Taichung Journal: Celine Dion in Taipei Neon

On July 9, 2018, a typhoon was headed to Taipei. It was expected to make landfall late Tuesday afternoon. The HSR from Taichung might be affected, the Celine Dion concert on Wednesday evening might be affected, and since we had tickets to see her at The Little Dome, we might have been affected, too. But on that Monday, the air was dry with a slightly cooler breeze. The clouds were drifting from the northwest; no longer southeast from the tail of the typhoon that missed Taiwan and devastated the west coast of Japan heading through the East Sea between Korea and Japan, killing 120 people displacing more than a million. The HSR was running. The concert was on!

We had bough tickets to the concert in March, four months in advance, as soon as it was posted. Celine Dion was supposed to play in Taiwan four years ago until her late husband took ill and she cancelled. Everyone who loved her was anxious to see her this time, then, in April, she announced that she was having surgery done on her ear. Again, her fans sat on the edge of their seats; would she have to cancel again? This time she made it! She would do two more shows, one added, before she left Taiwan to complete her Asian Tour

We spent our day in Taipei around the main station, having lunch in Q Plaza and walking through the underground City Mall to our hotel just outside exit 13. We rested up and munched on the barrel-roasted meat buns we had reserved from a vendor outside. The weather was fine; cool and dry, unusual for Taipei in mid-July. We walked to the MRT through the underground and headed to the Little Dome which was built on old badminton courts across from where another dome had caught fire and was demolished years ago. My old neighborhood had changed a lot since 1984; the biggest change being the MRT. It would have taken us almost an hour back then on bus route 23; instead it took fifteen minutes. When we got outside we were shocked.

The lines outside the Celine Dion concert were chaotic; no one knew which line was which; there were no banisters and only a few ushers with megaphones; it felt like a Midway Fairground. Despite the absence of ropes, most Taiwanese didn't cut into lines; they just cut through them to get to the other side. It was wild for fifteen minutes but, finally, we found the right place, not that the other places were wrong, mind you, but we felt confident this line would get us inside.

We took our seats just as the warm-up act, a Canadian singer impersonator, Veronic DeCaire, came on stage. She did great versions of popular artists like Whitney Houston and Lady Gaga, but we were raring to see the real thing; an icon: Celine Dion in the flesh.

When Celine came out to sing, 12,000 fans erupted. Celine went right into the show, and then commented on the typhoon that had passed to Taiwan’s north; how it didn’t seem to affect us because we were all present, but she didn’t comment on the chaos outside the arena; she didn’t know and no one told her. There would be chaos at Friday and Saturday's concerts, too.

I think Celine paid too much attention to crediting others’ material and did not do enough of her own. I’m glad she did the acoustic medley with the background singers and guitarist, “At Seventeen” (which, it seems, only I knew) “Touched by an Angel”, and “We are Family” paying credence to the Taiwanese born acoustic bass playing chick and kissing the African American tenor; it was all very “inclusive” and the audience loved it, but she didn’t have to pay a tribute to Prince or name drop Pink to thank her for writing a song for her when her husband passed away. Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" was also a tribute but without giving him equal credit; she had covered it on an album. Also, she spent too much time plugging the new "Deadpool II"action hero movie that she was asked to sing the theme song for. She stopped the show five minutes to tell the story that accompanied the MTV video, as opposed to being a show-stopper.
At least she spoke slowly so the mostly non-English speaking crowd could understand. Other songs she sang "meant so much to [her]" that it was more overkill than Deadpool. Though most of her songs are covers, she could have given a shout out to all the writers she's had instead of the select few.

The neon light show and orchestral background were the best parts of the Celine Dion experience. Musically, the best part was a violin center stage with her “To Love You More.” The disco medley, including"Sex Machine" by James Brown, got us on our feet during one of her four or five wardrobe changes, but it would have been better as part of the warm-up; we wanted to hear more of her hits, not other's. The disco song was out of character and awkward to returned to our seats when she came back finishing the song down-tempo. I guess we couldn't jump around too much in the fragile Little Dome so neighbors wouldn't be complaining.

The most outrageous aspect of the show was the price. We could have bought the nose-bleed seats in the upper deck for 800 NT-$26 but they sold out fast, way before the third show was added in Taipei. Instead we bought the 10,800 NT-$350 seats. Even in Las Vegas her seats go for $200 tops; they were way over-priced. Granted she had a orchestra of twelve behind her and three background singers, even a male dancer who came out to accompany her as she sang. The problem is, Taiwan is not Japan and most pop stars from the west pass us by. It is either Brittney Spears, Air Supply, or a washed up Bob Dylan whose English can't even be understood by childhood friends. And we spent $200, half of it to a scalper, just to see a bloated Axel Rose in November rain; at least Slash will be back on guitar.

Celine Dion is an amazing singer. Few divas are worth the price of seeing them live; Celine is the one. Bravo!

Set List

Part 1

Musical Intro

The Power of Love (Jennifer Rush cover)

That's the Way It Is

I'm Alive

Because You Loved Me

Part 2

Toccata 2.4 (Musical Interlude)

It's All Coming Back to Me Now (Pandora's Box cover)

Beauty and the Beast (Alan Menken cover)