the bank of the Thames is "My Heart Will Go On". Start swimming!

 

Céline Dion plays the NIA, Birmingham, tomorrow (see www.celinedion.com)

[Javier_Natalio]

awful review, but thanks for posting.

[bonninpili]

awful review, but thanks for posting.

 

I think the same! I dont know why some journalist wrote so hard and without soul and heart!

[ks1981]

Wasn't tonights show amazing. even better than Tuesdays atmosphere wise both celine and the audience.

 

I did go to the Ha Ha bar and couldnt see anyone familiar there...so I headed off to get somethin to eat.

 

I've got a good 95% of tonights show on video. I will sort both tues and tonights videos out so I can share them with everyone.

 

[bonninpili]

Wasn't tonights show amazing. even better than Tuesdays atmosphere wise both celine and the audience.

 

I did go to the Ha Ha bar and couldnt see anyone familiar there...so I headed off to get somethin to eat.

 

I've got a good 95% of tonights show on video. I will sort both tues and tonights videos out so I can share them with everyone.

 

 

WOW can't wait to see your videos. The quality is so good. Thank you! :clap:

[fabtasticfoo]

Many singers perform in their second language and manage to sound convincing. Despite selling a reported 200 million albums – including 27 million copies of that Titanic soundtrack – Céline Dion is not one of them. Time and again, during a 105 minute-long set, the Canadian superstar warbles, mangles English syllables until they're unrecognisable and inserts unnatural pauses into lyrics like "I hold... on... to your body" in "The Power of Love".

 

Thank you to this authority on music, phrasing and diction at the Independent. His comments were quite insightful, but for two little problems:

 

1. Celine doesn't insert even a hint of a pause between "hold" and "on." She connects the two words, leaving absolutely no space between them.

2. That's not even the lyric she sings. It's "I hold on to your *whole* body."

 

One might be forgiven for thinking this insightful comment was entirely the product of a journalist's imagination. One might even question whether he actually paid any attention to the concert he was attending. Considering that most of his work consists of concert reviews, this is rather a drawback.

[Sof']

Thanks for those first reviews!! It seemed amazing !! :clap:

[felinedion]

Oh my God! I think I died and went to heaven. My seat was in the first row of the tier seats, and Celine went onstage and offstage passing by my seat. AND SHE SHOOK HANDS WITH ME as she arrived and as she left. The worst part was that my camera was on record at the time, but just on the peripheries of the scene when she first came up, and all u can hear on the video is me freaking out going OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! But the worst part was when she was leaving, my camera screwed up and took forever to click, with me ending up with a picture of the back of her head as she was leaving...

 

But oh well, at least I'll have the memory of Celine stopping before she went onstage to shake my hands!!! Oh my, am on such a high! Woo!

[KimboCosmo]

Glad everyone had a great time...

[sangstar]

Well

 

What can i say

 

AMAZING but i must say a few words about the bunch of idiots behind us who was TELLING, not asking politely, for us to sit down and poking us.

 

Totally ruined the upbeat songs

 

 

Kev (and James)

 

 

Totally agree with you. I loved the show, but the audience was crap, majority didnt want to stand up and vibe to the music. I was standing up and singing along with Celine, and the woman in front of me tapped my knee and said "i know you're enjoying yourself, but i came hear to hear Celine sing" This was only 15mins into Celine coming on stage!!

 

I was so annoyed, then my sis ket telling me not to stand too much to be considerate to the people behind. After a lil while I though F--K it, ive paid money and got up.

 

Yeh, so i thought the audience was crap, didnt interact with Celine, so to me it seemed like she gave up trying to after that. The end of Because you loved me was a joke, did anybody sing along at the end when Celine asked???

 

My highlights of the night were: Celine intro video, celine coming on stage, celine coming on the platform that extends into the crowd (on our side), tu mi'aimes encore, im your angel, my heart will go on, im alive.

 

oh yeh did anyone else notice celine singing the wrong words to the first few line of Im Alive. And Titanic!! They didnt do the violin intro like Vegas! but they did play the ah ah ah titanic theme which celine does + more than what we get on the dvd!!

 

I was sitting in bk102, row c. there were 2 guys in front of me, are you on this forum?? i was the one talking about the selling the tickets, and the older guy next to us, told us about selling his barbara streisand tickets for £1000, and making huge profits on them!!

[cdfan32]

I have to say, though I agree people should be able to stand up, the singing over Celine (didn't even know it was possible given the sound system, but I'm talking about full on belting) was really annoying. Sing along, but don't try to sing OVER her, I didn't go to her concert to hear a karaoke rendition. And the guy next to me who almost blasted out my eardrums with his piercing whistle during the acapella part of My Love REALLY annoyed me. Edited May 9, 2008 at 08:04 AM by cdfan32

[DannyUK]

All I can say is wow wow wow. I was there tuesday nite and last nite was much better. The audience were much better with most people up dancin and singing. Also you could tell that Celine was having a better time on stage. Roll on 05jun in Copenhagen.

[Shamrock_1982]

Last nights show as many have said was alot better, mainly due to the audience getting really involved and into the show!!

 

Yesterday my girlfriend and I went to Celine's hotel for the first time, and got there at 3, and seen a large crowd gathering, and 4/5 black mercedes parked outside, with drivers standing by, a few paps, fans, and a few of celine's people with there passes, on there phones or talking to the drivers...so it was all exciting!

Celine's photographer and the camera crew from the dvd then came out, and started snapping and filming....

I would say, there was about 15 fans on my side of the hotel and 8 or so on the other side with a few more behind the cars looking over...

Anyway she finally came out about 4.10pm, and went straight into her car, with rene...I called her and she smiled, I then thought she'd put down her window to sign stuff, but she didn't...Rene seen I wanted something signed, and said, sorry we have to go.

Celine's window was right by me...she looked sad to have dissappointed fans, for not signing anything, but waved...and she was gone.

( I later found out she had, to go film ''this morning'', backstage at the o2 before the show )

 

Andrea bocelli, left in a silver car infront of celines about 5 mins before she came out, so I thought maybe he'd be special guest but he wasn't.

 

At the o2 we had dinner then headed to a chinese restraunt/bar where we had a drink, and they played the ''A new day...'' dvd.

It was gr8 to be in a small room were everyone was glued to the screen, watching, and singing...I noticed a few french fans from the board also...

 

I didn't think much of the support act to be honest...lol.

 

Can I just say....I really don't agree with those ppl who b*tch and tell others to be quiet or sit down ( when singing or dancing ), its a friggin concert, and Celine herself signaled the crowd to get up and sing and dance quiet a few times...so if you don't like it, stay at home and play the cd or watch one of her dvds!!!

 

I was seated on the middle section on the floor row g, and it was a much better view believe it or not , than my seats on tuesday night which was the small sections of four rows of seats to the right of the isle...alot closer to the stage, but I think it was to close that you missed out, so last night seats were perfect!

I thought celine and the dancers were great on the moving walkways for ''fa''

 

During one of her costume changes I went to the bar quickly, and seen rene again behind the sound booth, and he smiled over as I past, I think he remembered me from the hotel earlier...

So when I came back, I went over to him and shook his hand, and said it was nice to meet you.... as he was looking around, before celine came back on...(btw, he had a mic in his other hand...I think he must speak to celine through her earpiece still )

 

After the show, we were leaving and rene caught my eye, so I waved, but he looked like he wanted to have a chat, so I walked over, he said if I went back to the hotel he would make sure Celine signed something for me...I couldn't believe it

So i thanked him and ran for the tube wth my g/f...lol.

 

More to come

Edited May 9, 2008 at 10:56 AM by Ire23