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CONCERT IN DENVER
October 1, 1999 Celine Dion performed at the Pepsi Center in Denver, USA with the "Let´s Talk About Love". On this day, Celine opened the new Pepsi Center, 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. According to a fan who attended the concert, at the beginning of the set, Celine rose onto an in-the-round stage resplendent in a white gown, singing "Let´s talk about love". On the last refrain, she was joined onstage by a chorus of kids, many bearing the now instantly recognizable "We are.Columbine" T-shirts commemorating the nation´s worst high school shooting of April 20, 1999. The Columbine kids´ joined around her, singing with her. Celine then asked the 20,000 people "to be serious". She spoke to the whole arena, but gave special attention to the front row of seats immediately at stage right, where sat a collection of Columbine survivors, their families and the families of some students who were killed in the shooting spree. Celine said "You know, we do a lot of shows, but this show has a different feeling. It mean´s something different for us, for all of us". "We love you, Columbine", came a woman´s distant voice, drifting down from high in the rafters. "Your pain and suffering was felt around the world. Everyone grieved with you, everyone prayed for you, everyone wanted to comfort you and everyone cared, and they still do". Celine dedicated the performance to the Columbine community, but didn´t mention that she earlier had pledged her income from the show estimated by Pepsi Center officials as being in the hundreds of thousands of dollars- to the Colorado Organization of Victim Assistance. "I would like to ask them to accept a token of peace on behalf of all of those who have suffered and lost", Celine said. As Celine´s band eased into "Friend of mine Columbine", the song written by brothers and Columbine students, Stephen and Jonathan Cohen, the chorus members delivered white roses to the honored Columbine guests. Celine followed, greeting the gathered survivors, giving each a hug, including Patrick Ireland, the student whose fall from a second story window at the school gripped people watching the Columbine drama as it unfolded on television. There was not a dry eye in the new Pepsi Center. Celine was visibly moved, wiping the tears away as she walked back to the stage. Then, Celine continued with the show, spreading her warmth for the next two hours, among all 20,000 amazed fans. Celine was featured the next day, on the front page of both The Denver Post and the Denver Rocky Mountain News. The announcement card handed out to concert goers stating Celine would be donating all her profits from that night, and printed by Celine´s management company, is being auctioned on ebay with a "Pepsi Center" Inaugural gift and both front page´s of The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News from Saturday, October 2, 1999 with Celine on the cover.
CONCERT IN ST. LOUIS
On October 3, 1999 Celine Dion performed at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, USA with the "Let´s Talk About Love Tour". Corey Hart (as the opening act), started the evening off with some great music. He had some good dance music going and got the audience into some energy that seemed to just stir things in the air. He also sang the song "Miles to go" (a song recorded by Celine for her album "Let´s Talk About Love"). He wrote that song for Celine. As Celine came out for the first song of "Let´s talk about love", wearing the white outfit. After singing some songs, she began to talk to the audience. "Because I´m here tonight means that everything is ok", Celine said. This concert was originally scheduled for April 14, 1999 but was cancelled due to Celine´s husband Rene Angelil´s health problems. She thanked everyone for their prayers, cards, and positive energy during this difficult time while Rene was sick. After this, she got a standing ovation for "The power of love". At the end of "Love can move mountains", multi colored confetti exploded into the air. Then, Celine came back with a different outfit on for her disco scene. It appeared to be sliver, with a blazer, vest, & pants. She looked awesome as she danced the night away. Then came that wonderful song "My heart will go on". At that point in the concert it seemed as though everyone´s energy was stirring again. She had a different gown on this time. At first it appeared to be white but later looked like a pale pink. On this show, it was used the center stage specially designed for the tour (heart-shaped stage).
CBS SPECIAL ALL THE WAY
On October 7, 1999 Celine Dion taped, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, USA, a CBS television special-concert, to help promote her new greatest hits album, "All The Way... A Decade Of Song". This was Celine´s second CBS special after the first on 1998 for the Christmas album, "These Are Special Times". Celine opened the concert performing on a Radio City Music Hall´s balcony "Love can move mountains", just in front of the Sixth Avenue, and accompanied with a choir. Celine was wearing a white jacket that she took off when she entered to the theater to finish the song. Celine also performed "All the way", a virtual duet with Frank Sintara, while some footage from Sintara was shown on the big screen. The musician Taro Hakase accompanied Celine on "To love you more" playing the violin. The N´Sync performed in duet with Celine "That´s the way it is" and then, the group performed another song in duet with Gloria Estefan. Celine also performed the song "The first time ever I saw your face", wearing a red dress and sitting in an armchair. She also did a medley with Gloria Estefan, in which Celine performed "Here we are" (from Estefan) and Estefan performed "Because you loved me" (from Celine). Then, they performed in duet the famous Estefan´s "Conga", accompanied by the Miami Sound Machine. Celine ended the concert with "That´s the way it is" again, with the N´Sync and Gloria Estefan onstage. The concert was broadcasted on CBS channel in USA on November 24, 1999 at 8:00 pm. It was the second-most-watched program in its time slot, with an 8.3 rating and a 14 share. The performances of "All the way" and "The first time ever I saw your face" were included later on "All The Way... A Decade Of Song & Video" DVD (2001). Thanks to this CBS television special, Celine earned a second-week gain of 30% (394,000 copies of "All The Way... A Decade Of Song") and the third number-one album of her career.
CONCERT IN SUNRISE
On November 5, 1999 Celine Dion performed at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, USA (a city situated approximately six miles west of Fort Lauderdale, USA) with the "Let´s Talk About Love Tour". This was the last regular concert from the tour. Celine inaugurated the new National Car Rental Center, with 20,000 seats, with a sold-out concert, the arena´s first paid public event. According to the pop music writer Sean Piccoli from The Sun-Sentinel (the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale), Celine did her part to open business on a high note. She called the performance "a great honor",' sang hit after hit, and poured every inch of her narrow frame into that walloping, world-famous tenor. Cameos abounded on the opening night of the National Car Rental Center. Talk-show host Rosie O´Donnell was introduced from the audience. And everyone from the Bee Gees to Jamaican belter Diana King to the resident hockey team´s house mascot, Stanley C. Panther, made surprise appearances onstage. The performance left no doubt that the millions-selling Celine can sing to scale: Her voice is perfect, in fact, for the dodgy acoustics of stadium concertizing; there was no danger on November 5, 1999 of that voice disappearing into a bad mix. Performing in the round, from "center ice",' as it were, Celine rose into view at 9:15 p.m. sharp on a hydraulic platform that propelled her into a veil of colored lights. It was a Cinderella moment: Celine standing motionless in a floor-length, emerald green skirt and dark top, grinning like the girl who got the prince. As she sailed her through "Let´s talk about love", the title track of her current smash album, Celine´s nine-piece band made similar entrances, floating up along the perimeter of the raised stage. The crowning touch was a flood of children, brought on to encircle Celine as she closed out the first song. The "Love"' suite continued with the brassy, Tina Turner-esque "Declaration of love" and the twinkly ballad "Because you loved me". The pop-operatic revue included the storybook-dramatic "It´s all coming back to me now", written by ex-Meat Loaf muse Jim Steinman, followed by perhaps the most cut-loose moment of the early going: a duet with Diana King on the latter´s reggae-pumping number, "Treat her like a lady". The next song, a canned, video-aided "duo" of "Tell him" with Barbra Streisand, was something of a let down. As appreciative as the crowd had been to that point, the spectacle of Celine emoting to an onscreen Barbra was greeted with polite applause. The unexpected appearance of the Bee Gees, for a group rendition of "Stayin´ alive", brought a more unbridled crowd response. The new arena, designed with concerts in mind, was more than adequate to the task of relaying Celine clearly and convincingly to every nook, corner and box. Celine´s songs are sufficiently free of nuance to alleviate any worry that something about her big, spangly pop arrangements might be "missed" in a large venue. Corey Hart made the opening act. At the end of the show, Celine gave a heart-felt thank you to all the tour´s personnel and band members, as this was the last regular concert of the tour. One magic moment of the show took place during the performance of "The power of love". A man in the audience, asked his girlfriend to marry him, and she said yes. They got engaged with the song as their own. During Celine´s breaks to talk to the audience, she recieved multiple gifts from her fans in the front rows, like flowers, and even blankets. She had virtual songs done with Diana King on "Treat her like a lady", and Barbra Streisand on "Tell him". The audience could see them on the jumbo screen. For the closing, Celine wore a long white dress, and after an amazing light and instrumental piece, she sang the final song, "My heart will go on". According to some fans who attended the concert, this was such an awesome show.
TF1 - LA SOIRÉE SPÉCIAL: CÉLINE DION
On November 20, 1999 Celine Dion appeared on the broadcast of the TV special-concert entitled "La Soirée Spéciale: Céline Dion", which was aired on TF1 channel in France. It was recorded to help promote Celine´s album "All The Way... A Decade Of Song" in France, which was released on November 12, 1999. The show took place at the Plaine-Denis Studios in Paris, France and it was hosted by Daniela Lumbroso. Celine, wearing a black and sexy outfit, performed "That´s the way it is", "The power of love" and "Live". And with a yellow skirt and a pink blouse she performed "My heart will go on". The cast of French-Canadian musical Notre-Dame de Paris, were invitated to the show and they perfomed to Celine. Jean-Jacques Goldman and Richard Cocciante performed "Dis-moi Céline", Patrick Fiori performed "Pour que tu m´aimes encore", Hélène Ségara performed "Mon ami m´a quitté", Garou in duet with Karen Mulder performed "Dans un autre monde", and Julie Zenatti in duet with Luc Mervil performed "J´iras où tu iras". Celine was interviewed, alone and with the guests. Celine also was photographed with the cast of Notre-Dame de Paris.
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