The night I had been waiting for for 2 weeks (as soon as I found out that Celine was giving me and other Columbine kids free tickets) had finally arrived. Not only was I going to see Celine perform tonight, I was also getting to see the inaugural opening of the Pepsi Center which cost 180M to build. There was also a rumor coming from my victims advocate that I was going to get to meet Celine at a ‘meet and greet’ either before or after the concert. We (my aunt, myself and grandma) arrived to park, and we somehow got in without paying the parking fee of 10 dollars. My aunt took that as an omen of a good night.

We got to the will call window to pick up our tickets, and when she found out I was part of the Columbine group, she gave us our tickets told us and to wait in the lobby for her to take us to our front row seats. I couldn’t believe it!! FRONT ROW!!! I started to think that the rumors of getting to meet her were actually true. Slowly but surely, Lance (Kirklin), Pat(rick) (Ireland), Anne Marie (Hochalter), Brian (Anderson), Mark (Taylor) Mrs. Nielsen and others arrived. The lady took us to our seats and that’s when I found out…. I was getting meet Celine!!!! I couldn’t contain my excitement for very long and became real hyper.

The opening act (Corey Hart) came and went. The lady came back to tell us that when Celine was done that we were to wait at our seats and they would take us to the ‘meet and greet.’ About 15 minutes later, the lights dimmed and the crowd started to roar. Out of one side of the stands came Celine’s drummers, back up singers, and guitar players etc… and they walked right past us. Right behind them was the Columbine Blue Choir, and a children’s choir, (all holding either a lily or white rose) who were getting to sing the song ‘Let’s Talk About Love’ with her at the beginning. We waited and waited…. and up she came, through the stage floor on a heart shaped stage. The crowd went nuts and they sang the song.

After the song was over, she said she wanted to ‘talk about something serious.’ She went on to say that ‘this town has had a great tragedy happen 5 months ago….’ And then a women from the crowd shouted, ‘WE LOVE YOU COLUMBINE!!!’ Celine continued on to say ‘these brave young people are with us tonight’ and BAM!!… the spotlight was put on us and the crowd of 20,000 gave us a standing ovation for over 2 minutes. That’s when I lost it and started crying because I was finally seeing the support we have from the whole town, country and world.

All the while, Celine was on stage with her hand over her heart and her eyes closed. After the crowd quieted down, her band started to play ‘Friend Of Mine’ and she came down from the stage to us. She came over and shook our hands, and then went back. At that time the choir left and they handed their flower that they had been carrying to us. A little girl from the children’s choir gave me a white rose and shook my hand. She was so cute and this caused me to cry even more.

The concert went on without a hitch, and she performed many of the songs on the ‘Lets Talk About Love’ album and a few others including ‘Because You Loved Me’ and ‘Saturday Night Fever’. As she was getting ready to leave and say goodnight, I realized she hadn’t played MHWGO yet. The crowd realized this too and started a roar that was deafening. Then that’s when I heard it…. Titanic soundtrack music and the crowd went nuts.

On the big screens they showed Titanic clips from the music video and when I saw the scene of Kate staring back at Leo when she is in the lifeboat I yelled, ‘GO KATE!!!!!!!!’ Celine rose up out of the floor again, in a pink dress similar to the one Gwynith Paltrow wore to the Oscars this year. One end of the stage had a mock Titanic bow set up. Right as she went to sing the final ballad ending of the song, she ran over to the railing and went ‘you’re here, there’s nothing I fear…’ and there was a wind machine going that was blowing her hair.

After the song was over and the concert was truly over this time, she came back over to us to give us hugs. Right then I could have died and gone to heaven. I was on cloud nine.

After the crowd diminished, we went upstairs to the ‘meet and greet’ that was taking place in the restaurant/lounge. There was food and a band to dance to. It was unbelievable. All of us from Columbine made a beeline to the dance floor and were dancing like crazy. Then Celine showed up with her husband René to sign autographs. The paper and TV people were EVERYWHERE. I got her autograph and picture taken with her.

After that was done, we all gathered in a circle on a dance floor for an announcement René and Celine had. The owner of the Avalanche (Pierre LaCroix) described how he was friends with René and Celine, and how he got them there to perform tonight. Then Celine stepped up with the microphone and her and René gave us a check for 500,000 dollars…. her salary for doing tonight’s show. We all lost it and I went over and said ‘Oh thank you Celine!! Oh I think I’m going to cry again!’ she gave me a hug ‘Hey it’s ok…’

Then the press asked if Celine would pose for a picture with us, so we all squished together (me in the front on the floor) and they took the picture with me grinning from ear to ear. Her and René soon left after that, and the partying and dancing continued. Even Mr. DeAngelis (our principal) was out there busting a move too. We all had so much fun and we had to call it a night at 1am and go home. A night we all will never forget. Thank you Celine. Thank you.