It’s become a daily ritual in Paris for the past few weeks: crowds gathering outside the famed Royal Monceau hotel near the Arc de Triomphe, patiently waiting for a glimpse of arguably the world’s biggest superstar right now — Céline Dion.
“Céline, Céline, Céline!” the crowds have chanted as she’s appeared in various outfits, waving, signing autographs and, sometimes, even singing.
Paris, the City of Light, is electric with anticipation for the singer’s return to the stage on Saturday, the first of her residency concerts in Paris, which many thought would be impossible.
“I have never, ever seen a comeback like Céline Dion’s comeback in Paris, never,” said Léna Lutaud, a culture reporter for France’s oldest national newspaper Le Figaro.
“Paris is really a Céline Dion city right now.”
Scores of devoted Céline Dion fans are in Paris ahead of the Canadian singer’s sold-out comeback tour, six years after her career was derailed by the rare autoimmune neurological disorder, stiff-person syndrome.
Walk the length of the Champs-Élysées or along the famed Seine river and you won’t miss the signs.
“Bonjour, Paris, Merci!” accompanied by a giant photo of Dion.
Besides the daily interactions outside Dion’s hotel, Paris has been preparing for this comeback for weeks.
Themed boat rides along the Seine, pre-parties ahead of the concert, and of course, massive karaoke parties.
“She’s the queen, obviously, and we’ve been waiting for her for such a long time,” says Natacha Campana, founder of L’Écran Pop, which hosted a karaoke night with more than 2,000 guests.
“We love singing Céline in karaoke, for sure, because those songs can liberate us and it feels good.”
A long-awaited comeback
When Dion stepped off a New Jersey stage in March 2020 during part of her Courage World Tour, few had any idea it would be years before she’d perform again, let alone the shocking revelation of a diagnosis that could very well have ended her career.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reach out to you,” Dion said in a video addressed to her fans recorded in December 2022.
“Recently, I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare neurological disorder called stiff person syndrome.”
The disorder can cause severe muscle spasms, including of the vocal cords, which she let the world see in an Amazon Prime documentary.
But Dion says she was determined to come back, and she did, closing out the 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony, on the Eiffel Tower.
In this intensely personal, candid and revealing exclusive from the team at The National, Céline Dion opens up to CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault about coping with stiff person syndrome, losing the voice that has guided her life and how she is determined to perform again. [I Am: Celine Dion, the documentary featured in this interview, premieres June 25 on Prime Video.]
A full return to concerts in front of audiences was undetermined, however, until March.
“This year, I’m getting the best gift of my life. I’m getting the chance to see you, to perform for you once again, in Paris,” Dion wrote on her social media, announcing the residency on her 58th birthday.
The initial series of 16 concerts in September and October will be followed by 10 additional shows starting in May of 2027, all at Europe’s biggest indoor concert venue, Plenitude Arena.
Dion fan to see their 100th show
As Estevam Peric landed in Paris, he says he felt a rush of emotions.
There was fatigue from the overnight flight from Montreal certainly, but mainly, he says he felt overwhelmingly excited.
The self-proclaimed Dion superfan made the trek across the Atlantic to see his favourite celebrated diva — for the 100th time.
“I’m very, very, nervous, very excited, very emotional,” Peric said, holding back tears.
“It’s the soundtrack of my life. I’ve been following her since my teenage era, and each song, each album, there’s always something special that connects to my life each time.”
He says he’s met Dion at least 10 times, describing her as humble and kind. Every concert is different, he says.
“The voice, it’s like oxygen and the rest is just magic.”
Peric has managed to snag tickets for seven of her concerts in Paris, which is no easy feat as all the performances quickly sold out. The arena has a capacity of up to 45,000 seats.
Lead-up to first concert filled with excitement
Dion’s love affair with France spans decades. French songwriter Eddy Marnay was among one of the very first to work alongside a teenage Dion. She also has a penchant for fashion, often partnering with French haute couture labels, like Dior and Chanel.
“I understand she’s a huge star in Quebec, but here she’s also a very big star because she’s the only star at her level to have lots of great songs, both in English and in French,” says Lutaud from Le Figaro.
It’s that star power that has so many fans invested in Dion’s comeback, with the hope of more concerts to come.
