Dion machine invades Caesars

Pop star sings tonight

 

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STAGE HANDS: Workers begin to construct the stage Friday for today's Celine Dion concert at Caesars Windsor.

Photograph by : Nick Brancaccio, Windsor Star

 

Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star

Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009

 

Five- thousand fans, $500 tickets, 100 workers, 18 big rigs and one mega-star.

 

The massive machine that is Celine Dion's production convoy rolled into town early Friday to set up for what could safely be said is the biggest show to hit Windsor.

 

"It's our biggest ever," Caesars Windsor spokeswoman Holly Ward said Friday.

 

"We've just been a beehive of activity today, because we're preparing for a production that is actually four times larger than anything we've had before."

 

Superstar pop diva Celine Dion hits the stage in Caesars Windsor's Colosseum at 9 tonight for a much-anticipated, sold-out gig on her Taking Chances world tour.

 

She was expected to fly into Windsor sometime today. Her entourage arrived a day early to have enough time to set up for the production-heavy show.

 

Chatham Street was blocked off next to the casino as truck drivers backed transports two at a time into the belly of the Colosseum. Inside, there was a flurry of activity. After driving all night and arriving around 3 a.m., about 100 people worked to unload gear, erect a giant video screen and set up lights. They had a forklift to ferry heavy items. They put in stairs and extended the stage.

 

The Dion team, fresh off a show in St. Louis on Wednesday, brought in nine buses and nine transport trucks.

 

As a comparison, Donna Summer, with all her props and costume changes, brought two trucks when she played the casino. Ward said that's about average. "Usually it's one bus and one or two tractor-trailers," she said. "Then you've got about 20 crew members."

 

If you're still not blown away by the sheer magnitude of the Celine circus, consider this: they left behind 20 transports full of equipment for building stages on basketball courts and hockey rinks.

 

"We have a stage and we have the rigging that you normally wouldn't see in a stadium," said Ward. "They actually haven't brought as much equipment and gear as they usually do. We're not the stadium stop that she's used to."

 

Dion fan Larry Poissant was impressed. "We were just talking about that -- the convoy she has to get around," he said, looking at the row of trucks outside the casino. "You hear about those things, but when you see it first hand, it really sets you back. It's that big of a production."

 

He's not the only one excited about the show. Tickets, priced at $150 and $200, sold out in minutes.

 

"We had fans waiting overnight in front of our box office when tickets went on sale," said Ward. "We had people who came with friends and family and booked a hotel room, and they would take turns waiting in line until the box office opened."

 

On Friday, some of those tickets were for sale online at more than $500.

 

At those prices, Poissant didn't think he'd be seeing the show, despite some subtle hints. "Unless my wife wants to buy me a ticket," he said.

 

Disappointment aside, Poissant said the show will be a boost for Windsor's ailing downtown, even if only for a day or two. His friend Ron Nugent agreed.

 

"I'm glad Caesars took over and they can get these kinds of acts into their properties," said Nugent. "I was surprised Jay Leno would want to spend his New Year's in Windsor. It brings a lot of money into the city.

 

Jason Heikkila, heading into the casino Friday, said he never bought into the Celine "hype." But even he couldn't deny it was a pretty big name to hit little old Windsor.

 

"It's a big deal," said Heikkila. "She's a headliner at Caesars in Vegas. For her to come up here, it really is putting us on the map in terms of entertainment."

Edited February 8, 200916 yr by SuuS

Celine simply sensational

 

By Ted Shaw, The Windsor Star February 8, 2009 2:01 AM

 

Celine Dion brought the world to Windsor's doorstep Saturday.

 

Her sold-out appearance at the Caesars Windsor Colosseum comes on the heels of her world tour in support of the 2007 album, Taking Chances.

 

A brief video before Dion stepped on stage showed film of her in such places as Macau, Dubai, Sydney, Paris and Los Angeles.

 

At the end of the film, the name of Windsor flashed on the screen to the cheers of the audience.

 

Dion is perhaps the biggest contemporary star ever to perform in Windsor.

 

Jim Carrey used to do a standup here before he made it in L.A., and the old Elmwood Casino attracted the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. Tony Bennett, Paul Anka, and Anne Murray have been here, too. Jay Leno and Chris Rock, two of Hollywood's biggest names in comedy, have preceded Dion to the Colosseum.

 

But other than Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a fellow French-Canadian, at the height of Trudeaumania, nobody has caused this kind of a sensation in the Rose City.

 

And, darn it, if she didn't seem just a little touched by the reception.

 

The Colosseum is not the warmest of venues. To begin with, it's cavernous and it lacks character. Then there are those hundreds of patrons who have tickets from all the money they gamble in the casino.

 

A lot of other acts — Donna Summer, Reba McEntire, and Gretchen Wilson, to name a few — have been greeted by downright apathy.

 

Not so Dion.

 

Right from the opening number, I Drove All Night, she held the 5,000 in attendance in the palm of her hand. They even stood when encouraged by the star to do so, and clapped along.

 

It was probably one of her smallest audiences, in fact, since she left her five-year gig at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. She joked about that, saying she was experiencing deja vu over the name Caesars.

 

A polished and dynamic performer, Dion is worth all the hype and bloated ticket prices. Backed by a solid six-piece band, three singers and eight dancers, Dion paced herself through a 110-minute show that hit all the right notes for the audience.

 

The song selections were drawn from her career catalogue — The Power of Love, My Heart Will Go On, I'm Your Angel, Because You Loved Me, I'm Alive, and It's All Coming Back to Me Now, to name a few. She even sang one of her top French-language songs, Pour que tu m'aimes encore.

 

A newer song, Linda Perry's My Love, from the Taking Chances album, found Dion explaining how some songs touch her to the core. She then displayed an impressive emotional range to match her legendary vocal one.

 

While a soul set that included James Brown's It's a Man's Man's Man's World was energetic in its delivery, thanks to the powerful musical accompaniment and the dancers, Dion is no R&B shouter.

 

She's a belter, a singer cut from cloth of her idol, Barbra Streisand.

 

Her vocal style is better suited to the operatic duet with Andrea Bocelli, The Prayer, which was performed with a virtually real Bocelli on a video screen.

 

She can also send a song like Eric Carmen's All By Myself, already pretty melodramatic, into the upper atmosphere.

 

Caesars Windsor spokesperson Holly Ward said Saturday Dion took a brief break from her stadium tour to appear in Windsor.

 

Her close affiliation with the Caesars chain is likely the reason.

 

Dion's concert "is a true indication of the kind of attraction our venue and especially the Caesars brand is having in the entertainment world," said Ward.

 

In the highly competitive casino business in Windsor and Detroit, Caesars Windsor has set itself apart by adding the Colosseum and its power-packed lineup so far.

 

When Leno performer there on New Year's Eve, Ward said, there were 30,000 visitors to the casino and hotel.

 

"We know that many of those visitors were new to the property," Ward said.

© Copyright © The Windsor Star

Edited February 8, 200916 yr by SuuS