The most coveted ticket in Las Vegas during the second half of spring has been a seat for Celine Dion’s last string of shows at Caesars Palace. The first superstar headliner of the modern era is moving on to a new chapter after practically writing the manual on modern Strip residencies, starting with a summer world tour once the Canadian diva’s final curtain is called at the Colosseum. She started the trend along with peers such as Cher, Elton John and Bette Midler, but through her two residencies Dion has decidedly made the biggest impact.
The first class of post-Celine headliners was followed by a second wave including Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and Rod Stewart. Now residencies are the dominant form of entertainment on the Strip and have become as viable an alternative to touring for current hit-makers as they have been for living legends. Entertainers can stay in the same place with families, not have their performances affected by the rigors of travel, and go the extra mile with production elements if they desire. Dion demonstrated it could be done with sophistication and class.
Audiences flocked to her 2003-2007 residency, A New Day …, and her success came with renewed optimism in Las Vegas and was a source of pride for the city long before it had the Golden Knights to believe in. Dion’s current eponymously titled production (it kicked off in 2011 and returned despite hiatuses), was just as successful, and this time fans witnessed her transform. She garnered an unironic hipness in the entertainment press long before her husband René Angélil passed away in January 2016, but her icon status became even more elevated when she performed a cover of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” at the Billboard Music Awards a few months later.
The Celine Dion who emerged after a period of bereavement wasn’t just determined to continue. Dion embraced life in her own inimitable style, becoming more of a fashion plate and expanding her entrepreneurial endeavors, and letting go of her inhibitions in public at just the right moments while tabloid cameras clicked away. When she boogied down during a Lady Gaga headliner show at Park MGM earlier this year, she both demonstrated her unabashed joie de vivre and her humility. Dion is unafraid of passing the torch to the next generation, or being outshined—the former is inevitable, the latter impossible.
For sure, the Strip would be a different place had Dion not hitched her wagon to the Colosseum. Insiders think we haven’t seen the last of her as a Las Vegas headliner, but aren’t taking any chances. Meanwhile, a North American tour accompanies the release of a new English album, and Dion’s May 20 prime-time television appearance as James Corden’s passenger on The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special is posted online for posterity. She sang “Baby Shark” and, along with Corden, performed “My Heart Will Go On” on a small boat on Lake Bellagio, validating credence held by many within Dion’s faithful following that she is nothing short of a musical miracle worker.
Caesars Palace, 7:30 p.m. June 4-5 & 7-8, $55-$500 plus tax and fee. 855.234.7469
