After performing for the first time in years at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Celine Dion may be returning to the city for a series of shows at the La Défense Arena that would mark a long-awaited comeback amid her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome.
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Clues that the icon may be planning something in Paris arose over the weekend, with local fans reporting online Monday (March 23) that signs quoting Dion’s lyrics had begun popping up in the City of Love. One placed outside the Cafe du Louvre displayed, “My Heart Will Go On” — the title of the vocalist’s 1998 Billboard Hot 100-topper — while others read, “Pour que tu m’aimes encore” and “Power of love.”
Also on Monday, Variety confirmed a Sunday report from French-Canadian publication La Presse, which stated that Dion was locked in to give two concerts each week of September and October at La Défense.
Billboard has reached out to Dion’s rep for confirmation.
If the star does return to the stage in Paris, it will be the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance in the face of Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes severe muscle spasms; Dion revealed her diagnosis in 2022. The condition led her to cancel her North American and European tour dates planned for that year and the next.
In her 2024 documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, the vocalist pulled back the curtain on her illness and opened up about her determination to get back on stage someday. In July 2024, she did just that, performing an emotional rendition of Edith Piaf’s “Hymne A L’Amour” from within the Eiffel Tower during the Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
Her reported upcoming residency would make good on Dion’s pledge in the doc: “If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl … I won’t stop.”
