I can't help but laugh and shake my head over this Celine Dion kerfuffle. The cancellation of her Halifax concert is degenerating into a "Halifax said, Celine said" mudslinging match that is making all parties involved look bad. Who comes out worse? In my view, the city, its media, and some of its more obnoxious residents. There was a Facebook group that pseudo-lamented they couldn't just kill her to prevent her from coming here to perform. The radio stations and newspapers mocked her endlessly. And the HRM itself now has seen two major events pulled off the table that could have given it the image of being an A-list Canadian destination (the other was, of course, the 2014 Commonwealth Games). As for Celine, it's simply a cancelled date (before tickets even went on sale) and another one of those things that people will use as evidence of her "diva behaviour," whatever that may mean.
It's bad enough that many major acts don't come here already. There have been a lot of big-time world tours/North American tours in the past few years and Halifax has had barely any of them. Yeah the Stones came. Yeah Bryan Adams came (good Canadian boy). Who else that will be relevant in 3 years? Slim pickings. People that already don't come here have no incentive to come, and those who may consider it will be discouraged. Good work, Haligonians!
All of this said, I'm not a Celine Dion fan. I wouldn't have paid to attend her show. I wouldn't have needed to since the Common is right across the street. I may have closed the windows if she did come. But there's thousands of people who would enjoy the show. Those folks no longer get that chance, and that kind of sucks for them. But hey, now all the negative nellies can crow about their great victory. Remember that though when your favourite band doesn't come here during their tour.
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