Is Céline Dion planning to perform again?
We don’t want to get our hopes up, but rumours suggest concert dates are coming
In 2020, Céline Dion was scheduled to perform a series of concerts at Paris’ La Défense Arena, but they were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
By 2022, the beloved singer had been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune neurological disorder, known as stiff-person syndrome, that prevented her from rescheduling. Fans around the world worried not only for her health, but that we might never hear her sing again.
Dion has made infrequent public appearances since then, but in 2024, during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, surprised us all with a spectacular performance at the Eiffel Tower.
It was a glorious moment, but whether she’d ever be able to perform entire concerts remained unclear.
Days ago, hope appeared in the form of an Instagram post, featuring photos of Dion in Paris through the years. Was this a simple carousel celebrating decades of fashion slays on her travels to the City of Light, or do we need to start saving for a Europe trip?
Dion’s representatives have not confirmed or denied rumours when contacted by media outlets, but signs featuring titles of her songs have been spotted around the city, as perhaps some kind of hint.
A La Presse journalist reported that he’d received credible information about Dion performing a residency at La Défense Arena this fall. AP News, also citing an anonymous source said to be involved in planning, reported the same.
All we’ve heard directly came from her Instagram post: “Je sais pas comment te dire,” she wrote, or, “I don’t know how to tell you.” We’ll keep wishing and praying until she’s ready to say more.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
