The countdown has started. Only 4 more shows and the tour will be over :cry:

 

Tonight San Jose, California will enjoy a fabulous show and will be amazed surely :wub:

HQ Pics: CLICK HERE

Celine Dion makes a satisfying world tour landing at HP Pavilion

 

By Shay Quillen

 

Mercury News

Posted: 02/21/2009 09:37:51 PM PST

 

Three months later than planned, the hottest tour in the world finally made its way to San Jose.

 

"Have you been here since November?" asked a chatty Celine Dion early in her sold-out show at HP Pavilion. "Have you been sleeping here every night?"

 

Though throat problems forced Dion to postpone a month's worth of shows in the fall on her massive "Taking Chances" world tour, there were no signs of them on Friday night. Say what you will about Dion's taste (or lack thereof) or her aggressively enthusiastic stage demeanor, but no one ever said the woman couldn't sing. And for nearly two hours, Dion's voice, for the most part, carried the show.

Pricey tickets

 

It was a big-ticket concert — seats down low were approaching $200 — that delivered serious production value without excessive glitz. Dion and her talented troupe — seven instrumentalists, three backup singers and eight dancers — performed at center ice on a square stage with moving sidewalks and platforms that raised or lowered the performers in a vast array of permutations.

 

But Dion herself was always the main attraction. Giant video screens delivered a nearly constant close-up of the diva, who often played to the cameras, even flashing what appeared to be Quebecois gang signs (the chest pound, the thumb kiss) at the end of particularly herculean vocal efforts.

 

When it came to the ginormous ballads with which she made her name — hits like "Because You Loved Me" and her take on Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" — you could just marvel at the powers of Dion's golden larynx.

 

But the set was conspicuously light on new hits. Since leaving the pop rat race in 1999 to devote time to her family, Dion has been unable to claw her way back in, at least in this country.

 

Though she remains a formidable concert draw — 11 of the 12 highest-grossing shows in the world last week were Dion concerts — one couldn't help noticing that the crowd's interest level declined precipitously when Dion ventured into material from this century.

 

After cranking out hits such as "The Power of Love" early, the show never completely recovered from its mid-set detour into more recent songs. Still, a late duet with a video version of Andrea Bocelli on "The Prayer" showed off some of the best singing of the night.

 

Hardworking woman

 

But an arena show cannot live on ballads alone, and when Dion tried to pump up the crowd late, the results were underwhelming. Unlike her Vegas rival Barry Manilow, Dion has no "Copacabana" to liven things up at the end. Instead, she let the band do a soul-music medley, which ended with Dion incongruously belting out James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World."

 

(The verdict? Dion is unquestionably one of the hardest-working women in show business, but Soul Sister No. 1, she ain't.)

 

The night wrapped up, appropriately, with one of the biggest hits of all time, "My Heart Will Go On." Most fans seemed to leave the arena satisfied, if not thrilled.

 

Detracting from the professionalism of Dion's show was a 30-minute set (it seemed longer) from musical impressionist and comedian Gordie Brown, a moderately talented mimic whose bland PG-13-rated jokes weren't helped by being about 15 years past their sell-by date. (Note to aspiring Vegas comics: When your set starts with a Hootie and the Blowfish parody before moving on to Willie Nelson's tax problems, "Forrest Gump" and "Achy Breaky Heart," it's time to work up some new material.)

 

SOURCE

 

Intro + IDAN

 

Edited February 22, 200916 yr by SuuS