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THE TOUR
The "Let´s Talk About Love World Tour" is the eighth concert tour by Celine Dion. Visiting North America, Asia and Europe; the trek supported Celine´s fifth English studio album "Let´s Talk About Love" and her eleventh French studio album, "S´il Suffisait D´aimer". Initially planned for 1998, the success of the tour continued into 1999. In 1998, the tour earned nearly $30 million dollars from its concerts in North America. It was also nominated for "Major Tour of the Year" and "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Industry Awards.
...> About The Tour
During a press conference following her win at the 25th Annual American Music Awards, Celine stated she would like to start touring during the summer of 1998. Following the award show appearance, the singer performed at the The Crown Showroom in Melbourne and the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu with a set list similar to that in the "Falling Into You Tour", but also including "The reason" and "My heart will go on". The tour was officially announced in February 1998. Originally called "Celine Dion: On Tour 1998", the tour was set to begin August in Boston, this would mark the third time Celine has begun a tour in the city. She says it is the closet U.S. city to Montreal and considers it a "lucky charm". The tour was sponsored by Procter & Gamble (Canada), Avon (Europe) and Ericsson (United States). The telecommunications company initiated an aggressive campaign with Celine. Commercials were shown throughout the US and Canada showing concertgoers using their cell phones as lighters during Celine´s performance. Those who purchased an Ericsson phone were given a special behind-the-scenes tour video entitled "Celine Dion: In Her Own Words". The tour was met early with controversy as the singer´s performance at Madison Square Garden was subject to a ticket scam. During the trek, Celine opened the Broward County Civic Arena. The concert was attended by nearly 20,000 spectators and was sold out with 2 two hours. Celine further remarked the setlist of the tour will contain songs from her current album, her hits and a few French selections. She continued: "I´m going to definitely sing the new songs and a few French ones and definitely people´s favorite. I can´t do them all, unfortunately, because I have to do a two-hour show. It would take a long time to sing all my songs. I hope we have chosen the right ones for people to hear". During the course of the tour, Celine released a French-language album entitled, "S´il Suffisait D´aimer" and a Christmas album called, "These Are Special Times". As the tour continued into 1999, Celine performed in Hong Kong, Japan and an additional outing for North America. During this time, Celine´s husband Rene Angelil was diagnosed with skin cancer. This forced the singer to postponed the remaining dates in the U.S. and the entire European leg. Celine resumed the tour in mid-June and thanked fans for their support during the rough period. After her tour of Europe, Celine´s team announced the singer would give a special New Year´s Eve concert in Montreal. Dubbed "The Millennium Concert" the show featured a new setlist and special appearances by prominent Canadian singers. At the same time, David Foster began negotiations to have Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston and Luciano Pavarotti to conduct a mini-tour titled "Three Divas and a Tenor". The tour never came to fruition. In October, Celine opened the new Pepsi Center in Denver, replacing the McNichols Sports Arena. Celine dedicated the concert to the victims and survivors of the Columbine High School massacre. All proceeds from the show were donated to Colorado Organization of Victim Assistance. The singer was joined onstage by the Colorado Children´s Chorale to perform "Let´s talk about love" and "Friend of mine Columbine", a memorial song written by Stephen and Jonathan Cohen. The singer stated it would be her last tour as she wanted to focus on becoming a mother.
...> About The Stage
The tour brought a new aspect to performing for Celine. The show was presented in the round. The stage designer Yves Aucoin states he wanted the show to be a big production while having an intimate feel. The stage itself was shaped like a heart with five circular platforms that raised and lowered the members of the stage. Above, four large video screens formed a circular pattern. The floor the stage was three large video screen utilizing the JumboTron technology. Celine initially was nervous performing in the way, as the performer has very little time to relax while on stage. She continues to say she got the idea from attending a Stevie Wonder concert during her childhood. The entire production cost more than $10 million dollars. An scene construction bonus (for the concert at the Stade de France in Paris, France) was included on the "Au Cœur Du Stade" home video released on August 30, 1999.
...> Broadcasts And Recordings
The first glimpse of the tour came via Celine´s music video to "S´il suffisait d´aimer", which was recorded during her concert in Chicago. Footage of the show was also shown on the TV special "Un An Avec Céline" hosted by Julie Snyder and aired on TVA channel in Canada. The final show at the National Car Rental Center was filmed and showed on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". The special also includes a behind the scenes feature. The singer also performed "To love you more" live in Tokyo for the United Negro College Fund´s "An Evening of Stars". The tour was filmed at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis were recorded for a CD/DVD package. The performances were released under the title "Au Cœur Du Stade" (meaning "At The Heart Of The Stadium"). The package were released separately with DVD following the CD release. The DVD includes exclusive footage from the making of the albums: "S´il Suffisait D´aimer" and "Let´s Talk About Love". It features an appearance by guest star Sir George Martin, and rare footage of Celine, Barbra Streisand, David Foster, and the "Tell him" lyricists chatting around the piano. For the show, Jean-Jacques Goldman joined Celine on "J´irai où tu iras", "To love you more" features Taro Hakase on violin, and Diana King can be seen on a screen during "Treat her like a lady". The CD contains an abbreviated version of the concert, primarily showcasing her French-language songs. A live video of "Dans un autre monde" was used to promote both the CD and DVD packages. The anglophone version of the tour has not been released to the public.
...> Songs Set List
Anglophone
1. "Let´s talk about love"
2. "Declaration of love"
3. "Because you loved me"
4. "The reason"
5. "It´s all coming back to me now"
6. "To love you more"
7. "Treat her like a lady"
8. "Tell him"
9. "S´il suffisait d´aimer"
10. Love is on the way
11. All by myself
12. Medley:
----1. "The first time ever I saw your face"
----2. "Because"
----3. "Tears in heaven"
----4. "All the way"
13. "Love can move mountains"
14. "Stayin´ alive"
15. "You should be dancing" [ dance interlude ]
16. "Immortality"
17. "My heart will go on"
Francophone
1. "Let´s talk about love"
2. "Dans un autre monde"
3. "Je sais pas"
4. "The reason"
5. "Je crois toi"
6. "To love you more"
7. "Treat her like a lady"
8. "Terre"
9. "Tell him"
10. "J´irai où tu iras"
11. "S´il suffisait d´aimer"
12. "On ne change pas"
13. "I´m your angel" [ duet with background vocalist Barnev Valsaint ]
14. "The power of love"
15. Acoustic medley:
----1. "Ce n´était qu´un rêve"
----2. "D´amour ou d´amitié"
----3. "Mon ami m´a quittée"
----4. "L´amour existe encore"
----5. "Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)"
16. "Love can move mountains"
17. "Stayin´ alive"
18. "You should be dancing" [ dance interlude ]
19. "Pour que tu m´aimes encore"
20. "My heart will go on"
...> Additional Notes
- For the performance of "Let´s talk about love", Celine was joined onstage by a local children´ choir.
- During the first leg in North America, "Zora sourit" often replaced "S´il suffisait d´aimer". "Zora sourit" was also performed at select concerts in Montreal.
- During the concert at the Orlando Arena, Celine performed "Fly". During the same concert, Celine was joined onstage by Diana King to perform "Treat her like a lady".
- During the concert at the Broward County Civic Arena, Celine was joined onstage by the Bee Gees to perform "Immortality".
- During concerts in 1999, "I´m your angel" was performed in lieu of "Love is on the way". Additionally, "The power of love" was performed in lieu of "All by myself".
- During concerts in Montreal and Brussels Dion performed "It´s all coming back to me now" in lieu of "To love you more".
- During concerts in Japan, Celine performed "Watashi wa totemo shiawase ne" in lieu of "S´il suffisait d´aimer". She also performed "Pour que tu m´aimes encore" in lieu of "I´m your angel".
- "Think twice" was performed at Hong Kong.
- During the European leg of the tour, Celine performed "Think twice" and "Pour que tu m´aimes encore".
- During the concert in Paris, Celine was joined onstage by Jean-Jacques Goldman to perform "J´irai où tu iras".
- During the concert at the National Car Rental Center, Celine performed "That´s the way it is".
- For the last concert, on December 31, 1999 at the Molson Centre in Montreal, Canada, the set list was completely different. Celine performed songs of her entire carrer and many duetw with singers as Bryan Adams, Bruno Pelletier, Luke Mervill, Daniel Lavoie and Garou.
...> Critical Reception
For the tour, Celine received many positive reviews from music critics. Many of the writers commended the singer´s connection with the audience, despite the massive size. For the inaugural concert in Boston, Steve Morse (The Boston Globe) writes despite Celine´s nerves, she was able to pull off a successful concert. He continues, "For pure entertainment, however, this was a volcanic triumph. Dion thanked Boston fans for being "lucky charm people"; this was the third time she opened a world tour here. This was the biggest, for Queen Celine now reigns". At The Arena in Oakland, James Sullivan (San Francisco Chronicle) felt the night showed off Celine´s prowess as a performer. He elaborated, "Easily the best part of the 80-minute set came when Dion summoned her band to center stage, where they sat on the lip of the riser as she essayed a medley of some favorite songs. Roberta Flack´s 'The first time ever I saw your face', the Beatles´ 'Because' and Eric Clapton´s 'Tears in heaven' were all delivered with tender care, no small feat in a basketball gym. Even Sinatra´s 'All the way' steered clear of swagger, and the accordion gave all four songs a touch of Celine´s romantic French-language roots". Adam Sandler (Variety) provided a positive review of Celine´s concert at the Great Western Forum. He states, "To her credit, Celine Dion kept the vocal histrionics and hyper stage movements she has become known for to a minimum during her sold-out show Wednesday at the Forum, preferring instead to illustrate her evolution as an artist through singing prowess and a relaxed stage manner". Jane Stevenson (Jam! Music) gave the singer´s show at the new Air Canada Centre four out of five stars. She says, "But as the first song of the night, 'Let´s talk about love', progressed, her nine-person band eventually rose up alongside her, while a children´s choir later took the stage for the song´s big ending".
...> Promotion
...> On Backstage
...> On Rehearsals
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TOUR PROGRAMME
For this tour, was distributed a tour programme, in French and English. It was sold at all concerts Celine did during the "Let´s Talk About Love Tour" in 1998 and in 1999. There are 2 releases of this programme, one for the American leg of the tour in 1998, and the other was only sold in Europe in 1999.
...> About The Programme
Printed in rice paper inner pages, this is the largest, the thickest, the richest tour programme released by Celine until that time. It is a real masterpiece. It contains tons of top-quality artistic pictures (from studio shoots and concerts), discography, the band list and a personal greeting from Celine. It contains 36 pages and its dimensions are 31 x 39,5 centimeter.
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