October 20-21, 2008 - Vancouver, Canada (General Motors Place)

[Jenni]

celine is here in vancouver does anyone know where she is staying??

 

Oh how I wish I was in Vancouver! It's like a second home to me... I love the city!

 

Don't know where she would be staying at, but I'm sure she would enjoy the view from the Pan Pacific like she enjoyed the harbour view from her hotel in Sydney. ...aww, Vancouver and Sydney, my two favourite cities. Just a side note!

 

Have a great night at the concert, and enjoy the beautiful city as well!

[Shamrock_1982]

Have a great time guys!!!

I'm so jelous...... I'm having withdrawl systoms since I last saw Celine in Dublin....lol.

 

Enjoy!

 

Darren.

[I Surrender]

Have a great show everyone

[SarahJB5]

Hey Guys...enjoy the show tonight...hope you have a blast. I'll be looking forward to all the reviews, pictures and videos!

[scary2020]

I'm soo excited! First Celine show tonight! wOOt!!!

[takeachance]

Enjoy.

[autumnskies00]

Luck duckies, have fun tonight. I envy the west coast right about now.

[Edwin]

Have a great show all Looking forward to reviews, pix and multimedia

[Koolan]

Have a great show!

[KimboCosmo]

Can't wait to hear all about it!!

[stevethefan]

Can't wait to hear all about it!!

 

Well let me tell ya it was one of the BEST shows I've been to!

 

Oh wait...I wasn't at this show.

[autumnskies00]

Isn't it way over by now? Or am I confused by the timezones again? I hope she was feeling better tonight! People from the last show said she seemed to have a cold.

 

p.s. I can already answer this for everyone who will ask. Yes the setlist was the same. lol. I wasn't there...just a lucky guess

[SarahJB5]

Yeah, it should be over now...it's 11:30 pacific time, waiting for those reviews!!!

[racey3229]

hi guys, hust back from the show,celine was on form tonight,no changes to the show or costumes,the crowed loved her,and gordie too! The stage crew made a huge mistake by not closing the curtain to celines dressing room, from where we were sat opposite the catwalk we could see her as she was leaving the dressing room fixing her shorts under the RDMH dress oh dear lol poor celine!

 

i saw celine as she arrived at the arena, she waved at me but did not stop this time! roll on tomorrow nite

[Amanja]

what time did she arrive at GM place? i'm hoping I can get there early TEHEHEHEEEEEEEEE can't wait for tomorrow. i don't think i'll be able to sleep tonight

[Shesings2me]

Keep having fun everyone. Good luck with getting a moment with Celine tomorrow...you friendly stalkers.

[rhapsodion]

I just got back from the concert too!!! It was fabulous!!! I was in row 11 on the East floor section! I envy those who got to sit right where the cat-walk ramp ends!!! They got to shake hands with Celine again and again and again!!! haha~

 

I got stopped by security once in the middle of the concert, becuz of the lens that I had. They said only media could use those lens...and I said I will take my lens off then. Of course, I did not. But I didn't shoot as freely as I could before. Will try to put up some of those pix here later!

 

I am very happy with the crowds around me, they were all "passionate", not just sitting there the whole time. They would stand up and clap hands a at appropriate moments. It was also funny seeing many people trying to take a picture together with Celine by positioning their cameras so that they could see Celine performing at the background! haha~ I also appreciate how considerate the crowds are. When they see people behind them sit back down, people in the front would sit back down too. That just made the entire experience soooo good! I also want to thank the lady who sits in front of me (not sure she if she is also a member of this forum), cuz when the security came and tried to take my camera away, the lady told me to take the memory card out, so that I will still get to keep the pix that I have already taken. Fortunately, the security guy said it's okay if I promise the take off my lens.

 

Another thing that I found funny is that I remember the show was sold out way way back, but today when I went to ticket master website, it releases some new tickets, row 5 right above the ramps!!!!!! I almost wanted to buy them, even though I already have 2 tix at row 11 on the floor section. Oh well.... but I really wish I would have those seats....

 

Oh...and too bad Celine didn't leave the arena at my side. I wonder which hotel she is staying in!!!!

[CellyDee87]

And some reviews

 

Pop diva Dion wows fans at GM Place

Jan Zeschky, Special to The Sun

Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

VANCOUVER - A couple of calculated risks aren't really going to hurt when you're a multi-millionaire global superstar whose fans will always pack out somewhere like GM Place for two nights in a row (or Caesars Palace for more than 700 for that matter).

 

Nevertheless, Celine Dion should perhaps be applauded for giving up her cushy turn in Vegas to throw herself back into the bumpy end of the music caravan, with a mammoth international tour supporting her latest studio album Taking Chances.

 

The record marks a few new forays for Dion, with Middle Eastern and R&B influences to name just a couple, and the tour's stage show is markedly different from past ones too: most notably in its circular, "in the round" stage which has Dion surrounded by her adoring fans (who on tonight's evidence are mostly females or husbands, reluctant or otherwise).

 

The idea here is presumably to humanize the diva, as it were, and, fittingly, during the show Dion makes use of two protruding catwalks to "mingle" with the audience. It's worth questioning how humanizing an influence doting devotees who can justify spending $520 for two hours of light entertainment really are, but that's a whole other thesis.

 

So is this Dion at her craziest? Tonight's prologue, cast on a cube of screens enclosing centre-stage, certainly shows how crazy her itinerary has been, with highlights of the tour that started in Johannesburg in February.

 

They're interspersed with images of a leathered-up Celine speeding through assorted landscapes in a classic car in an attempt to make it to tonight's show on time. It would definitely be some start were she to roar onstage in the selfsame car, but sadly the crowd are denied.

 

Instead the cube peels back to reveal the lady herself raised high on a pedestal, skinny-limbed in a short, sequinned pink dress with locks flowing, blowing kisses to the crowd.

 

Immediately that voice launches into the Roy Orbison classic "I Drove All Night" and the crowd's screaming and flash photography start in earnest. What follows is a seamless run-through of Dion's career highlights and picks from Taking Chances in a blinding extravaganza of athletic dance (Celine can be quite the mover herself) and a blizzard of video screens which fold into various shapes throughout the show.

 

The stage itself is pretty cool too: revolving, escalating and transporting Dion in all directions as her band are raised up and down on internal elevators.

 

She says little between songs, commenting only on her long hiatus from BC and vowing to make up for it tonight. She certainly gives it her best shot. Everything from the eye-catching dance routines (spanning salsa to breaking) to Dion's reliably soaring voice - which eases effortlessly from swoon to pitch-perfect yell on numbers like "The Power of Love" and "All By Myself" - seem choreographed to perfection, with neither a note nor a hair out of place. It's almost unreal - and this, unfortunately, is what lets Dion down again.

 

Despite her attempts to get amid the crowd, to show she's really one of us, it's an all too familiarly distant affair, a typically consummate, polished performance by an experienced professional.

 

So it's a chance taken that's not quite paid off. But then her fans will never mind, if 200 million sold albums and the sheer amount of screaming tonight are anything to go by. There's clearly an unquenchable craving for Celine's mix of good clean fun and lashings of schmaltz - the tear-jerking encore of "My Heart Will Go On", swelling 20,000 Titanic memories, fulfilling the latter requisite alone. Unlike a certain other Dion, there doesn't seem to be any chance of Celine relinquishing her pedestal any time soon.

 

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...e2-6983d19100c6

 

© Vancouver Sun

 

Dion leaves Vancouver fans tugging at their hankies

By Stuart Derdeyn - Province Music Critic, Vancouver Province

Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008

 

Why don't more tours put a comic on as the opening act?

 

Given the great reception for Canadian singing and dancing impressionist Gordie Brown at Monday night's Céline Dion show, it just might be better than trying to find another musical act to put up in advance of the headliner.

 

Of course, Brown is no newbie trying to break in. He's a Las Vegas Venetian Palazzo regular with a hit show of his own. If Net stories are true, he was invited to open all five months of the Taking Chances tour.

 

With his safely humorous sendups of everyone from Usher to Elvis, he found the Céline fans' funny bones and garnered plenty of genuine applause.

 

So, folks going to Tuesday's second of two shows should make the effort to arrive in time for the opener. Haven't said that in a long time. "Is that alright?"

 

The roars from all sections of the Garage made it clear that being in the same room as Céline Dion singing "I Drove All Night" was far more than that. It was ultra-mega OK, awesome and then some.

 

Right from the opening notes of the evening, it was clear that the 100 million-selling singing star from Charlemagne, Que., was planning on hitting all the right notes for the Célinistas who floated on every note.

 

While she certainly took no chances to speak of, her first Vancouver performance in a decade was geared to get the faithful tugging at their hankies. On an in-the-round stage with two raised extension runways on either side of centre ice and four hydraulic risers to keep the band moving up and down, she pranced from one corner to the next at a breakneck pace.

 

At times aided by some very nifty hidden conveyor belts, she did an impressive job of reaching as many people as she could.

 

Four jumbotrons raised above the stage and an additional array of LED curtains and TVs meant there was no escaping the star. As far as her stage presence goes, five years and three million-plus punters through the gates for her Vegas extravaganza has given her even more confidence on stage.

 

The little two-step dance skip and that whole raised-hand-pointing-off-into-space thing remains her trademark. But the pounding-her-chest move I always called C(éline)PR is gone. Now, she has the biggest white cape you have ever seen to go with thigh-high leather dominatrix boots and sparkling sequined dress for the big flamenco number that came before the tear-jerker ballad by Eric Carmen "All By Myself."

 

While I'll never, ever be able to grasp how anyone can stomach her overwrought sentimentality and pop excess balladry or what it is in her music that has snared so many, she really gave the fans a Dion-esian spectacle.

 

Nobody didn't get what they paid for and that is a sign of a great entertainer. Like it or not. I certainly didn't. But at least it was more lively than the new AC/DC album. Grade: A-

 

sderdeyn@theprovince.com

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/sto...31-720bfad68972

 

© Vancouver Province 2008

Edited October 21, 2008 at 07:47 AM by Denelle

[VanCitySir]

I might not be as devoted as many fanatics here, but I have been a supporter of this amazingly talented Canadian, from the first time I heard her first english hit, " Where Does My Heart Beat Now". This is the second time I have seen her live, ..the first being in April 03 at Caesers, and I have to say, this was much more up close and personal. I must thank, Yasmeen, from Langford ( Vancouver Island), who due to her mis-fortune sold Me 3 amazing tickets below cost. I was in Sec 107, Row 7, seats 3.4.5, which were about the same elevation as the north satellite stage, ( where she took time to shake many fans hands during BYLM). I was about 8 seats away from there as you'll see when I get pix posted. The woman is simply gorgeous, and My daughter and daughter-in-law were so thrilled being so close. The fans around us, were so politely knowledgeable standing when that feeling came over us all, and then sitting when they knew others behind sat down. It makes for a wonderful experience for everyone that way.

Tonight was sold out....and I looked around and didn't see any empty seats. Someone mentioned TicketMaster has tix available...and that is due to those that couldn't make the concert selling them back. For those looking for tickets to Tuesdays concert, should look here, http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/search/t...&maxAsk=max this is were I got My tix, and a special thank you to Ramona,

aka here as "theotherR' who contacted Me thru here and sold My brother tix at an amazing price, I am truly sorry we never got to meet.

I just might, if I can grab a reasonable priced ticket go to tonights concert and bring a better video recorder, ( they didn't even frisk at the door)

Once I get My pix and videos edited I'll post here

[rhapsodion]

Here are some of the pics that I took tonight!

 

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine1.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine2.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine3.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine4.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine6.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine7.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine8.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine9.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine10.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine11.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/rhapsodionblog/celine12.jpg

Edited October 21, 2008 at 10:24 AM by rhapsodion

[CellyDee87]

WOW your pics are fabulous Rhapsodian , did you have good seats or a great camera?

[maxceline]

a great camera I would sayyy

[celinevegas]

Amazing Pictures Rhapsodian!!!!

Great Show!!!!

[celinefan5]

Amazing pictures!

[rhapsodion]

Thank you guys, glad that you like those pix! =) I was in row 11, but I borrowed a very good lens (200mm) from my friend, so some of the pix turned out pretty well! And the first and last pic was taken with a fisheye lens.

 

Now, I am hoping one day, I will get to take a pic of me with Celine right by my side. heehee~ (fingers crossed)

[kathy4]

great pictures thanks for sharing. how long was the show?

[Bellamy]

Amazing photos. DSLR rocks.

 

I heard "Taking Chances" live from Ramona's phone call.

[maceta_biloxi]

Here are some of the pics that I took tonight!

 

AWESOME PICS wow, i love the pics of the crowd and the stage, very nice!!!!

[kathy4]

are there any more pictures?

[Chula]

The show was in English?