With tears in her eyes, Canadian singer Celine Dion (54) turned to her followers on Instagram on Thursday afternoon to publicize her neurological illness. Accordingly, she was diagnosed with "Stiff Person Syndrome", as she explains in a clip. "Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes resulting in difficulty walking and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing in the way I'm used to," Dion continues.
Against this background, she also has to postpone the "Courage Tour" and even cancel some concerts entirely. "Céline Dion is postponing her spring 2023 concerts to 2024 and canceling eight of her summer 2023 concerts," the post read. It continued: "I've struggled with health issues for a long time and it's been really difficult for me to face these challenges and talk about everything I've been through... It pains me to tell you that I will not be ready to resume my tour of Europe in February."
The concert organizer has also spoken out in the meantime. "Céline Dion had already completed the first 52 dates of the Courage World Tour in North America before the pandemic broke out and the tour had to be paused from March 2020," summarizes Semmel Concerts. Since then, a team of doctors has been looking after the artist intensively because of "severe and persistent muscle cramps, which are currently preventing her from performing," the statement continues.
"It pains me to inform you that I will not be able to continue my tour in Europe next February," the artist is quoted as saying. And further: "I miss seeing you all, being on stage and performing for you. I always give 100 percent at my shows, but that's not possible for me at the moment," says Dion. She has no choice but to focus on her health - "and I have hope that I'm on the mend," she says confidently.
As can be seen on the artist's homepage, the spring performances in Germany have new dates:
The Cologne performance in the Lanxess Arena will take place in March 2023 now on March 19, 2924.
Their concert in the Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena, also planned for March 2023, will take place on March 21, 2024.
The performance in Munich (scheduled for March 2023) will be on March 23, 2024 in the Olympiahalle.
And the Hamburg concert (originally March 2023) is scheduled to take place on March 31, 2024 in the Barclays Arena.
The concert planned for February 2023 in Mannheim's SAP Arena will take place on April 2, 2024 instead.
