AT Celine Dion’s Monday night performance at Madison Square Garden, the skinny 40-year-old diva had no soul. She was all power without passion, mechanical and as unrelenting as a singing Terminator.
Dion’s bloodless attack resulted in a concert that became a veritable feast of white bread and mayo, a bland menu of uninspired, middle-of-the-road power ballads.
No goose bumps when she reached for a high C, no shivers down the spine – just an oozy feeling of mush, mush and more mush.
Why mess with success? Her recipe has allowed her to sell 200 million albums over the past two decades. Yet, what works on a studio record is rarely what makes a live gig great.
A concert needs a sense of urgency and excitement. Although Dion didn’t deliver on that front, that notion isn’t lost on her. She tried to raise blood pressure with upbeat, get ’em-out-of-their-seats tunes such as the stylized flamenco of “Eyes on Me” and later “Love Can Move Mountains” (where she pleaded with the audience to dance), but even those songs failed to jump-start the show.
Then there were the questionable covers lumped together late in the performance. These included a clumsy medley of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and “The Show Must Go On” which trailed into James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s, Man’s World.” These head-scratchers were totally out of place in relation to the rest of the set, and they just didn’t fit the singer.
Where Dion did hit her mark perfectly was when she reprised the Bee Gees’ classic “All By Myself” during the first half of the performance. That song, which explores the terror of isolation, did manage to sound as if it was written for her.
One of the most interesting turns in this show was the MSG debut of 16-year-old vocal prodigy Charice Pempengco, whose manager, Oprah Winfrey – that’s right – secured the Philippine singer a duet with Celine for the song “Because You Loved Me.” The Charice segment was the night’s brightest moment. The teen was able to blast notes with Celine-like power, but she was also able to get in touch with the song’s emotions.
The show, which felt longer than its actual two hours, ended with Dion’s most famous number, “My Heart Will Go On,” from the film “Titanic.” That song is very pretty, hinting at Celtic tradition with its tin whistle accents. It was without question Celine’s best song of the night, but after a concert like this, Dion should rethink using background images of the Titanic going down.
CELINE DION