It was at 7.30 PM that we arrived at the "Stade de France", where we still found a lot of people waiting for the beginning of the concert....some
were chatting, laughing or buying Céline's items (as I did). It was really an exciting atmosphere....90.000 persons were waiting for Céline!
Many artists were invited to perform on the stage (which was in the middle of the Stadium) with or without Céline. In fact at 8.20 PM Dany Brillant (a french singer) appeared on the stage performing some of his songs...which I
really didn't know. At least I didn't like him..In fact sometimes I cried (as others did): "Céline, Céline..", because we were really impatient. After Dany Brillant, a quebecor artist appeared: it was André-Philippe Gagnon,
who is not a singer, but a comic actor who was very nice because he imitated some famous artists, such as Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, George Michael and so on. It was 9.30 PM when he finished his perform and, I can say, everybody loved him!
But finally at 9.40 PM..suddenly the lights went out and a ray of light illuminated the center of the stage where Céline appeared! She was so beautiful dressed with a white chinese cloth!...she started singing "Let's Talk About Love", and for this, after some minutes many children appeared on the stage. After this song, Céline showed her real dress -that was under the cloth- : it was a wonderful white-silver close-fitting dress...she was really beautiful.
She sang "Dans un autre monde" with the suppoort of her vocalists: Julie Leblanc, Barnev Valsaint and the sweet Elise Duguay. A very cool perform!. Her third song was "Je sais pas", and evrybody listened to it in silence because we knew she was thinking about René, ans so, at the end a big applause broke out! and in fact she started speaking: "René goes well now, I'd like so musch to be in Florida with him, but I had to come here to tell you "Merci""!....This was the confidence we were waiting for.
But -as she said- thanks to modern ways of communication, René could see her and us at that very moment. And another big applause broke out!
Then she sang "The Reason", "To love you more" (with the famous japanese violinist), and "Treat her like a Lady".
Céline performed many French songs: "Terre", and with J-J. Goldman "J'irai où tu iras". But When she started singing "S'il suffisait d'aimer", a lot of people illuminated the stadium with their own cigarette lighter and we sang all together this wondeful song..."S'il suffisait qu'on s'aime, je ferai de ce monde un rêve, une éternité...".Before ending the song, Céline suddenly stopped because we knew......
After "On ne change pas",one of the most beautiful moment was when she sang "The Power of Love" that French people oddly sang with her. Amazing was also when she introduced to us some persons that she loves: her parents (Thérèse and Adhémar), Eddy Marnay and Luc Plamondon. And so she sang a Medley: "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" (written by her mother); "D' amour ou d'amitié", "Mon ami m'a quitté" (written by Eddy Marnay) and finally "L'amour existe encore" (written by Luc Plamondon).
Then the famous "Ziggy", that French people know very well; ....and then the incredible "Love can move Mountains" with the support of her vocalists..but before the ending of the song Céline disappeared and they went on with the song. But at a certain moment she reappeared with grey-silvered dress of the 70s.ready to sing "Staying Alive"...we danced with her! -she's a wonderful dancer-. After that, she spoke in a very peculiar way because her most beloved audience is the French one: she said she loves Paris and French people who have supported her trought all these years-that's true-...
After her speech, she sang "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" but after the song she went away.And so we began to cry "Céline, Céline.":suddenly the lights went out and a blue ray of light illuminated the stadium and Céline appeared in an elegant white evening dress to sing "My heart will go on ".......then people gave her flowers, letters and more..
I really loved this concert because it showed Céline as she really is.and, let me say, French people are very nice!
