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Eleven minutes before 9 p.m. local time, the lights went down and screams erupted as Céline Dion took the stage in a Parisian suburb for her first concert in six years.
Dion, 58, opened the show at at Europe’s largest indoor concert venue with a rendition of 1998’s On Ne Change Pas, stopping partway through as she was moved to tears.
“I promised not to cry,” she told the crowd in Nanterre, wearing a pleated black gown and enormous diamond necklace.
“Tonight I want to sing for you, for me, for life.”
Dion wiping her tears on stage. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)
Thousands of devoted fans packed Plenitude Arena on Saturday to watch Dion’s return to the stage, opening a sellout Paris residency after a battle with a rare neurological disorder sidelined the singer’s career.
“Finally. It’s amazing we’re all together. I made a promise. I made a promise to come back and be back on stage,” Dion said, speaking in French and then English.
“Thank you so much for your support, your patience and, if I may say so, I am everything I am because you loved me,” she continued, quoting her own 1996 song.
Dion opened the show with 1998’s On Ne Change Pas, written by Parisian singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)
Concertgoers, who made their way through thousands of feet of barricades to get inside the venue, were wearing anything from jeans and graphic T-shirts to sparkly mini skirts and floor-length gowns.
One woman wore her wedding dress.
“I cancelled the party with all my family and friends to come see Céline,” said Fanny Sucheyre, who celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary at the concert.
“I said to myself, if one day I had the chance to see her, I would wear my best dress. So it’s my most beautiful dress.”
Fanny Sucheyre wears her wedding dress on the way into Dion’s show. (Sarah Leavitt/CBC)
Inside, special edition Céline champagne glasses sold out within minutes and the lines for champagne itself stretched more than 30 metres. Even the men’s washroom had snaking line ups.
“It’s a dream. I haven’t slept for three days. I’m 50 years old and right now I feel like I’m 15,” said Guylene Richardson, heading into the arena with her daughter, both in Dion concert tees. “With [Dion’s] disease, I didn’t think she would come back, so it’s great. I’m really happy for her. I’m happy for us.”
Guylene Richardson, right, outside the arena with her daughter. (CBC News)
One of the best-selling artists of all time, she announced a diagnosis of stiff person’s syndrome — which causes stiffness and muscle spasms — and disappeared from the spotlight in 2022. She broke her hiatus to perform Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour from the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Dion is scheduled to perform a series of 26 concerts over the next eight months. The City of Light has buzzed with anticipation for the singer’s comeback, with signs dotting the length of the Champs-Élysées or along the famed river Seine.