Celine Dion announces European shows planned for this year will be postponed to 2022

Singer Celine Dion performs during her first World Tour show called Courage at the Videotron Centre, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Quebec City. The European dates of her tour have been postponed to 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

MONTREAL — Celine Dion announced on Wednesday that the first dates for her shows in Europe on her world tour titled "Courage" have been postponed until 2022.

European dates previously scheduled from March 19 to June 16 of this year are postponed from May 25 to Sept. 24, 2022.

The tour of 24 European cities will begin in Birmingham, UK, and end in Paris.

In a brief video posted to Twitter, the Quebec diva explained it's still not safe enough to hold shows during the pandemic.

Dion nevertheless expressed her optimism, highlighting the arrival of vaccines to protect against the coronavirus. She also promised her admirers that the lost time will be made up for in 2022.

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2021.