If Céline Dion decides, at the last minute, not to go on stage this evening, she can call on Séverine Benay, her unofficial double. On the networks, where she calls herself Cévrine Lookalike, the content creator makes a splash by playing back her idol's hits. Blonde hair, flirty eyes, elongated face, glamorous dresses... many Internet users are fooled by this striking resemblance.
“Once, I was with friends in Paris, we wanted to sit on the terrace, but the waitress refused us entry because we had not reserved,” she said in an interview with Le Figaro at the end of August. My boyfriend told me to put on my sunglasses and pretend to be Céline. He went back into the restaurant and said, “You saw who’s with us anyway.” The waitress felt ashamed and gave me the menu. »
Celine Dion concerts should stimulate the activity of hotels, restaurants and transport in the coming weeks, illustrating the growth of tourism where the event sometimes counts more than the destination. At the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, since Monday, a pop-up store dedicated to Céline Dion has attracted the curious. Nicolas, an SNCF employee in uniform, came straight off the train to buy a t-shirt on behalf of a colleague from Marseille. At 125 euros, “it’s not cheap, she’s not excited,” he breathes, sending her photos of the articles dedicated to the singer, who begins her series of sold-out concerts on Saturday.
Pierre Hermé also offers his special Céline Dion assortments: golden boxes of macarons sold for 25 euros for four (compared to 16 euros usual), or 6.25 euros per bite or 425 euros per kilo. An “exclusive creation celebrating the meeting between haute pastry and music” which comes at a high price.
The star's Parisian residence could generate significant spin-offs, whether in the hotel, catering or transport sectors. The momentum has been visible for several weeks on booking platforms, particularly for the weekend of September 25 and 26, where Paris will host both the Pope and one of Celine Dion's concerts. For this period, searches on Airbnb increased by 430% in Courbevoie or 170% in Neuilly-sur-Seine, close to the Plénitude Arena, concert site.
Expected benefits in hundreds of millions of euros
The ten Adagio establishments in La Défense and the surrounding area display an occupancy rate of 80% on concert weekends, compared to 50% last year, indicates the network, which notes a significant international clientele (40%), particularly from Germany or the United States. “Train reservations to Paris have doubled” for next week as part of the concerts, Clément Bretagnolle, commercial director for Trainline, said on Thursday.
According to a Natixis study, the 16 concerts initially scheduled should generate between 570 million and nearly a billion euros in economic benefits in 2026. The positive impact on growth in 2026 is estimated between 0.02 and 0.03 percentage points, according to the study. The MKG Consulting firm mentioned up to 1.2 billion euros. Since then, the singer has announced ten additional dates in 2027.
The arrival of fans from abroad will be particularly scrutinized, Hadrien Camatte, economist for Natixis, explains to AFP. “There is an increase in activity, these people will come to France and spend (...) in segments where normally, it is more of an off season,” he underlines. “There is real European competition to attract this type of concert.”
Welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to Céline Dion's first concert in Paris, two years after the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and six years after her last appearance on stage.
In almost total secrecy, the diva with more than 260 million albums sold continued rehearsals at the Plenitude Arena in La Défense (Nanterre) in preparation for her reunion with the public.
At 58, the native of Charlemagne (Quebec) finds herself facing a major new challenge, after having overcome in 2016 the death of René Angélil, her impresario and the father of her three sons, then the discovery of stiff person syndrome, an incurable neurological disease which has poisoned her life for around twenty years and for which she was only diagnosed in 2022.
Follow the star's big return to the stage with our team of reporters.
