Celine Dion - Au Coeur du Stade (Video CD)

As this 1999 Paris performance shows, Celine Dion's following is both global and bilingual: fully half of the songs in the 90-minute concert are sung in French, and they receive as loud a roar from the audience as the Québecois chanteuse's smash hits like "My Heart Will Go On." Dion's voice is a formidable instrument; it's too bad she feels compelled to press it into overuse in song after song. Much of her material lends itself to bombastic vocal treatment--"The Power of Love" and the concert opener, "Let's Talk About Love," come immediately to mind--and Dion certainly obliges, to the crowd's approving roars. It's obvious that the singer has a genuine love of performing for her fans, and that is her saving grace, even if her choice of material is not everyone's cup of tea. --Kevin Filipski