Ottawa, Canada november 7th

Posted November 8, 200816 yr

Celine is back on stage again !!

Setlist:

I Drove All Night

The Power of Love

Destin

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

Because You Loved Me

To Love You More

New Mego's Flamenco

Eyes on Me

All by Myself

I'm Alive

Shadow of Love

Dans Un Autre Monde

J"irai Ou Tu Iras

Alone

Pour que tu m'aimes encore

My Love

S'il Suffisait D'Aimer

The Prayer

Soul Medley:

1. Sex Machine

2. Soul Man

3. Lady Marmalade

4. Respect

5. I Got the Feelin

It's a Man's Man's World

Love Can Move Mountains

River Deep, Mountain High

My Heart Will Go On

Celine Dion could have stood on top of a phonebook and sung Happy Birthday in the Scotiabank Place parking lot all by herself and she still would have sold the place out.

But pop's undisputed diva goddess from Charlemagne, Que., doesn't do anything in half measures. Remember, Dion, 40, did more than 600 shows for A New Day at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas between 2004-2007, and whatever happened to Dion in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas.

And so, last night's lovefest at Scotiabank Place turned into a one-woman musical extravaganza that could have been called Celine, with Dion playing a half dozen roles including Woman Rising, French feminist, romantic lover, devoted mother and all-night driver.

For love.

Which is largely why 14,000 fans, most of them French and female, shelled out as much as $200 a piece to see Dion's first concert in the capital in 10 years.

SPIFFY STAGE

How things have changed, beginning with her stage, an impressive piece of technology sitting square over centre-ice, with lighting and candelabras, conveyor belts, hydralic lifts for the band and state-of-the-art video screens on all four sides.

After a soft-porn-like video of a doe-eyed Dion driving a vintage Jag, the singer took the stage singing I Drove All Night with the fans giving her a loud ovation, the first of many.

From that point on, Dion's show was a well-oiled machine, with the diva singing her set list of power-pop anthems and overwrought love songs including The Power of Love, It's All Coming Back to Me Now, Because You Loved Me and To Love You More all in the first 20 minutes.

Like a romance novel, Dion has a gift for stoking romantic fires and pulling heartstrings.

"This is my first show back since getting sick," she explained, appearing to choke hard. "Nothing serious, mind you, but I am so nervous and excited to be here in Ottawa with you."

Later, after calling herself a "blabbermouth," she confided her mother wanted to go on tour with her to babysit her seven-year-old son, Rene-Charles.

For a fast-moving 90-minutes, she covered her biggest English hits including All By Myself, Shadow of Love, The Prayer with Andrea Bocelli on video, and her French hit Pour que tu m'aimes encore in a tightly choreographed song-and-dance spectacle that kept the fans on their feet.

YEOW!

About the only misstep in Dion's set list was the series of classic soul songs including River Deep, Mountain High, Soul Man and James Brown tunes Sex Machine, I Got the Feelin' and a hair-raisingly shrill version of It's a Man's Man's World that really would have had the godfather of soul yelling "yeow!" like he's never yelled before.

Dion closed with her showstopping My Heart Will Go On, complete with candles and wind machines blowing through her hair.

Despite being sick, Dion plied her spectacular pipes and kept the cheesy melodramatics to a minimum.

It was a spectacular showing from a singer at the peak of her career.

The only thing left to ask is "what's next?"

Sun Rating: 4 out of 5