Céline Dion ends 6-year concert hiatus with emotional Paris performance | CBC News

Thousands of fans crowd into Europe's largest indoor venue for Canadian singer's comeback

Eleven minutes before 9 p.m. local time, the lights went down and screams erupted as Céline Dion took the stage in a Parisian suburb for her first concert in six years.

"I promised not to cry," she told the crowd in Nanterre, wearing a pleated black gown and enormous glittering necklace.

Thousands of devoted fans packed Plenitude Arena on Saturday to watch Dion's return to the stage, opening a sellout Paris residency after a battle with a rare neurological disorder sidelined the singer's career.

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Dion performed 26 songs across her discography over more than two hours, including anthems of the 1990s like My Heart Will Go On, All By Myself and It's All Coming Back to Me Now. After starting The Chase with a mistake, she paused and asked the crowd if she could start the track again.

"Thank you so much for your support, your patience and, if I may say so, I am everything I am because you loved me," she continued, quoting her own 1996 power ballad.

Concertgoers, who made their way through many barricades to get inside the venue, wore anything from jeans and graphic T-shirts to sparkly mini skirts and floor-length gowns for the occasion.

"I cancelled the party with all my family and friends to come see Céline," said Fanny Sucheyre, who celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary at the concert.

"It's a dream. I haven't slept for three days. I'm 50 years old and right now I feel like I'm 15," said Guylene Richardson, who saw the show with her daughter, both in Dion concert tees.

One of the bestselling artists of all time, Dion announced a diagnosis of stiff person syndrome — which causes stiffness and muscle spasms — and disappeared from the spotlight in 2022. She broke her hiatus to perform Edith Piaf's Hymne à l'amour from the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

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