Celine Dion wipes away tears, sings a capella during first night of Manila concert

by Jocelyn Dimaculangan

Jul 20, 2018

Celine Dion tells her Pinoy fans "Maraming salamat!" during the first night of her Philippine concert at the Mall of Asia Arena. Claudine Barretto was one of the Filipino celebrities spotted during the July 19, 2018 concert of the Canadian singer.

Celine Dion wiped away tears as she concluded the first night of her Manila concert held on July 19, 2018, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Canadian singer admitted towards the end of her Philippine concert, "Sometimes, to play our instruments the best way possible and have jetlag and travel from one city and one country to another country day after day, it's not easy.

"But it is harder, way harder to say goodbye. And you're not making it easy for me right now."

Celine paused as she wiped away tears while the crowd at MOA Arena cheered.

"The one thing I want to tell you is that I love you very much. I want to tell you I love you in my own way.

She then sang an a capella version of "Can't Help Falling in Love."

#CelineDion2018MNL and #SmartCelineDion became top trending topics during her first night.

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SRO tickets for the second night of her Philippine concert are now available.

Here are some clips of her performances during Celine Dion Live in Manila 2018:

@celinedion performing one of her biggest hits: “To Love You More.”

A post shared by PEPalerts (@pepalerts) on Jul 19, 2018 at 8:50am PDT

This gave us goosebumps! Hit that heart button if you love @celinedion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now.”

A post shared by PEPalerts (@pepalerts) on Jul 19, 2018 at 8:53am PDT

@celinedion performing “My Heart Will Go On” at her first-ever Manila concert.

A post shared by PEPalerts (@pepalerts) on Jul 19, 2018 at 10:16am PDT

@celinedion performing “Beauty and the Beast.” ????

A post shared by PEPalerts (@pepalerts) on Jul 19, 2018 at 10:17am PDT

During the first part of her concert, Celine demonstrated that she learned the Tagalog word for thank you.

The Canadian singer told Filipinos: "My very first time in the Philippines. And it's amazing! Thank you! Don't ask me why it took so long to get here. I guess it's too far.

"But I'm just so happy to be here with all of you. I want to thank all of you for your patience throughout the years and most of all, for being with us tonight."

Pinoys cheered upon hearing Celine say "Maraming salamat!"

She then said, "I hope I got that right."

Celine Dion kicked of her 2018 Manila concert with her powerful rendition of "The Power of Love" and
"That's the Way It Is." The song "I'm Alive" started the two-hour concert on a high note.
When Celine performed "Because You Loved Me," she asked the crowd to sing the line "Because You Loved Me" with her.
Celine admitted that she asks help from family members and other people in order to read the many, many letters being sent to her. However, when she received a letter from Ryan Reynolds, she thought it was an invitation from him to be part of the movie Deadpool 2. Celine had the crowd in stitches when she did shoulder rolls and raised her eyebrows in order to prepare herself for acting.

However, it turned out that she was tapped to sing the song "Ashes" for Deadpool 2. She then rendered her version live at the MOA Arena last night.

"Deadpool opened at No. 1 in the Philippines," said Celine as she thanked Pinoys for watching the movie.
Celine opened up about dealing with the death of her husband Rene Angélil.

In 2016, during the most difficult time of grieving the loss of my husband Rene, I received an unexpected gift from someone I admire tremendously. She is an amazing artist, a wonderful mother, and a great songwriter.

"You know her very well, her name is Pink. Pink wrote a beautiful song for me that represents the power and the strength to overcome any hardship that you are going through, no matter the situation.

"This really helped me during my most difficult time. It's called 'Recovering.'"
Celine wowed the crowd with her jaw-dropping version of "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."

She also recalled performing movie theme songs such as the beloved "Beauty and the Beast."

Photo by: @livesmart on Instagram
Cline showed off her dancing skills when she danced to the tune of "Falling Into You."

Photo by: @livesmart on Instagram
Before Celine performed "To Love You More," she treated the crowd to an acoustic medley featuring the songs "At Seventeen"/"A New Day Has Come"/"Unison."

Photo by: Jocelyn Dimaculangan
A violinist accompanied Celine as she performed "To Love You More."

Photo by: Jocelyn Dimaculangan
Photo by: Jocelyn Dimaculangan
She pumped up the crowd when she performed "Kiss" and followed it up with "Purple Rain."

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
The diva star has no qualms flashing this hand gesture.

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
"I am extremely touched by your warm welcome to our first visit to Manila," admitted Celine.

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
"Tonight, we were one. Tonight, there were no barriers. Nothing was going to stop us from being together," she declared.

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
For her encore, Celine sang "My Heart Will Go On," the theme song of the blockbuster hit Titanic.

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
After the concert, Claudine Barretto stayed behind to accommodate pictures with her fans.

Photo by: Nikko Tuazon
Vice Ganda posted videos of Celine on his Instagram stories. He also posted videos of him, Amy Perez, and Mariel Rodriguez as they rode a van to the MOA Arena.

Photo by: @moaarena on Instagram
Vice Ganda brought along his Nanay Rosario and they sang along with Celine.

Photo by: @praybeytbenjamin on Instagram
Mariel Rodriguez watched the concert with It's Showtime hosts Vice Ganda and Amy Perez.

Photo by: @moaarena on Instagram