Photo Credit: Celine Dion for CelebrityABC / CC by 2.0
Ticketmaster hits pause on the sale of Celine Dion tickets after identifying “suspicious activity” that prevented real fans from securing their seats.
Celine Dion’s comeback shows have fans champing at the bit to get tickets, with the Canadian superstar slated to perform 26 shows at the La Defense Arena in Paris this fall and next spring. But Ticketmaster temporarily paused the sale on Thursday due to bots and scalpers slurping up tickets, which drew the ire of frustrated fans.
“Tickets are still available for Celine Dion,” wrote the company on its French socials. “Our technical teams have identified suspicious activities and are actively working to prevent these bad actors from disrupting the sale. We are doing everything possible to restart the queue as quickly as possible. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused and sincerely thank all affected fans for their patience and understanding.”
But many fans were queuing up hours in advance in the hopes of securing tickets to see a rare performance from the legendary Dion. Despite Ticketmaster promising that tickets are still available, the disruption feels too similar to that which affected sales for Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour a couple of years prior. As a result, fans have expressed their anger online.
“Finally got on the site after three-and-a-half hours getting a thousand different messages to be kicked out and back to square one,” wrote one fan on the former Twitter. “Really pathetic.”
“Connected to the site at 9AM, 6,000th in the queue at 10AM, three hours to access the sale, only to finally get ‘The session is not open for sale,’ be kicked off the site… and end up 33,000th in the queue, you are a disgrace!” another wrote.
Given Celine Dion’s diagnosis with a rare neurological condition—Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS)—the singer was previously forced to cancel the remaining dates of her rescheduled tour. As a result, tickets to her newly announced Paris residency feel that much more valuable to her biggest fans, who might not get another chance to see the star perform.
SPS affects only one or two in every million people. It causes muscle spasms, and over time can even lead to torso rigidity and crippling full-body attacks.
“I’m working really hard to build back my strength, but touring can be very difficult even when you’re 100 per cent,” Dion said in a statement at the time.
Dion first announced her diagnosis in December 2022 with a heartfelt video on her Instagram page explaining what she had been going through and how it affects “every aspect” of her daily life.
In 2024, she was the subject of the Prime Video documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, which followed the singer as she coped with her diagnosis. That year, she also spoke of her determination to return to live performance.
“Trying to overcome this autoimmune disorder has been one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I remain determined to one day get back onto the stage and to live as normal of a life as possible.”