Subscribe to free Email Newsletter
Exchange>Stage
Forty and Fabulous
Celine Dion hits China as part of her world tour.
She loomed from backstage without much fanfare. The audience hardly recognized her until a few seconds later when her image was projected onto the giant screen right above her where she made her entrance. But when she belted out her first note, it was distinctly Celine. The audience burst into
thunderous applause. Such was the magic of Celine Dion.
The 15,000-seat Venetian Arena was packed with both expats and local Chinese, many taking their teenage children along. Macao was the first Chinese city of Dion's Taking Chances World Tour, which will take her further to Shanghai and Beijing coming April.
The Canadian songstress, who turns 40 this Sunday, acknowledged her audience by greeting and showing appreciation in simple Mandarin.
At the end of the show, when she posed with reporters from Beijing, she wished Beijing "a successful Olympic Games".
This is a diva who does not act imperious. Her down-to-earth personality came through in the brief post-concert meeting. She shook hands with everyone and made small talk.
This after a grueling 1.5-hour show, during which she crooned, warbled and blasted out a total of 23 songs.
On stage, her presence was electrifying. There was no slack in her performance. She threw herself into every song and every note. Except for a few breaks for costume changes, filled in by dancers, she was on stage the entire time, singing her heart out.
The first half of the program was made up of her biggest hits, such as The Power of Love and Because You Loved Me, as well as the title song from her new album Taking Chances.
The power of her voice was evident. Soaring high notes and sultry low ones were delivered with precision and infused with emotion. The biggest surprise was her unique combination of vocal prowess and emotional abandon. She did not hold in, and that enabled her to pull her audience right into the
world of her music.
The second half demonstrated her immense range of vocal styles: mostly rock and soul, with a few Latin and one French hit Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore interspersed into the mix. Her rendition of We Will Rock You encouraged the mild-mannered audience to stand and clap.
1 2
1 2
Email to Friends
Save
Learn Chinese, Chinese Mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
No comments:
Post a Comment