Céline Dion Headbanged to Metallica at the Sphere. Jack Black Was the Quiet One
Dion went to two Metallica shows in Las Vegas in three nights, played air guitar to 'Enter Sandman' and got three black hearts from the band.
By the Heckle Desk · · 2 min read
Céline Dion went to see Metallica at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Nov. 7 with her twin sons, and footage shows her throwing her arms up, playing air guitar and headbanging along to 'Enter Sandman.' A few seats away was Jack Black, who was also headbanging, as Rolling Stone put it, like his life depended on it. This was Dion's second Metallica show that week. Two nights earlier she went viral for playing air bass. Metallica answered her post with three black hearts, which, for Metallica, is practically a wedding proposal.
I want to point out that of the two people in that row, the one known for the quiet ballads was louder. Jack Black has built a career, a band and a Kung Fu Panda franchise on the idea that rock is the most important thing in the world. Céline Dion has built a career on hitting a note so long that the ship sinks before she's done. Put them side by side and it's Black who looks like the backup singer.
It also settles a question nobody had the nerve to ask: what does Céline Dion do on a night off in Las Vegas, a city where she spent more than a decade in residency? Apparently, she goes to watch someone else's residency and shows up the crowd. That's a professional courtesy, the way a retired cop can't eat in a diner without checking the exits. She's sizing up the room.
And Metallica, the band that once took Napster to court over its fans' downloads, now trades hearts with a Canadian balladeer. If you'd told a 1986 metalhead that this is where the whole thing ends up, he'd have thrown his Walkman into a lake. But that's what happens to every rebellion. Wait long enough and it gets a residency, a gift shop and a Céline Dion.
Here's the nice part, the part I'll allow myself. Two famous people, nowhere near their own stages, losing their minds to a band they like, in public, without anybody's publicist arranging it. That's as rare in Vegas as a winning hand. Most celebrities go to concerts to be seen. These two went to see. The heart will go on, they say. Turns out it also bangs.