See a photo of Kirsty with the band
PARIS, STADE DE FRANCE, 19/6/99 - They meet Eric (bodyguard) and Barnev
EDINBURGH, MURRAYFIELD STADIUM, 08/07/99 - They meet M�go, and Kirsty serenades
Eric!
LONDON, WEMBLEY STADIUM, 10/07/99 - Getting to know Yves
LONDON, WEMBLEY STADIUM, 11/07/99 - They party with the band!
Ok, for you to understand what happened, I'll have to go back in time a bit�.
Anna Macallan - fellow C�line freak from CelineOnline - and I had brilliant seats in the fourth row for this concert. We had gone on a package thing together, so we bought the most expensive option with the floor seats. All the others in our group of friends, Kirstie, Anna Gibson, Lisa, Manon, Linda, Eryl, Carol and Ian were scattered randomly about the stadium, none of them on the floor. Before the concert, as you probably know, Eric does his little walkabout to check everything's hunky-dory and no one is looking overly suspicious. We spotted him just at the back of our seating section with another guy dressed in a rather brightly coloured shell suit. Having met Eric a couple of times before, we went over to say hello and to ask for an autograph. When the people in front of us asked him, he pointed to the guy with him and said "He's the guy you should be asking, he's the new backing singer". BARNEV!!! He was very charming and kind of surprised to hear us when we talked to him - didn't expect anyone other than French speakers I think. So we chatted away with him and Eric, told them to take care, good luck to Barnev and that we'd see them in Britain the next month. OOOh, I have to clarify something, due to our meetings with C�line (and Eric) before, Eric like KNOWS me, my name and everything. But I don't think he thinks of me too much as a screaming fan because he trusts the group of us with C�line completely and leaves us with her. In London he was leaving at a separate time, and stood talking to us for ten minutes before he got into his car, which was ready and waiting for him. He remembers me (us) every time we see him. So anyway, he said he'd look out for us and said goodbye.
Edinburgh was the most amazing concert I had ever been to in my life. We had 5th row seats, right beside the runway leading to the stage, so we had access to everyone going to and from the stage. Also, in Edinburgh, the crowd was a little more sedate, so we stood out more than we did in Paris. We had the perfect view and everyone on the stage could see us clearly. We had an absolute blast, and the people around us were very understanding, and thought us more amusing than annoying. So, Andr�-Philippe Gagnon came onstage and we were able to speak to him before he got there. I speak French, with a little Quebecker accent, so he came over to us as soon as he heard me. He was a little disappointed I think to hear that we were all British, but was lovely anyway. Up onstage, as we had already seen his show in Paris, we were able to stand up and join in before anyone else was. We caught his eye and he stopped to talk to us again on the way back off the stage - AUTOGRAPH!!! When he went up and backstage, we caught sight of Taro Hakase standing watching everything at the start of the runway. After The Corrs (who weren't as good as I thought they would have been) had gone past and onto the stage, we went up and spoke to Taro, and got pictures and autographs. He was pleased as punch by the whole thing, I think�.couldn't wipe the little smile off his face for anything! He was really lovely.
Anyway, back to our seats we went, watched The Corrs some more. Then I turned round and saw M�go watching from just inside backstage, but we couldn't get to him to ask for anything. So, cheeky as I am, I went back and asked Taro if he could get M�go to come down and speak to us, and he was more than happy to. M�go came down to see and speak to us and was totally lovely, charming and more than happy to sign and take pictures with us - which Taro took, by the way!! :-)
So, then it was C�line's turn. After looking like complete numpties [idiots!] screaming "On t'aime" at box 555 to bewildered spectators, we were able to speak to the band as they were going onstage. [note: C�line would always be taken onstage in box #555 so she wouldn't be mobbed on the way!] To tell you the truth, I think the band are more than pleased when they are recognised, when people know their names and actually want to speak to them. They were all lovely, and Barnev recognised us from Paris. Where we were seated, we had Dominique Messier in front of us the whole concert, with a lot of Andr� Coutu as well.
Edinburgh will always remain in my memory as the concert C�line played to us, i.e. my friends and I. She came up through the stage, Let's Talk About Love started and we went a bit mad. The only thing was, we appeared to be the only people doing that so we caught her attention straight away. Right before the last phrase in the first verse, she nodded to us, laughed and gave us her little salute thing. Clearly and directly at us, and everyone around us laughed and said "Happy now, that was for you" and smiled. Dominique noticed us to and seemed to be continually amused by our complete state of adoration of everything, C�line and her band. He kept waving and winking, when he had a hand free of course. When the singers came round to our side of the stage, they had a little running joke that a different one of them would wave to us each time. Also Eric was right in front of us, noticed us and waved without trying to look friendly of course! and made faces at us when we made them at him throughout the concert. He had to turn away at one point when I was serenading him with "Think Twice" so he wouldn't laugh in front of everyone. Very funny moment.
During that whole concert, there were only two songs during which C�line didn't acknowledge us in some way - Tell Him and I'm Your Angel. We even got a laugh in My Heart Will Go On, which although a little inappropriate due to the type of song it is, was brilliant to hear! Please don't think I'm exaggerating about this - she honestly gave us sooo much that night. The people round us thanked us for being so, um, enthusiastic because it drew her round to our side of the stage more than it should have. We were just lucky enough to be the first people she picked out that night, so she gave us most of the rest of the concert.
Anyway, the concert finished and they all left the stage. We said a brief hello to C�line as she sped past, but got to see the band a bit more. We told them well done and that we'd see them at Wembley, to which they replied "Yeah, you bet!!! Take Care". Edinburgh over, London here we come.
I could go on forever about the next two concerts so I'll try to keep everything to a minimum. Saw C�line at her hotel before the concert - said a fleeting hello before she disappeared. Got to Wembley in time for the soundcheck - AMAZING!!!! The concert was very good but we didn't get as much recognition as we did in Edinburgh, although we still got a fair bit!! We were second row, and she could see us clearly, and we could see her winks and smiles perfectly. At our side of the stage this time was Yves Frulla, and we developed quite a cool friendship with him from the stage. He laughed and laughed at us, wowed when we were singing along with Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore (they obviously think that Brits don't care about the French material, which is a bit depressing) and waved and smiled the whole time. Again, the backing singers saw us and recognised us and we got little waves from them too.
That night we met C�line at her hotel, which is a completely different story. Just know that we spoke to Eric a fair bit that night, he asked if we were going tomorrow and we said "Of course", to which he replied "oh yeah, stupid question!!" and told us he'd see us then.
A little saddened by the prospect of this being our last C�line concert, the group of us went and bought some flowers and cards (one for C�line, one for Ren� and one for the band) to give if the opportunity arose. In the band's card we wrote "Congratulations on a brilliant show!!! We hope you enjoyed it much as we did. Thank you for being such a big part of what C�line means to each and every one of us. You're all fantastic and we hope to see you again soon." We signed it "Lots of Love, the rather Enthusiastic Girls from the Front Rows", and we wrote each of their names on the envelope, which sounded a little better than "The Band"!
Before the concert started, we saw Eric a little further up the stand having pictures taken with fans. It had been a bit of running joke up to then that he wouldn't have a group picture taken with us. Also, we thought that we had more chance of C�line getting the flowers and cards if he gave her them, rather than trying to give her them at the end when she could easily walk past us on the runway. So we decided to go speak to him. As we approached, I put on a stern face and said something like "Tsktsktsk, no group pictures huh?" He laughed out loud and said "Oh come on then, I knew you'd get me eventually." We had to come off the stairwell so we came back into the main bit of the stadium - I don't know what it's called but where all the shops are. He got his arms round all of us into a group pic and then we asked him about giving her the flowers. He asked why we just didn't give them to her ourselves at the end, but we told him that she had a tendency to walk past us and we wanted to make sure that she got them. Then he said "Ok, what I'll do is if you stand right at the top left of the runway, I'll bring her to you". We were a little wary but he promised he would so off we went back to our seats.
We had exactly the same seats as the night before, so Yves smiled and waved as soon as he saw us. The concert was pretty much the same as the night before, with us playing about with Yves and everyone who came to our side of the stage. C�line seemed a little tired but it was still a great concert. At the end, we made sure to be at the end of the runway, ready to give her her presents. Unfortunately, as we all know, C�line has a tendency to practically run out of the stadium when she's going straight back to Ren�, and she got right away from Eric and ran out. He looked as us and frowned apologetically but had to go out right after her. We were gutted. There was no way she'd get the stuff now. Or so we thought!!!! Yves saw what had happened and headed right for us, shouting "Hey girls!!" Miracle!!!! We told him what had happened and asked if he could take the stuff for her and them away with him. He was more than willing, told us to take care and thanked us and left.
To tell you the truth, we were pretty gutted when we got outside. We didn't know if she would get her stuff, and the whole thing was over�. we were all a bit depressed really. We hung around at our exit, which also happened to be the crew and everyone else exit, waiting to see if our friends who were also at the concert would walk past. As the crowd began to disperse and leave just a few stragglers, we noticed a group of people crowding round someone holding out programmes and pens. Curious, we wandered over to see Barnev smiling and reveling in the attention, signing, singing and taking pictures with the 15 or so people around him. When it was our turn, we said hi and would it be ok to get a picture with him, while he was signing our tickets. He said "Yeah sure" before he looked up, but when he did and he saw our faces, he said with a HUGE grin "Thank you SO much for the card you guys!! It meant so much to all of us. Everyone loves it." This was bit strange as we hadn't given him the card, but realised that they must have all seen it and realised that they all must have recognised us from the last few concerts! What a great feeling!!! We got our pictures and he said goodbye and disappeared back inside.
As we all stood there (oops, I forgot to say that "us" today consists of Me, Lisa, Anna, Anna and Yael - Lori and Manon had gone missing) admiring our autographs and generally mulling over the events of the last few days, we heard a wolf whistle and turned round to see Yves marching towards us with a great big grin on his face. Barnev had told him we were outside to he came to say hello!! We talked with him for five minutes, when he told us that everyone was over the moon about the card, and that they'd never had one before and that they really appreciated it more than we knew!! He signed stuff for us, and I asked him where the others were in French. He said, in French, that they were all inside and would be out later after the party. I asked if it was ok if we waited to say hi to them and he said sure, that would be no problem at all!! He kissed us all goodbye and disappeared into a trailer with a "Costumes" sign on it.
By now we were grinning like maniacs!! We decided that Lori and Manon must have gone home, and were about to leave when we heard a "HEY!!!!" directed at us from beside the trailers. Yves came bounding over and asked what we were doing. We told him we were about to leave and he said "Oh no don't do that! How many are you?" We counted who out of the remaining waiting fans were in our group and replied "5. Why?" He said "So, who wants to come up with me then?" We kind of laughed at him and asked what he meant. His response: "Who wants to come up to the party with me and say hi to the rest of the band?" Well, I think our faces spoke for themselves, and he held the barrier aside while we walked through, much to the dismay and jealousy of the other waiting fans.
As I was the more talkative of the bunch and I also spoke French, Yves kind of clicked with me and I walked with him as the others followed. He led us inside and up the stairs through some corridors to the room where the after show party was being held. He had said he just wanted to introduce the girls who gave the card to the band, so they would all see who it was from and could thank them. We thought, by this, that he was tactfully telling us that we'd be introduced, say hello and then be subtly booted out. WRONG!!! "Hello!!!! Lovely to meet you!!! Can I take your coat? What would you like to drink; wine, beer, water?? Help yourselves to food, this is the good table, the one over there is vegetarian�." We were blown away. Yves took us to everyone in the band and introduced us, and we were all hugged and kissed and made to feel so comfortable it was unbelievable.
To give you the head count, the whole band was there, Andr�-Philippe and his daughter, Michel Dion, Marlon and another random body guard, a lady who appeared to be friends with �lise and Julie and some other random cute guy who from what I gathered was considered to be part of the band although I had never seen him before, Patrick Ang�lil and M�go's girlfriend. And us. Twenty-five people maximum.
Once we had been introduced and were given our drinks, everyone reassumed the positions they had been in before we arrived. M�go sat rather red-faced and drunk on a sofa with a permanent grin tattooed onto his face. Paul Picard didn't say a lot and sat just a bit from M�go. He moved around occasionally and came over to say hello but didn't talk a lot. Andr� Coutu seemed a little smashed the whole night, but gave the impression that he didn't really speak much English, so he only really came to us to say hi at the beginning and bye at the end - wherever any kissing was involved. It was quite amusing. The girls sat together with their friend and didn't say too much to us, seemed a little drunk too but were friendly. I don't think their English was too advanced either, but we were understood. �lise talked to me when I spoke to her in French, but I didn't want to do that too much as my friends didn't understand what was being said on either side. Barnev stayed with Marlon and the other random guy but came past sometimes to see if we needed another drink or to make a joke. Yves, Dominique and Marc stayed with us the whole time. We kind of stood in a group and talked about anything and everything, laughing and singing and drinking, sometimes being joined by Michel who looked as if he was still working and rushed about organising various bits and pieces. They made us feel so welcome and comfortable, we weren't nervous at all. They told us their plans, what they thought about all the fans, what happened with Terry Bradford!, and just general chitchat. They seemed very interested in all of us too, and asked us as many questions as we asked them. They kept saying that they were really pleased to talk with us, and that they liked the kind of fans we were - interested in everything and really appreciating everyone involved with C�line, not just the woman herself. When I asked Yves where C�line's cards were, he looked at me as if I had asked a really silly question and replied "with her of course! She took them out of my hand as she got into her limo!" He went on to assure us that anything and everything they were given for C�line was ALWAYS given to her, that they had strict instructions always to do so. So apparently she gets EVERYTHING anyone connected with her is given to give to her. I like that thought!!
At one point during the evening, �lise and Julie stood up and started singing "Il est si pr�s de moi�" at Barnev who was at the other side of the room, and everyone in the room started to join in. Everyone was singing, including our little group, smiling and keeping time by clapping�I was loving it. After about a minute I realised it had gone a little quiet and looked round to see everyone in the room had shut up and was clapping along to me singing, with �lise and Julie singing their backing parts�.I was mortified and stopped, telling everyone that I was embarrassed and they should have stopped me! They all whistled and clapped for ages, coming over and patting my back telling me I had "quite a voice". The whole thing was really embarrassing as I had never set out to get their attention like that and I'd hate to think that they thought I had done it on purpose. �lise leaned over to Julie and whispered in French, which I wasn't supposed to hear, that I had "sounded really like C�line there, huh?" Lisa, my friend understands a bit of French too and heard this also. She was grinning at me showing me she understood and that I should be really excited. I know what they meant though.. I mean, I don't sound a thing like C�line when I sing, but maybe the way I sang the song was the same kind of style that C�line sang it. Nevertheless, what a HUGE compliment!
Just after that, someone, Yves I think, shouted out "Group photo!!! Everyone!!" and ushered us down to the end of the room. "Band only!!" The whole band gathered around and everyone else was taking our photos, using their cameras and our cameras�it went on forever. Barnev had his own so he took that pic [the one on the site] and another couple on ours for us. They were brilliant - so much fun!! We laughed so much the whole time. Then it was band only photos, and they had several taken of them. Dominique asked us if we wanted everyone to sign stuff for us, but we felt that that would make us feel a little too like screaming fans, so we said the pictures were more than enough. He, Dominique, knowing that we had all met on the internet asked for each of our e-mail addresses so he could keep in touch (he never has but it was a nice thought!)
The party began to die down, so we all agreed to make a move so that we didn't seem like hangers-on and make a good exit, completely voluntary instead of being rather embarrassingly asked to leave!!� We thanked everyone for being so kind, got lots more kisses and hugs and made our way to the door. Patrick was standing beside the door, and he hadn't spoken much all night - he seemed very quiet and a little depressed, not surprising seeing as his father was ill. Anyway, on the way out the door, I introduced myself, thanked him for having us at the party and told him to take care. He smiled and kissed me on both cheeks and said "likewise, Kirsty", mimicking my Scottish accent. Then, getting a little flustered, I told him to "Give YOUR love to MY father". DOH!! He laughed and I corrected myself and then said goodbye whilst slapping myself on the forehead. They all laughed. We all turned and shouted bye!!! And left. Unescorted, down the stairs, through the main corridors and out the exit we came in. I looked at my watch� we had been in there for 2 � hours!!!! Time had flown!! But we were all extremely happy and very tired, had missed the last tube and decided to splash out on a taxi home, which ended up costing somewhere in the region of �40. But who cares??!?! It was worth every penny�