CELINE DION RECOVERS FROM THROAT INFECTION BUT CHINESE CONCERT DATES HIT RED-TAPE PROBLEMS
Our beloved former Caesars Palace headliner, Celine Dion confirmed that her throat illness did cause her to reschedule a string of concert dates in Australia, Malayasia and China—although one has completely cancelled in Beijing!
The Canadian songbird, now on her “Taking Chances” world tour had hoped to celebrate her 40th birthday last weekend—but instead wound up felled by a respiratory tract infection that caused bronchial and laryngeal inflammation. Doctors even ordered her to wear a surgical mask!
Good news though is that she’s back on stage and now frantically shuffling the cancelled and postponed dates. Tomorrow (SAT) and Sunday Celine will play Sydney making up for the missed March 28-29 dates. She’ll play Perth on Tuesday instead of today and the April 8 visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia will take place Sunday April 13 now that her second show in China—the Beijing show has been cancelled at least for the foreseeable future.
Next Friday’s (April 11) first Chinese concert in Shanghai will go on as scheduled and Celine still plans to guest on the Yang Lan TV show in Beijing the next day as part of an Olympic Games promotion. (Remember Celine sang the “Power of the Dream” theme song at the opening of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics!) But it’s the 65,000-seat concert scheduled on April 13 in the outdoor Workers Stadium that is still somewhat wrapped in mystery. Celine has denied she cancelled it fearing sandstorms would harm her throat again.
Chinese government officials at the Culture Ministry said the concert had been approved but the official newspaper claimed organizers hadn’t carried out all the visa approvals. Then Celine said all the visas were in order but the promoters had decided an indoor venue would be preferable than the outdoor stadium. However, no alternatives could
be secured at such short notice so Celine now promises to make it up to ticketholders with a future date-to-be announced. “ I’m really sorry that things couldn’t be worked out for the concert in Beijing. I was really looking forward to it. I’m excited about visiting the city and appearing on Lan’s TV show. At least I will get a chance to see Beijing as it gets ready for the Olympics and we will continue to make plans for a future show.” she said in an official statement.
On a happier note Happy Birthday wishes to Celine’s brother and sister, twins Paul and Pauline, the 12th and 13th of her large family who celebrated yesterday (THURS) with her in Sydney in advance of the weekend shows.