Review: Celine Dion hits the money notes, and keeps on going (original) (raw)
By
Jacob Silberberg/The New York Times
Celine Dion works the crowd at a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York last month.
Celine Dion is all about money notes.
These are those high and dramatically sustained notes towards the end of the pop singer's biggest songs, where she reaches for the vocal stars, often with a fist bump to the chest for an added boost.
For fans, hearing Dion hit her money notes is a visceral thrill, and they had plenty to be happy with during her sold-out concert Thursday at the Rose Garden arena. From her set-opening "I Drove All Night" to the finale of "My Heart Will Go On," she capped many of her numbers with these flourishes, and the effect could be thrilling.Here's the trouble: Dion's show, which ran just under two hours, was so filled with exclamation points that when she came to the real ones, they got lost in all the glitz and the kung-fu kicks.
About half of the material came from her most-recent recording, "Taking Chances," and that threw things out of whack. It's a misguided collection of rock songs that ventures far from the typical adult-contemporary fare she's known for, and with all the ramped-up guitars and heavy bass, there was little room for nuance or grace. Instead, she grabbed these new songs by the throat and never let go.
Perhaps this over-the-top approach is rooted in the Vegas effect. Dion spent the better part of the last five years performing an elaborate show at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, complete with aerial performers and a small army of backup dancers. Like people who live next to paper mills for years and no longer notice the smell, when you're around the brazenness of The Strip everyday, you're sense of what's normal has to run a bit askew.
Dion's tour is wholly different from her Vegas show, but it embraces the same elaborate aesthetic. The stage, which was situated in the center of the arena, featured hydraulic lifts, moving walkways and a quartet of moving video screens. Filling up the space were seven musicians, three back-up singers and eight dancers. In some songs, like "Love Can Move Mountains," all the bodies worked in harmony, creating a Gospel-infused party. But other times - like a particularly toxic rendition of "River Deep, Mountain High," and bizarre tributes to the late James Brown and the rock band Queen - all the commotion was little more than visual noise.
Dion was at her best when she stuck to material that was her own. "Because You Loved Me" was lush in its romanticism, and "I'm Alive" had wings that gave it inspirational heft. And "My Heart Will Go On" had such tenderness that it was possible to hear the famed ballad from the movie "Titanic" with fresh ears, a testament to the way Dion can take something that's been heard many times and still find something new.
About halfway through her set, Dion injected a moment of quiet that made you yearn for more. Sitting on the edge of a piano, she sang an a capella rendition of "My Love," which she introduced as a sort of prayer. Between phrases, it was so silent that audience members rushed to fill the vacuum, yelling out testimonies of love and adoration. As if in acknowledgement of the cries, Dion instantly ramped things up, jumping off the piano and writhing on the floor, breaking the moment.
She's been in Las Vegas too long. As Little Richard used to sing: "Can't help it. The girl can't help it."
-- Grant Butler: gbutler@news.oregonian.com
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