{"id":621407,"date":"2026-09-11T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621407\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:52:09","slug":"celine-dion-fans-gather-in-paris-as-singer-prepares-for-sold-out-comeback-shows-celine-dion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621407\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9line Dion fans gather in Paris as singer prepares for sold-out comeback shows | C\u00e9line Dion"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 30,000 C\u00e9line Dion fans have gathered in Paris for the Canadian singer\u2019s long-awaited return to performing on Saturday night, four years after she revealed her diagnosis<\/a> of stiff person syndrome, a rare neurological condition.<\/p>\n

Thousands more people without tickets have flocked to a series of giant karaoke events across France<\/a> to belt out Dion\u2019s famous power ballads, in celebration of the star\u2019s health stabilising enough for her to return to the stage.<\/p>\n

Paris\u2019s city hall (H\u00f4tel de Ville) organised a free outdoor karaoke for 10,000 people on Friday night as a giant sing-along to hits such as Dion\u2019s My Heart Will Go On<\/a>, which featured in the Oscar-winning film Titanic and became the second-bestselling single by a woman in music history.<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire, the mayor of Paris<\/a>, said the capital\u2019s giant street karaoke would honour Dion as \u201can artist of the people\u201d and a great unifier in France. \u201cMusic has that singular power to bring together and build a society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dion, who grew up the youngest of 14 children in a small town near Montr\u00e9al in French-speaking Quebec, has a massive fanbase in France. Her French-language ballads are regularly the most requested songs at karaoke venues.<\/p>\n

Dion performing in Quebec in 2019. Photograph: Jacques Boissinot\/The Canadian Press\/AP<\/p>\n

Dion\u2019s popularity also stems from her life story: from an upbringing in a poor Quebec family, singing as a child at her father\u2019s piano bar, to her massive stadium gigs.<\/p>\n

Dion, 58, announced in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with the incurable autoimmune disorder stiff person syndrome. She took a break from performing, later describing how the condition meant she had suffered muscle spasms so strong that her ribs were broken. She told journalists there were times she could not walk. In the 2024 documentary I Am: C\u00e9line Dion<\/a> she provided insight into the severity of her pain from the condition, including having a seizure.<\/p>\n

Dion with the director Irene Taylor at a special event screening of I Am: C\u00e9line Dion in New York in 2024. Photograph: Andrew Kelly\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The content of Dion\u2019s series of concerts at the Plenitude arena in La D\u00e9fense, west of Paris \u2013 the biggest indoor concert venue in Europe \u2013 has been kept secret. The singer told fans outside her hotel<\/a> that she was being careful to protect her health, travelling to and from her hotel only to rehearse and greeting waiting fans from a safe distance.<\/p>\n

Dion greeting fans outside her hotel in Paris last week. Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Dion told the crowd that the concerts would be longer than her usual performances and advised them to wear comfortable shoes.<\/p>\n

Usually in France, Dion would sing a set mostly made up of her French-language hits \u2013 her 1995 album D\u2019eux became the biggest-selling Francophone album of all time. But with Paris currently her only venue, many fans are coming from North America and across the world, so English-language hits will also feature.<\/p>\n

In April, about 9 million people had registered for the pre-sale ticket lottery. The concerts swiftly sold out.<\/p>\n

The Paris region expects the 16-date residency in September and October as well as further sold-out dates in May to boost the local economy by up to \u20ac800m (\u00a3690m). The C\u00e9line Dion<\/a> frenzy could eclipse the profits local hotels, restaurants and tourist sites enjoyed around previous concerts by Taylor Swift and Beyonc\u00e9.<\/p>\n

At the Galeries Lafayette department store, a C\u00e9line Dion merchandise corner had seen a steady trade, with some fans arriving before opening hours.<\/p>\n

The Eiffel Tower illuminated for Celine Dion in March 2026, when the comeback concerts were announced. Photograph: Pierre Suu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Alexandra, 36, a civil servant from the Paris region, had bought a T-shirt and signature C\u00e9line Dion macarons. \u201cIt\u2019s important to me because I grew up with her music,\u201d she said. \u201cMy mother was huge a fan so I listened to C\u00e9line Dion songs on the way to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we went on holiday, C\u00e9line Dion would be playing in the car. Her music is part of some of my best memories of childhood. She is humble and she has managed to stay very close to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI\u2019ve followed her health challenges. I thought she might not be able to perform again. But she has clearly set herself an incredible challenge and I hope she can manage these concerts without impacting her health. I think she\u2019ll be so lifted up by the fans\u2019 love for her that she will find strength in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 30,000 C\u00e9line Dion fans have gathered in Paris for the Canadian singer\u2019s long-awaited return to performing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-621407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}