Céline Dion returned to the stage on Saturday for the first time in six years, opening a 26-show residency at the Paris La Défense Arena to widespread critical praise, with reviewers calling it one of the riskiest comebacks in the history of showbusiness.
The 58-year-old Canadian singer, diagnosed with the rare neurological condition stiff person syndrome in 2022, had not performed a full concert since a 2020 show in New Jersey, aside from a single song at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Addressing the crowd of around 30,000 people at the start of the two-hour show, Dion said she had made a promise to return to the stage and was finally fulfilling it.
According to reviewers present, Dion appeared visibly nervous at the outset, her voice sounding fragile as she opened with the French track ‘On Ne Change Pas’, before gaining confidence as the show progressed. She was reported to have broken down in tears within the first song as the audience responded with a roar of support, and she addressed the crowd throughout the night in both French and English. At one point, she reportedly stopped mid-song and asked to start over, a moment that reviewers said only endeared her further to the audience.
Critics writing for outlets including the Times of London and the CBC described the performance as overwhelming and emotionally charged, with several noting that her voice, while rawer and less polished than before her diagnosis, carried a renewed sense of honesty and rawness that many found more affecting than her earlier, more technically polished performances. Her rendition of tracks including ‘The Power of Love’, ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and ‘All By Myself’ were singled out as particular highlights of the night.
Dion’s Paris residency at Europe’s largest covered concert arena will continue through September and October and into the new year.
