Celine Dion kicks off first full concert in six years

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Canadian singer Celine Dion gestures as she performs during her first concert of a series at the Plenitude Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris on september 12, 2026. Celine Dion is to fulfil her dream of returning to the stage after years battling a rare neurological disorder, with thousands of fans from all over the world descending on the arena west of Paris. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

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Celine Dion on Saturday kicked off her first full concert in six years in Paris, as she returned to the stage after battling a rare neurological disorder.

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Wearing a strapless black gown, the 58-year-old French-Canadian singer was visibly moved as she sang her 1990s French-language ballad “On ne change pas” (“One doesn’t change”) to a crowd of some 30,000 fans.

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She paused briefly and was overcome with emotion as she made her much-awaited comeback, after Stiff Person Syndrome forced her to cancel shows and left her struggling to perform.

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Enthralled fans chanted her name at the end of the first song.

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“I have to admit, the path was rockier than expected, the journey longer than expected, with unplanned stopovers, but I held on to a faint ray of light in the distance, deep in the mountains,” she told the audience.

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“And now, the sun is here, the sun is in front of me. So tonight, I want to sing for you, sing for myself, sing for life,” she said.

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Fans from around the world had flocked to the Plenitude Arena on the western edge of the French capital for the opening night of her 26-show run.

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Saturday’s performance is the first of 16 sold-out shows in September and October, before Dion returns to Paris for another 10 next May.

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The series, produced by event promoter AEG Presents, is expected to generate hundreds of millions of euros in economic benefits for the French capital.

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AFP

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