Celine’s song is ‘Recovery’ in hurricane relief effort

A Celine Dion performance is more than an an evening of entertainment. It’s also a life experience. You laugh. You cry. And sometimes, you’re moved to help those in need.

Tuesday night was such a time. Dion returned to the Strip after her “vacation” of 25 shows in 15 cities in Europe, rolling her eyes as she described her time away from the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

Deep into the sold-out show, Celine dropped her voice and referred to the hurricane damage in the southeast. She also pointed out volunteers at the venue’s lobby holding donation boxes for the American Red Cross.

“If you can donate a few dollars, please donate,” she told the audience. “We are going to keep this campaign going for a while, and we will be matching your contributions, dollar for dollar, to help these people get back on their feet again.”

The “we” in this instance was Celine, show producers and promoters AEG Presents, and Caesars Entertainment.

Celine followed with a warm rendition of “Recovery,” the ode to her late husband, Rene Angelil and written by rock artist Pink. The song was released in September 2016 and dedicated to Angelil, who died in January 2016.

As Celine sang, “ I am recovering, the hope that I lost. The part of my soul, that paid the cost.” She had earlier referred to the Colosseum stage as “my home,” and her guests, as always, were there to lend an ear.

More from the Colosseum

MGM Grand headliner David Copperfield, a veritable illusionist-around-town over the past week, hit Celine’s show on Tuesday night. He attended the sold-out performance with shoe designer Chloe Gosselin.

Copperfield has recently attended Jennifer Lopez’s show at Axis at Planet Hollywood, “Love” at the Mirage and Mike Tyson’s “Undisputed Truth: Round 2” at Brad Garrett’s Comedy club at MGM’s Underground promenade.

Angel, Johnny and Siegfried

Criss Angel and his 3-year-old son, Johnny Christopher, visited Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden on Tuesday and ran into an old buddy— Siegfried himself.

As Angel posted on his Instagram account; “WOW!!! My friend #Siegfried of #Siegfriedandroy surprised me & Johnny for a personal tour of the cats & dolphins at the #secretgarden #amazingplace.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.