andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Madonna was the biggest worldwide concert draw in 2008, selling $281.6 million worth of tickets in 17 countries for her Sticky and Sweet tour.

Industry magazine Pollstar, which compiled the list, reported $105.3 million of that total was grossed in North America alone.

Notching the No. 2 spot was Canadian songstress Celine Dion, who earned $236.6 million from 24 countries.

Dion launched her first world tour in more than eight years after wrapping her 700-plus show residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas last December.

Following Dion on Pollstar’s worldwide list were Bon Jovi ($176.3 million), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ($165.8 million), and last year’s biggest North American concert draw, the Police ($120.6 million).

This year was the first time Pollstar has compiled foreign data.

Pollstar reported that fewer people went to concerts in North America in 2008, but those who did were prepared to pay more for their tickets.

Celine Dion’s husband and manager, Rene Angelil, will be coming to a TV near you.

At least in Quebec.

According to CTV.ca, Angelil has agreed to coach aspiring singers on the French version of Canadian Idol, Star academie.

The show will air on the French network, TVA.

The show will travel to various parts of Quebec as well as Ontario and New Brunswick in search of the next French singing sensation.

Celine Dion is reportedly slated to appear on the show.

Almost five years after Celine Dion first took the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the show has come to an end.

For a crowd of cheering fans, Dion bid farewell to Vegas Saturday night and emotionally reminisced about the early problems the show faced.

Pregnancy almost stopped production on the elaborate show while it was still in development in 2000, CTV reports.

The 39-year-old superstar reportedly told her husband and manager Rene Angelil that she wanted to focus on motherhood and back out of the Vegas commitment.

“I had a life for the first time,” Dion said via video before the final show, “I knew then that I wanted to have more success as a mother than a singer.”

But the show went on and despite poor early reviews Dion’s, “A New Day . . . ” made a five-year run, grossed hundreds of millions of dollars and was enjoyed by almost three million fans.

Dion’s husband and son joined her on stage after the last number of the show.

Bette Midler’s “The Showgirl Must Go On,” is set to open Feb. 20 in place of Celine Dion.

Celine Dion has cancelled her upcoming concert in Halifax because of negative comments made about her in the Halifax Daily News.

Columnist David Rodenhiser called Dion’s show a “letdown,” but also made positive comments on her impressive career. Negative responses from the public on the newspaper’s web site may have been the last straw for thin-skinned Dion and her husband/manager, Rene Angélil.

The official reason for the cancellation is that the Halifax Common was not an appropriate venue for Dion’s extravagant stage show. But in a radio interview, Angélil said that he and Celine felt that the public didn’t want them there.

“Don’t try to find any reasons for cancelling the concert. There’s only one reason and you know what it is. I’m not saying that all people in Halifax are negative, but … this is a question of feeling. We’re humans. If you would go to a city and you read day after day … ‘This is not the place for you, you shouldn’t have come, I expected someone else,’ I don’t know how you would feel about going there.”

The concert was scheduled for August, so there’s lots of time for Dion and Angélil to change their minds.

Céline Dion has pulled out of a performance at the Halifax Common because the venue was “inappropriate”.

Dion’s people reportedly said the singer’s show was too elaborate and the park was not suitable to accommodate her concert’s requirements.

Gillett Entertainment Group went on to say the venue “would not satisfy the best interests” of Dion’s fans, CBC News reports.

The singer was suppose to headline the second Concert on the Common.
“Naturally, we are disappointed,” Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said in a statement.

Kelly said though a final agreement had not been reached, regional council thought the show was going ahead as scheduled.

The Council had reportedly agreed to spend up to $150,000 on the Dion event.

The city is said to be looking for another headliner.

Britney Spears’ new album “Blackout” will be released earlier than expected. The album, originally slated for November 13, will now hit shelves the day before Halloween.

The official reason for the move is that the new songs have been leaked on the internet. “Due to these numerous unauthorized online leaks, the label is doing everything possible to prevent and avoid any further illegal distribution of songs including moving up the release date of the album to Oct. 30,” said a Jive Records rep.

But Spears might have been scared off by Celine Dion. Dion’s album is also being released on November 13, and is expected to be a big seller. Both Dion and Spears’ record labels are owned by Sony BMG.

With all the scandal in Britney’s private life of late and a terrible performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, “Blackout” is her last chance to save her dying career.

CELINE DION’s husband RENE ANGELIL has allowed Caesars Palace to reveal his casino losses to end speculation he has been gambling $1 million a week during his wife’s residence at the Las Vegas hotel.

JAN JONES, a senior official at Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, which own Caesars Palace, sparked controversy by telling a British newspaper Angelil gambles as much as $1 million a week at the casino, but she has since insisted she was speaking hypothetically and apologized for referring to Angelil by name.

Angelil has been a regular visitor to the casino during his wife’s five-year singing engagement at the hotel, which ends on December 16, and Caesars Palace have revealed his casino losses in 2005 and 2006 total exactly $230,000.

However, the losses are offset by tournament poker winnings of $259,709 during the same period.

Caesars Palace president GARY SELESNER says, “In life and in business, Rene is a winner, and one of the finest people I have ever known. Caesars Palace is very sorry for any embarrassment that may have resulted from the media speculation.”

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Celine Dion plans to have a second child after her contract with Caesar’s Palace ends in 2007, according to a French magazine. (Editor’s note: …because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, and she wants to have the freedom to leave with her baby.)

She will begin in vitro fertilization treatments at a New York clinic after finishing her successful gig at the Las Vegas venue, which began in 2003.

“I’m approaching 40 years old, and I have to tend to that,” Dion says. “This frozen embryo that is in New York is my child waiting to be brought to life.”

Dion and her manager-husband Rene Angelil had their first child, Rene-Charles, with the help of in vitro after years of trying.

Canada’s world famous pop star diva Celine Dion will be the centre of an A & E biography episode scheduled to air this Friday on the U.S. specialty channel.

The diva?s life will be the focus of a two-hour special expected to include interviews from other major entertainment icons associated with Dion such as her husband/manager Rene Angilil, Tom Jones, music producer David Foster, Beatles producer George Martin, as well as the pop star diva herself.

“Celine is a remarkable talent with a fascinating story to tell. We are pleased to offer a glimpse into her rich Canadian roots and evolving career,” said Shelly Blaine Goodman, vice-president of A&E Canada.

The biography will divulge the many facets of Dion?s life in greater detail such as her upbringing in rural Quebec with 13 older siblings, and then portraying in more detail her immensely triumphant story of resilience leading to her extravagant career permitting her to eventually become the diamond in the rough of the Vegas strip as Caesar Palace?s day show icon, and an extension of Canada?s glow down South.

The final four singers vying to become the Canadian Idol were flown to Las Vegas over the weekend to meet Celine Dion.

The relaxed Dion was candid with the finalists, who asked questions, and posed for pictures with the diva, following her performance of her sold-out Vegas production, “A New Day.”

“Be kind. Be generous. Be smart. Work hard, but have fun. The best is yet to come,” she told them.

Gary Beals, Audrey de Montigny, Billy Klippert, and Ryan Malcolm, also went on a backstage tour.

The segment with Dion will air on CTV’s Canadian Idol on Monday.