Oh, Celine!

Speaking about music, I can readily say I'm a fan of Mariah Carey and Josh Groban. But somehow rather I never say I'm a fan of Celine Dion despite loving many of her songs. When it was announced that Celine Dion will be performing at KL, I didn't even think twice whether to go for the concert, even though the price was just exhorbant and was held on a weekday. After purchasing the tickets, I wondered out load if watching Celine Dion's concert makes me a fan of hers or not.

Ototo-san's logic was simple - If you are a fan of her music, means you are a fan of hers.

Anyway, it was a blessing in disguise when she had to postphone her concert due to sickness. As a result the concert was held on a Sunday, which means the Boss and I could take our time without having to worry about being caught in the mad traffic. Not that there's no traffic jam either, but just less traffic jam to worry about.

We packed raincoats and towels as it rained during the late afternoon, so don't wanna risk it. However, the organisers were kind enough to provide us with raincoats too. They even gave us some paper bag with Bonia catalogues as a souvenir.

This was how far I was from the stage

The gates were opened from 7pm. We arrived and were seated around 7:40pm. And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

When will the royalty and VVIP turn up?

People were getting restless. Some even came up with the mexican wave to keep themselves entertained.

Then around 8:50, announcement made that the King and Queen has arrived, followed by the deputy Prime Minister and wife.

*Surprise, surprise* The crowd booed!

I don't think the Agong was impressed.

Immediately right after the royalty were seated, the concert finally begun!

It started with some MTV of Celine Dion getting onto a car and driving across some desert. And then there she was on stage!

With a big smile, she belted out her first song for the night - "I Drove All Night".

The crowd went mad! They were cheering, and clapping away.

Me? I was just in awe. Her voice was just incredible, it's exactly like what I hear on air, and she made it look just effortlessly walking around the stage singing.

Immediately after, she went on to sing "The Power of Love", "Taking Chance" and other of her hit songs.

The first half of the concert was very good as she sang a lot of her old songs. There was "I'm your Angel", "It's all coming back to me", "Because you love me", "I'm Alive" etc etc. I was delighted when she sang "To Love you more" with a violinist next to her. That's one of my favourite Celine Dion songs, and last time I used to imagine myself playing the violin next to her. Oh, how wonderful would that be! When she sang that song, I was already a very contented concert goer :)


While I was expecting some costume change based on what I read on the Sydney concert review, she surprisingly kept to her outfit throughout the concert. Must be due to the regulations. At times you can see that she was extremely tired and was sweating. Sometimes I feared that she may just faint because i imagine her being so hot bundled under that costume, but thankfully she did not :)

The second part was more for her to experiment around her voice through different forms of music - rock, R&B, cabaret - which didn't excite the crowd as much. The folks here were into familarity. Sing something out of the ordinary and they probably won't appreciate it, which was sadly quite true as they were all so quiet! Also, the cameraman actually showed us a glimpse of who's at the front row - Siti Nurhaliza, Mukhriz, Vincent Tan etc etc. No wonder there's no reaction in front coz it's all the VVIPs! The situation around where I sit is also like that but not so severe. It took a while for the audience to stand up and dance around, but some actually started dancing on the open ground since the concert started.

Then, before we know it, she said "Thank you" and then she's gone!

Now i expected a lot of people shouting for encore, but I didn't hear any. Not sure if it's because the stadium was too wide, or everyone thinks it's part of the show. Lucky for those fans sitting at the free seating section who were shouting and screaming, else people think the concert was already over.

Then she came back to perform "River Deep, Mountain High" to a very happy crowd before disappearing again. After some pretty weak encores, a familiar haunting tune was played through a flute. It was the theme song to 'Titanic'. Then, Celine finally emerged in a yellow chiffon gown (I bet she can't wait to change into that outfit) and proceeded to sing "My Heart Will Go On". It was definitely the best choice song to end the concert. The stadium turned into a huge karaoke session, with everyone joining to sing with Celine. And with that, she took a bow, and left the stage.

It was over, and it's less than two hours.

The performance was fantastic, the audience not so.

But I'm glad I was there to watch her perform. It will certainly be a chance of a lifetime for me.