Céline Dion en concert (Tour in 1985)

Throughout March to November 1985, Celine Dion gave her first major tour, performing in many cities in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

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After four years of an imposing and eventful career, Céline Dion comes to meet an audience eager to see her in performance, to hear her sing the many successes that made her a young big star of the music industry, of the television and soon of the stage.

Talent, songs and emotions are the very foundation of Celine's success. So that's what we find inside the two-hour show that she has been working on and wished for for many months.

A first show, a young career in motion and ... 17 years!

Tour Programme

The tour programme is in French. There were only few copies available. It was made with little budget and the interior is in black and white (exception made of a double-page color poster in the middle). It presents a text describing the tour, a biography that well covers the first 4 years of Celine´s career, pictures from Celine and some song lyrics. It contains 15 pages and its dimensions are 22,5 x 28 centimeter.

Announcement

It was on March 12, 1985 that Celine Dion announced this first real tour in Quebec, with a real show. The press conference took place at Les Jardins de Paris restaurant, near the Montreal Forum, in Montreal, Quebec.

I admit I'd have liked to have really performed on stage during the past four years. For me it was an incredible sacrifice not to give live performances, but I recognize now that I still didn't have all the tools I needed, and I understand why my agent imposed such restrictions on me.

Céline (translation from French)

Celine´s manager Rene Angelil was there and he also talked during the conference. He said "Until now, all our efforts have gone into getting out her recordings. We were aiming at exceptional quality, and we achieved it. Now we´re moving on to live shows, and we´re aiming at the same quality there. Two years ago, a producer offered us a thirty-five thousand dollars to do this tour and we refused. Celine wasn´t ready for it yet".

A journalist asked if she would continue her tour in France. Rene answered "there´s no question of her performing in France for the time being. She´s not ready for France yet, and we´ll have to wait a year or eighteen months. Here she has put out seven LPs while over there she only has two. But don´t be too impatient. Two or three years from now she´ll be one of the top singers in the world". Celine was photographed with Mia Dumont and the journalists.

Preparation

As disciplined as ever, Celine prepared carefully for this demanding tour, taking singing and dancing lessons from Peter George.

Tour Route

In a little over two months, Celine gave more than 60 concerts in 37 cities in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

I celebrated my seventeenth birthday on the stage of a school in Val d'Or, in Abitibi in Quebec. We were right in the middle of a tour, the first really big tour of my life, which had already sent us from one end of Quebec to the other, throughout eastern and northern Ontario, and into New Brunswick. There seemed to be no end to it. We didn't want it to end, we were so in a groove, so excited. Our show got larger every day and the tour was extended, adding one city after another. We caused a stir before we arrived and after we left. We were sold out everywhere.

Celine (extract from the book "My Story, My Dream")

Recordings

The concert of May 31, 1985, which took place at Place des Arts in Montreal, has been recorded.

Part of this concert is also available on the vinyl "Céline Dion en concert" released in Quebec in December 1985.

List of songs

According to Celine, Rene told her "this is your first real tour, you have to present them with the complete menu of your talent". So Celine did rock, lullabies, opera and blues. She sang her successes of yesterday and today, a few songs in tribute to artists she admires and others unpublished who composed his Fall album. A nod to the popular American song, another to the opera and … voila! Eddy Marnay had introduced Celine to the music of Michel Legrand, who was a friend of his, and he put together a medley of his songs that Celine adored. She also sang several songs in English, though she did not speak that language at that time.

As a result, depending on the concerts, Celine performed a selection of the following songs:

• Chante-moi
• Mon ami m'a quittée
• Hommage à Félix Leclerc : Bozo / Le p'tit bonheur / Moi, mes souliers / Attends-moi 'ti-gars / Le train du nord
• Mon rêve de toujours
• Mamy Blue
• Avec toi
• Up Where We Belong (en duo avec Paul Baillargeon)
• Benjamin
• Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi
• Mélanie
• Visa pour les beaux jours
• Un amour pour moi
• Trop jeune à 17 ans
• Ce n'était qu'un rêve
• Over the rainbow
• Hommage à Michel Legrand : Quand on s'aime / Brûle pas tes doigts / La valse des lilas / Quand ça balance / Les moulins de mon coeur
• C'est pour toi
• Carmen (L'amour est enfant de bohême)
• Va où s'en va l'amour
• D'amour ou d'amitié
• What a feeling
• Une colombe
• Les chemins de ma maison
• La première fois
• Amoureuse

Team

Like the greats in her profession, the show is sober and professional, carefully thought out and polished by the team that has surrounded her from the start.

The lights were designed by Maurice Giraud, a great specialist working with several stars such as Johnny Halliday, Charles Aznavour, Yves Duteil and others.

Celine was surrounded by six musicians and two choristers under the direction of Paul Baillargeon.

Her manager Rene Angelil also watched over everything on this tour, from the stage direction to the scenery, from the musical arrangements to the lighting, the order of songs and even Celine´s clothing and hairstyle. Quite often during the tour, he took charge of the direction and the lighting, posters, and publicity.