October 26, 2019

It’s been a little over a week, but I’m still feelin’ the side effects of the extreme Love Hangover Céline gave me on Saturday, October 26th! Now that I’ve finally started listening to artist’s that aren’t Céline, I think my mind is clear enough to review the show for you all. So, I’ll begin with one of my absolute favorite Céline quotes:

“Shall we go for it?” (A New Day… 2003-2007)

Céline never fails to share her immense wisdom with the masses and her Courage World Tour continues that tradition. Now I know I have said this before, but let me reiterate it again: There is NO greater spiritual experience on this planet they call Earth than a Céline Dion show. Melissa and I (along with several of our friends and family) were all baptized with love during those two perfect hours at the Enterprise Center.

From the opening number of her epic smash, “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” to the show-stopping closer, a cover of John Lennon’s, “Imagine.” Céline delivered a non-stop tour-de-force of olympic gold winning vocals that are truly inhuman. Despite tabloid fodder to the contrary, Céline looked happy and healthy and if we can be honest, better than ever.

If you have ever seen Céline before then you know she is a talker and loves to share personal stories that relate to her audience. She succeeded at this on an unrivaled level the other night. Her family, especially eldest son René Charles, are HUGE hockey fans, so it’s no surprise she made reference to our hometown Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues during an animated moment where she name dropped Blues star, Ryan O’Reilly. Before performing the only French number of the night, “Tous Les Blues Sont Écrits Pour Toi,” she spoke of St. Louis being the birthplace of Blues music and her love for the genre. Most notably, she made mention of her personal struggles before introducing the title track of her new album and tour, “Courage.” Moments like this help remind us that despite much evidence to the contrary, she is human and has all the same Imperfections we do.

There were only five wardrobe changes and each time she returned to stage she looked even more captivating than the last. Gone were the dancers of shows past and instead she was accompanied by a seventeen piece band. Now while there are very few things in this world I love more than a good synchronized dance, I didn’t even notice the absence of dancing till we were in the McDonald’s drive-thru following the show and someone made mention. THIS is how captivated I was for those two hours with Céline! Amazing.

Melissa and I had dinner at Landry’s Seafood House before the show at St. Louis Union Station (which will soon be home to our city’s world-class aquarium) with our friends Nicole, Abbi, Erin, and Nancy. Needless to say it was an excellent way to kick start our Heavenly evening. Despite torrential rainfall and chilly temperatures, our hearts were beating for love and provided us with all the warmth we needed to make it down to the Enterprise Center.

In addition to the six of us, my parents and our friend Amy, along with her mom and sisters were also in the audience. Following the show, Melissa found herself a couple people behind my mom in line for the restroom, which ended up bringing the two of them and my dad and I together to share our favorite moments from the show. As my parents, Melissa, and I waited on Nancy and Erin, Amy and her family ran into us! It was an Incredible moment proving that through The Power of Love all things are possible.

It was mine and Melissa’s fifth time seeing Céline and this was our best! We were blessed to be surrounded by fellow adoring fans, some of which had traveled all the way to Montreal, Canada for a show! Now that’s The Power of the Dream! Melissa had mistakenly forgotten her bundle of Kleenex at home, but fortunately for her, the lady next to us was crying as often as Melissa was and she kept handing Melissa tissues, so she didn’t rub her face raw from the napkins we amassed from the concessions stand. All these beautiful souls around us further cemented the truth that Céline fans are the best in the world.

Surprisingly, I only cried twice. Now following the show I was up past 3:00 in the morning watching random strangers video clips of the concert on Instagram and Snapchat and I pretty much cried that entire time, but that’s an aside. I cried during her first ever solo rendition of “The Prayer.” This song is typically sang as a duet between Céline and Andrea Bocelli, but she tackled it – not surprisingly, quite successfully – all by herself and her Italian brought a steady stream of tears to my eyes.

Then much later when she performed the BIGGEST HIT IN THE HISTORY OF MUSIC, “My Heart Will Go On,” I was pretty much crying from the start. She had about a hundred drones flying all around her in either white or blue lighting as she sang, but during the last moments of the song they all went dark, minus one. She held that lone drone, which shined brighter than ever, in her hands and stared down at it pensively for several moments before releasing it up to the Heavens. Suffice it to say, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The light obviously represented her late husband, René. She never once said that it was his light, but she never had to, we all knew. I was a blubbering mess. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life.

My only regret about the Courage World Tour is that I didn’t have tickets to every single other North American show, but that’s obviously not Céline’s fault, it’s mine. You can bet I’ll Think Twice before making this mistake again! Next time she tours I’ll be doing everything in my power to attend every show I can!

Now we all know that when it comes to Céline I am not at all biased. I only speak facts when it comes to her, but nonetheless, I didn’t want you all just taking my word for the show’s perfection. I wanted to showcase what two of my aforementioned friends thought as well!

Amy: Céline’s show was amazing. Her voice gave me chills. I sang along to almost every song and realized I can’t hit one third of the notes she hits. She is so talented! Even though my favorite Céline song is, “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” my favorite performance was, “The Power of Love.” No one can deny that jam. I also loved how she joked with the audience. I loved running into friends and family members at the show. I surround myself with people that have good taste! My aunt, uncle, and cousin were in the next section. They brought a lady from church who said she was able to cross Céline’s concert off of her bucket list. She loved the concert!

Nicole: OMG I loved when she came out at the beginning and started with “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now.” Like at that moment I thought if this is it, my life was complete! Also, I totally cried with, “Courage.” I related so much with the baby struggle that I felt like she was singing for me! Seriously it was a once in a lifetime night!

So there you have it folks! Céline’s show was every bit as perfect as I described! I hope that each and every single one of you have had or will have the opportunity to see her at some point in your life because we all deserve the spiritual experience that is Céline Dion.

As always, thank you for reading! Your continued support means the world to me! Please feel free to leave your favorite Céline memory in the comments below! Nothing makes me happier than sharing love for Céline!

BOOK UPDATE: To say I was naive about the process it takes to publish a book would be the understatement of the year. I have learned that because my work is non-fiction, I must conceive a book proposal before sending anything off to any literary agents.

This book proposal will consist of the following: the title of my book; an overview of the proposal; an author bio – which isn’t so much just about me, but more about why I’m the right person to write this book; a selection on who my audience is; a selection on who my competition is and how my book differs as well as relates to theirs; any special marketing and promotional opportunities I have done thus far to build an audience for my future publicized work; an outline of my book; and lastly, a couple sample chapters. WOW! This is going to be quite the project!

If I was writing a romance novel or perhaps a science fiction one, a book proposal wouldn’t be necessary. Publisher’s already know who the audience for those type of works are, but because non-fiction is deemed more of a risk, this is a strict requirement. By no means am I upset by this development, but one could definitely say it caught me off guard. Regardless, I’ve made it this far, there’s no turning back now. I have a plan of attack on how to execute this book proposal and have set myself the deadline of Saturday, November 30th for completion. Can I do it? YES! I! CAN!