Toward the end of the 20th century, the idea of Las Vegas as a place for musicians to thrive was losing its shine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stars like Elvis Presley established and popularized the concept of concert residencies in Sin City during the 1960s. However, Elvis’s successful run at the end of his career also made Vegas synonymous with a last resort, a place for musicians whose careers were in decline.<\/p>\n
Historically, Vegas concert residencies suffered from an “ageist stigma” and were \u201cwidely regarded as a place where aging singers go to die, performing nostalgic medleys of hits night after night for bus loads of retirees staying at one of the many luxury resort casino hotels lining the strip,” said University of Copenhagen musicology professor Jessica Holmes.<\/p>\n
Presley may have established a foundation for concert residencies, but at the turn of the century it was pop diva C\u00e9line Dion who built a castle upon it by transforming what a residency could be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2003, she launched her first residency, A New Day\u2026, which set a new standard, selling more than two million tickets and earning more than $385.1 million US to become the top-grossing concert residency<\/a> in history.<\/p>\n Dion established the blueprint for concert residencies as \u201ca glamorous and profitable endeavor for pop stars young and old,\u201d said Holmes. <\/p>\n Shania Twain, Drake, Alanis Morissette and Michael Bubl\u00e9 have all had residencies there since then, and several artists have announced Vegas residencies for 2026, including No Doubt, Zayn, Jennifer Lopez and more.<\/p>\n Holmes says Dion exemplified a form of musical tourism that \u201ccompletely revitalized the Vegas musical economy.\u201d <\/p>\n Dion’s second residency, C\u00e9line, ran from 2011 until 2019. During that time she performed 1,141 shows and raked in more than $296.2 million US.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through her choice of venue, her ties to Cirque du Soleil and more, she revived the Las Vegas entertainment scene.<\/p>\n The Colosseum at Caesars Palace<\/p>\n Dion launched A New Day\u2026 at the then-brand new Colosseum in Caesars Palace, a venue with more than 4,000 seats that was built specifically for the pop star.<\/p>\n McGill University drama and theatre professor Erin Hurley said Dion embracing the legacy of Caesars Palace helped bolster her shows: \u201cIn A New Day\u2026, she nodded to other entertainers who had been in Vegas, right, so [Frank] Sinatra; she had a whole Tina Turner number, River Deep, Mountain High, which was pretty amazing, I have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n WATCH | Dion performs River Deep, Mountain High in Vegas:<\/p>\n \u201cShe took advantage to some degree in that show [with] the numbers that she was choosing, of the good ghosts that were there [who] were associated with Caesars Palace or associated more broadly with Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n The Colosseum\u2019s design for the show also benefitted Dion by featuring a raked stage (a sloping stage) and seating set on an incline, so that the audience had a better view.<\/p>\n \u201cThe audience can see more because [the stage is] tipped up towards you. But the stage in her Caesars Palace theatre was raked much more than what is normal,\u201d Hurley said, adding, “because she wanted people to feel closer.\u201d<\/p>\n Oprah Winfrey<\/p>\n Dion was the most featured celebrity guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, appearing on the program 27 times by 2011, when she was on the show to promote her C\u00e9line residency, giving away tickets to the audience.<\/p>\n By attaching herself to a well-known figure with a daytime television audience, Dion was able to reach new fans, create brand synergy and solidify ticket sales for her Vegas shows. <\/p>\n WATCH | Dion appears on The Oprah Winfrey Show:<\/p>\n \u201cOprah Winfrey [was] a totally new way to expand [Dion\u2019s] audience,\u201d said Catherine Moore, a music professor at the University of Toronto. \u201cAnd those [viewers] would also potentially be people who would say, \u2018Wow, this is going to be an amazing show [in a] brand new theatre at Caesars Palace, I’ve always wanted to go to Las Vegas, I don’t want to bet. And this is a reason to go to Las Vegas!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[The Oprah Winfrey Show] knit C\u00e9line Dion’s story into that of the American dream,\u201d said Hurley, explaining that while on TV, Dion was able to share her journey about growing up in a large family that didn’t have much before becoming an international superstar.<\/p>\n Dion settling in Vegas with her family after she’d found success “fits with [a] sort of family and career narrative about how Ren\u00e9 [Ang\u00e9lil] and C\u00e9line take these chances, right?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n “And so that she’s always on Oprah and recycling this story, that’s very familiar to Americans.”<\/p>\n Cirque du Soleil<\/p>\n The Vegas presence of another artistic Quebec powerhouse, Cirque du Soleil, helped pave the way for Dion\u2019s extravagant concerts. The circus launched its first productions in Vegas nearly a decade prior to Dion\u2019s first residency, laying the groundwork for bold, large-scale shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe talk about Cirque du Soleil as one of the progenitors of the renaissance of Vegas as a tourist destination, as not just the place for gamblers, but as an entertainment centre,\u201d Hurley said.<\/p>\n Because Cirque du Soleil \u201cdoesn\u2019t have animals and doesn\u2019t sell peanuts, it’s this feeling of being high-class,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so C\u00e9line walks into that sort of atmosphere of high-class, high-end entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n Franco Dragone\u00a0<\/p>\n Theatre director Franco Dragone, who directed a number of Cirque du Soleil shows, eventually quit the circus to work with Dion. He designed A New Day\u2026, which was labelled<\/a> \u201ca fusion of song, performing arts, theatrical innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n Dragone successfully included some of Cirque\u2019s aesthetic features in Dion\u2019s residency: the scope of the stage, the dozens of dancers and the projections on a 360-degree screen (a cyclorama) were all larger-than-life aspects that drove storytelling and set Dion\u2019s concerts apart.<\/p>\n WATCH | Dion performs My Heart Will Go On in Vegas:<\/p>\n