Bevy of big acts ready for winter gigs

A deluge of stadium-sized concerts by big name foreign artists will make landfall in Korea this winter. Canadian pop diva Celine Dion makes her second visit to Korea March 18 and 19, performing her new album “Taking Chances” at Olympic Park. Dion’s at the start of a year-long world tour, “Taking Chances Tour.”
Born in Quebec, Dion gained international fame in the French-speaking world in the 1980s, winning the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.
Despite a three-year hiatus starting in 1999 when her husband battled cancer, she returned to the music scene in 2002 with “A New Day Has Come.” The same-titled concert in Las Vegas, which ran for four years and nine months ― 717 shows ― combined dance, music and visual effects. Three million people saw the spectacle.
Dion’s Seoul concert, organized by Jamie King, who has directed tours for Madonna and Christina Aguilera, is expected to match the glitz and drama of A New Day Has Come.
American rock band Maroon Five makes its debut in Seoul at Olympic Park on March 7. Their first album, “Songs about Jane,” released in June 2002 was the band’s most successful, selling 10 million copies worldwide. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with sales of 20,000 copies in Korea.
Not only that, it earned the band two Grammy Awards, one for Best Artist in 2005 and the other for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal on the track “This Love.” The band’s other well-known singles include “Harder to Breathe” and “She Will Be Loved.” In May 2007 they released their new album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” which has followed the success of Songs about Jane.
Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork brings “The Volta Tour” to Korea on Feb. 16. Her album, “Volta,” which was released last year, is her usual cocktail of electronic, pop, alternative rock, jazz and folk.
Volta ranked high on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, French Albums Chart and the U.K. Albums Chart.
Bjork is known equally for her music videos, visually rich concerts and ability to transcend styles and eras.
Nana Mouskouri, the 73-year-old French pop diva from Greece famous for singles “Over and Over,” “Try to Remember” and “Amazing Grace,” is coming to Korea.
The multilingual singer ― she can croon in English, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish ― will play at Seoul Central City Millennium Hall on Jan. 20, Seongnam Arts Center in Gyeongi Province on Jan. 22, Cultural Center for Students in Daegu on Jan. 24, Seongsan Arts Hall in Changwon on Jan. 25 and Busan KBS on Jan. 26.
She plans to hold one more special charity concert for the citizens of Taean, following the devastating oil spill there.
Mouskouri is a goodwill ambassador for Unicef. Part of the proceeds from her concerts slated for last July were supposed go to Unicef, but the concert was canceled because the singer was ill.

By Jung Hyun-mok JoongAng Ilbo [estyle@joongang.co.kr]