Celine Dion returns to the stage on Saturday for her first full concert in six years, opening a sellout Paris residency after a battle with a rare neurological disorder sidelined the Canadian singer's career.
One of the best-selling music artists of all time, she is due to perform a series of 26 concerts over the next eight months.
Dion announced in 2022 that she was suffering from stiff person’s syndrome - which causes stiffness and muscle spasms -and disappeared from the limelight, making only a dramatic appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics when she sang Edith Piaf from the Eiffel Tower in a shimmering Dior gown.
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The concerts at an arena in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, unveiled on her 58th birthday in March, are set to draw fans from all over the world.
Since her arrival in Paris for two weeks of preparations, fans have waited for hours outside her luxury Paris hotel singing some of her biggest hits, occasionally joined by Dion herself.
"She made me dream all my life and I want to thank her,” 38-year-old Cristina Piergentili, who travelled from Italy, said outside the Royal Monceau hotel where she hoped to meet the star.
Paris has been preparing. The metro station at the concert venue has been decorated with some of her most famous lyrics; there is a merchandise pop-up at the upscale Galeries Lafayette department store; and City Hall expects thousands at a giant karaoke event on Friday night.
"It’s my second home,” Dion said to reporters as she arrived in France on August 28.
"She’s the greatest, my idol,” fan Aurelie Chabroll, 42, said as she waited for the singer, known for songs such as "It's all coming back to me now" and "Because you loved me", outside her hotel.
"She’s a fighter. She really proved that to us and her return is just magical.” - Reuters
