Celine Dion

Celine Dion Live At Kai Tak January 25, 8.45 pm For those who feared it would, Celine Dion's concert at Kai Tak certainly did not go on and on: in fact, it lasted less than 90 minutes. Despite that, however, there did not seem to be any loud grumbles. Most of the audience, if anything, appeared to have been pleasantly surprised.

Dion was the consummate performer at Kai Tak: she played well to the crowd, with light-hearted banter about being at the airport.

By the end of the concert, she had managed to build up quite a warm rapport with them.

Dion started with the theme song for her tour - Let's Talk About Love - with the Glenealy Junior School choir gazing rather adoringly at the diva.

Despite her touring experiences, Dion appeared rather hesitant at the start. Not that it was obvious, but having seen her show in the US, it was clear she was a lot more confident going into those shows. She tested the water with her banter and did not clown around as much as she does in her American shows.

She was not, of course, helped by the 'suits' up front who sat with arms folded. But as she warmed up with Declaration Of Love, You Are The Reason and All Coming Back To Me Now, so too did they.

Dion's one 'live' guest for the evening was Japanese violinist Taro Hakase, who gave a rousing accompaniment for To Love Me.

Other 'guests' - Barbra Streisand, Diana King and the Bee Gees - were there by proxy, on video, so that Dion could sing her famous duets.

The smooth merging of the live Dion and videotaped Streisand was impressive - one could have sworn they were both there and that Babs was having a fine time too.

It was also a Bee Gees kind of night, with Dion performing Immortality with them, and later launching into a medley of Saturday Night Fever and You Should Be Dancing with a crowd of almost 20,000 dancing along with her. And, Dion was not half-bad at dancing either.

Another mesmerising session was an acoustic medley of her favourite songs which included Roberta Flack's The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face), a beautiful a capella version of the Beatles' Because, Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven and Frank Sinatra's All The Way.

When the evening ended with (what else?) My Heart Will Go On, Dion had more than shown why she is one of today's best-selling artists.