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YOU GOTTA HAVE FRIENDS CONCERT
On January 22, 1997 Celine Dion performed at "You Gotta Have Friends", a benefit concert for Gay Men´s Health Crisis, and honoring Joan Tisch and David Geffen. The concert took place at the Carnegie Hall in New York, USA. The Gay Men´s Health Crisis paid tribute to David Geffen and Joan Tisch for their efforts to combat AIDS in this concert entitled "You Gotta Have Friends". Warren Wiebe, Reba McEntire, Luther Vandross, Kevin Sharp, Rosie O´Donnell, and The Boys Choir of Harlem also performed at the show. Bill Cosby, Michael Douglas and Barbara Walters did special appearances. Celine was photographed performing next to Luther Vandross and Rosie O´Donnell. After the concert, Celine was photographed with her husband Rene Angelil and with Reba McEntire.
CONCERT IN YOKOHAMA
On February 2, 1997 Celine Dion performed at the Yokohama Arena in in Yokohama, Japan in front of more than 17,000 people with the "Falling Into You Tour". This was the first of a series of nine concerts in Japan with this tour. Celine also performed in Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Nagoya. On this concert in Yokohama, Japanese musician (who specialises as a violinist) Taro Hakase, appeared on stage and performed the song "To love you more" with Celine. Before the concert, the Japanese reporter, Norikazu Outuka, interviewed Celine at the Yokohama Arena. The interview and footage from the concert were broadcasted later on Japanese TV.
CONCERT IN BRUNEI
On February 23, 1997 Celine Dion performed in a private concert for His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji HASSANAL Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest person in the world. This concert was not officially released and all songs were performed in live. The show was very similar to Memphis show with the "Falling Into You Tour" (released in VHS in November 20, 1998 as "Live in Memphis"), but the place was to small, so the stage was different too. Few differences would be its the white outfit, Terry Bradford forgetting a line in "Beauty and the beast", and the way she introduces the singers during "Le Ballet". No costume changes. Celine performed "The power of love", "Falling into you, "River deep mountain high", "Seduces me", "All by myself", "Pour que tu m´aimes encore", "J´irai ou tu iras", "When I fall in love", "Beauty and the beast", "Think twice", "Misled", "It´s all coming back to me now", "Le ballet", "Love can move mountains", "Because you Loved me", "Natural woman" and "The power of the dream".
CONCERT IN MEMPHIS
On March 14, 1997 Celine Dion performed at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, USA in front of more than 10,000 people with the "Falling Into You Tour". Celine opened the concert with "The power of love". She continued performing "Seduces me", "All by myself", "If you asked me to", "Misled" and "Beauty and the beast" in duet with Terry Bradford (one of the backing vocals). Then, she performed "Declaration of love", "Pour que tu m´aimes encore", "J´irai où tu iras" in duet with Marc Langis (one of the members of the band), "It´s all coming back to me now", "To love you more", "Le ballet" and "Love can move mountains". Accompanied with a choir, Celine performed "Call the man", and the 1996 Summer Olympics Games song "The power of the dream". For the finale, Celine performed the Isley Brothers´s song "Twist and shout" and "Because you loved me". There were three costumes changes: the golden costume (she also used this costume on the European leg of the tour), the black dress and a long red dress for the finale. Celine continued performing at the Mid-South Coliseum on March 15, 1997. This concert was released in VHS on November 20, 1998 with the name "Live in Memphis".
CONCERT IN LOS ANGELES
On March 25, 1997 Celine Dion performed at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, USA with the "Falling Into You Tour" in front of more than 6,000 people. Natalie Nichols, from the Los Angeles Times (a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California) wrote "Celine burst onto the Universal Amphitheatre stage on Tuesday giddy with excitement, and that enthusiasm was hard for even skeptics to resist. Throughout the nearly two-hour, 100% angst-free performance, the Grammy-winning Canadian pop singer exercised her formidable voice and proved a charming hostess with winsome good humor. As a song stylist, however, Celine doesn´t bring much style to her material". According to her, clad smartly in a white pantsuit and white boots (matching her white microphone), Celine came off as playfully larger-than-life. She romped through selections from her Grammy-winning "Falling Into You" album, earlier favorites, vintage soul tunes and some French-language songs. Her boundless energy dwarfed even the elaborate stage, complete with a nine-member band, an old-fashioned street light, steps and a ramp. She pulled fans straight into the eye of her benign storm of personality, pausing several times to chat, as if the audience were a coterie of close friends. "I love to sing, but I love to talk, too", she apologized brightly, as if anyone minded. It was a nonstop love feast on stage, too, as Celine showered praise on the band members, giving each a moment in the spotlight. She bubbled with joy for the young violinist Trisha Lee, who performed with her on "To love you more", a segment taped for a VH1 special supporting children´s musical education. Despite her incredible pipes, Celine´s flawless singing displayed scant evidence of an emotional connection to the lyrics, although the French tunes were more passionate and many of the ballads did glitter, however coldly. But the R&B numbers, including the classic "River deep, mountain high", were little more than Vegas-revue renditions-flashy, but sterile. It was hard not to think of Tina Turner´s rendition of "River", which blazed directly from her gut, while Celine´s version merely vaulted straight out of her voice box. Such moments severely shrank Celine´s epic persona, and not even a stage crowded with a gospel choir during the encore "Call the man" could build her back up. As she tossed off a closing take on "Twist and shout", it was she who seemed dwarfed. Celine also performed "The power of love", "Seduces me", "All by myself", "Pour que tu m´aimes encore", "J´irai ou tu iras", in duet with Marc Langis (one of the members of the band), "Beauty and the beast" in duet with Terry Bradford (one of the backing vocals), "Think twice", "Misled", "It´s all coming back to me now", "Le ballet", "Love can move mountains", "Because you Loved me" and other songs.
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