Dion mixes it up for a show that’s one for the fans
Céline Dion O2 Arena, London
During a rambling, eccentric monologue about her love of Britain, at the start of a fournight residency at the O2 Arena, French-canadian diva Dion literally sang Adele’s praises. Meanwhile, the reigning queen of the power ballad was reportedly watching incognito.
Her grandstanding a cappella blast of Hello was only marginally undermined by an attempt to reproduce Adele’s cockney vowels that would have embarrassed Dick Van Dyke. Lest Adele get too carried away by this tribute, Dion also enthused about the rather more weedy-voiced electro R’N’B producer Labrinth, singing a snatch of his minor hit Jealous to the bafflement of all 20,000 people in the room. It was just one of myriad goofily oddball moments in a brash, loud, peculiar show that couldn’t quite decide whether it was a hi-tech pop spectacular, a chatty cocktail lounge act or an old-school variety revue.
There is no question that Dion can sing. When she was good, she was kind of amazing. There were weepy ballads that could pummel the hardest heart into submission, and sharp pop songs where her voice punched through like a guitarist taking a showboating solo. But Dion was never the most subtle or emotionally nuanced of singers to begin with, and a 15-year stint in Las Vegas has not exactly nurtured her more refined qualities. Still, her audience loved it, and that’s important.