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Fan Reviews
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Fan Reviews (Top)
Review by Jason
I flew all the way from Vancouver, Canada to see Mariah in Vegas as well. I just got back from there and so I am a bit late to email you.
All I want to say is that i had a GREAT time at the concert, and Mariah was just amazing. To all the haters who think that she cannot hit the high notes, sing live, or belt it like Christina or Kelly Clarkson, they should go to her show.... She was simply amazing! And I really like the fact that it was in a theater, and I did enjoy it a lot better than the Rainbow tour.
Of course, the high light of the show was when I met Mariah with Juan and other fans in front of the theater after hours of waiting... She was really nice, and when I told her that I flew all the way from Canada to see her and that her music means a lot to me, she smiled at me and said "thank you for coming down.. I hope you enjoyed the show!" I was soooo happy and told Juan that I could die the next day... hehehehe Oh and also, Sam, who ran up stage to sing "I'll be there" with Mariah was there with us, too.
All I can say is that, Mariah is really nice to her fans, and she always made time for us. I hope the other fans can enjoy the tour as much as I did.
Review by Zondee
I am very critical when evaluating Mariah's voice and I just came back from the concert and she was magnificent. Her voice was in perfect form. She sang better than her t.v. performances. She hit a lot of high notes in full voice and held her notes long like she used to in mostly all her songs. She sounded like when she did the MSG concert in 1995. I was very impressed that I am going to see her again in LA. Her voice was in good tune, it sounded kind of high she really couldn't hit her low notes.
She sounded fabolous when she was introducing her band mates by singing and displaying her talents in singing jazz style. She did lipsync a little bit in certain songs--all in when she performed "Fantasy", last part of "Honey", and few parts in "Subtle Invitation" mostly in the end, "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" ending and in "Clown", and I think that was about it.
She sang really good with Trey in "I'll Be There" with a lot of soul. The ballad that was chosen for the night through the internet deal was "Can't Take That Away".. where she was excellent, no lipsyncing...she received an outstanding ovation. She wore a really beautiful white dress when she performed "Subtle Invitation" and "I'll Be There". Busta Rhymes did not show up.
On the whole, her voice was superb....the old Mariah was back. She did not sing "You Got Me" and she did not have an opening act. What was odd for me as well was that there were a lot of older conservative people that attended. Not many people were dancing when the fast songs were on.
Her voice sounded really sweet on "Hero" - the last song. She did amazing with "Always Be My Baby", hitting those high notes at the end... she really didn't hold back with her songs she really hit those high note that she usually changes to a lower note when she performs most of the time.
She was very humble and sweet...a fan ran up to the stage during her "I'll Be There" performance and started singing. The security didn't even stop him...Trey lorenz was tripping outby Mariah was cool with it and gave him a hug and let him sing a line (which was horrible) ...he was wearing a honey b fly shirt. After the concert, fans were yelling out her name on our way out.
Can't wait to see her in LA. GO MARIAH!!!
Some Notes by Jonny (via Phone, thanks Lani!)
* Some information on the songs she performed:
Mariah didn't cut the 2nd verse of "Always Be My Baby" like she did in some previous concerts.
She sang "Vision of Love" in addition to the chosen song "Can't Take That Away".
During "Make It Happen", she went into the "Don't let go, don't ever ever let go" part.
She sang "My All" and did a bit of the dance remix with "feel your body".
She did "Subtle Invitation" on the swing and on the piano (which had pink butterflies on it).
* Instead of an opening act, she had a video montage that was introducing her.
* Jimmy's shirt said "J.Lo Sucks" all over it. He was sitting in the 3rd row, and during "Honey", Mariah pointed at it and started laughing.
* A display during "Clown" read 'marionette show' and the letter E on it was written backwards, like in Eminem's album covers.
Review by Andrew Sandoval
On my way to the Collosium at Caesars Palace, anxiety was building up. My insides were totally cold and my outsides were burning up. As hard as I tried, I could not wipe the smile off my face. A double rainbow was in the distance, and I knew it was a good sign.
When I arrived to the collosium, a line had already formed. I read the guidelines and realized I would not be able to take my poster in that I had worked so hard on. There was a table on the side that said artist gifts and I decided to leave it there.
An usher came out the door to let us know cameras and recorders of any kind would not be allowed into the building. She also said all six doors would be opened up. Hearing that, I moved as fast as I could to an empty door. I was the first one into my door and I went through the metal detector with no problem at all. Then, when I got to the area where they were scanning tickets, terror struck. The door man said the ticket reader read "relocate guest." I didn't exactly know what it meant and was very upset.
A woman led me to a desk where two other girls were that had the same problem. I asked them what was going on and they said not to get my hopes up, but apparently Mariah was very upset because the seats the casino sold Honey B Fly members were not very good and because the way the stage was set up, they were going to relocate us to row aa. At that moment, I was very excited. When I got my new ticket, it showed that I was located at front row center.
I bought all of my merchandise and then was lead to my seat. We kept hearing talk that Mariah would be coming down a ramp.
When the concert started, it was all true. Mariah came down the ramp between Orchestra 5 and Orchestra 4, the area where I was located. She was singing "Heartbreaker" and she started to make her way in front of me. We all reached out our hands and she shook them all. When she got to me my mouth was wide open, my body was trembling and all she did was shook my hand and smiled. Then she continued to sing.
By the sound of her voice, she had been resting for quite a while. She hit every note on key.
Even though the whole show was great, the best song, as far as performance goes, was "Bringin on the Heartbreak." She sang it with power and the guitarist was awsome. He continued to play as she went back stage to prepare for "Fantasy."
When Mariah got to singing "Always Be My Baby", I finally made eye contact and blew her a kiss. She gave me a very flirtatious wink in return and after that I was flying.
From "Make it Happen" to the very end of the show, everyone was standing and cheering as loud as they could. Mariah is truly a star and a terrific performer. I will definitely be happy sending $35 to Honey B Fly next year.
I would like to thank Mariah and Honey B Fly for relocating me to front row and for also making my dream come true.
Journalist Reviews (Top)
Review by Roger Friedman (Fox News)
Mariah's Vegas Gamble Pays Off
I had a feeling this was going to be something special. I was right.
Mariah Carey kicked off her American tour Saturday night at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace, the same place where Celine Dion is installed as the regular performer, and she hit a grand-slam home run.
With a controlled, powerful belting instrument of a voice, Carey put to rest all past intimations of stage fright or uncertainty. Her one-hour, forty-five minute performance of her hit songs — in front of a sold out to the last seat room — was so confident I almost couldn’t believe she was the same person.
Carey’s choice of this "intimate" — all terms being relative, the Colosseum seats about 4,000 — setting, reflects (besides a tough summer for selling tickets) a real sensibility about her spectacular voice.
She is front and center for most of the show, with about a dozen dancers and backup singers discreetly interwoven into the action. But unlike some other young divettes who cover their lack of singing ability with stage traffic, Carey is out there by herself.
She rarely uses one of those new-fangled headset microphones. Instead she grips her hand mike as if it were a baseball bat while she commandingly sings every one of her hits — from "Dreamlover" to "Vision of Love" to the Jackson 5’s "I’ll Be There" — with heretofore unknown authority. Who knew she could do it? And who knew she could do it wearing a series of skimpy micro-miniskirts that show off hard-as-rock thighs worthy of the Valkyries?
Carey’s Vegas show marked her return to the U.S. after a month in Asia preparing the show and fine-tuning it. The plan worked. She made her entrance on a set that’s designed like a sunken living room in a hip Paris apartment or a very cool Starbucks. There are couches and easy chairs scattered about, and the sensibility is intimate, fairly unglitzy elegance. The singers and dancers are scattered about as if they were Mariah’s pals who’d dropped by to hang out with her.
In fact, there were times — even when Carey wears a Marilyn Monroe-inspired gold lame gown or a feathery full-length Roberto Cavalli number — that you feel you’ve wandered either into Loretta Young’s old TV show or a Broadway offering by a new, undiscovered talent.
The other good news is that Carey — whose voice was in top condition thanks to a two-day rest — has dropped about 95 percent of the melismatic yodeling that afflicted many of her records in the late 1990s. Her voice — again which many thought might have lost its power or tone — is strong and she’s using it with much more control. She’s hitting the notes dead-on and letting them blossom. The result is you feel like you’re listening to her great debut album, before the gimmickry set in.
A few times during the show she sips some herbal tea, which has some kind of soothing effect on her instrument.
Now, if you don’t believe me, I can tell you that Carey had two guests in the audience who are much harsher judges. Her sometime producer, Randy Jackson, the American Idol judge who is newly slimmed down after gastric bypass surgery, was one. But OK, he’s a judge, but he also works for Carey so he can’t be considered totally objective about his raving over the show.
The other guest, though, was unknown to everyone until she visited Carey backstage afterwards: Nancy Wilson, the legendary jazz and blues singer, who’s seen it all, nearly pushed an entire room of waiting fans aside to meet Mariah. She gushed, and when she left, Carey — wearing a butterfly print dress — called to everyone in the room: "Uh Hello? That was Nancy Wilson!"
And so to the show: Many of the songs from her so-so selling album Charmbracelet are included, and they work better than you might think. The ballad "Through the Rain" gains a lot of energy in this minimal setting because Carey doesn’t push it. The gospel number "My Saving Grace," which others might have done with a fully costumed, over-the-top choir, is performed with amazing restraint.
Carey also has to deal with the audience, which was very mixed in age and race but also included a number of her devoted, shall we say "extreme," fans. There were even a few Carey imitators, and they were not women. (Mariah, who is tall, inspires this, I guess.)
Because there is no orchestra pit at the Colosseum, a group of these hardy fanatics was able to stand very near the stage during the show. They sang along with every song, having memorized all the lyrics (and that’s no small feat considering a preponderance of them are no moon-June-spoon but missives about "self-empowerment").
During a terrific duet with Trey Lorenz on the old Jackson 5 hit, "I’ll Be There," one of this group — a young Asian man from San Francisco named Sam — took Carey’s offer to sing along too seriously and jumped on stage. The surprise of it didn’t faze her — Mariah played along with amazing aplomb — although Lorenz looked a little shocked. He said into the open mike, "I don’t know about this, fans coming on stage." Luckily Sam was harmless but something tells me this won’t be happening again anytime soon.
Two numbers in the show refer vaguely to Carey’s problems with her ex-husband, former Sony chief Tommy Mottola. One, a new song called "Clown," is positioned in a circus setting, with calliope music as the introduction. While Carey sings from the side, business-suited actors on stilts with sinister "Nixon" masks perform a tug-of-war with a female puppet on strings. This is actually called "The Marionette Show" and is as subtle as a flying mallet.
Carey also shows, on a screen during a costume change, the video for her song "Honey." This is the "James Bond" video in which she’s held hostage by a Mottola look-alike and his thugs, then breaks free and is rescued by a hunk on a jet ski. Only the first part, with the Mottola imitator, is shown, but you get the message.
After the show, a member of Carey’s entourage told me an enlightening story from Mariah’s "TM" days, which is how she refers to her ex. "He took her to Rao’s [the famous and exclusive Italian bistro in East Harlem where you can’t get a table]. Paul Anka was there. TM said, 'It’s Paul Anka!' He’d never met him. And Mariah, who was pretty young, had never heard of him. Tommy couldn’t believe it. He got up, went over to Anka, and said: ‘This is Mariah Carey! She’s never heard of you! Can you believe it?’ It was humiliating."
When the show is finally over, and Mariah’s sung her signature song "Vision of Love" and the fan favorite "Hero," the work is not over. I watched while she posed for pictures with countless numbers of fans, including members of her "Honey Bear" fan club, with not only incredible patience but also enthusiasm.
She is not cynical about these lines of supporters who come with scrapbooks they bring to her as gifts. To be provocative I asked her during a two-second break: "Why don’t you just kick them out and say good night? You just sang for two hours. I can’t believe you’re not throwing a diva fit."
Mariah (who in platform shoes trains her head slightly down toward me, and I’m five foot ten) narrowed her eyes. "I know," she sighed, "it’s so boring. Why don’t you say that I ran around and pulled all these pictures off the wall? It’s terrible being normal."
Carey heads next to Chicago for a Tuesday night show and then on through the U.S. She winds up at Radio City Music Hall on Sept. 26, where the long knives of New York's entertainment writers (me included) will no doubt be sharpened and out for blood. But what a disappointment Mariah's arrival will be for them! Whoever thought she'd get the last laugh? Certainly not me.
Review by Timothy McDarrah (Las Vegas Sun)
Carey carries
If one looked at Mariah Carey's Saturday night show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace as a bid for her own Celine Dion-style Vegas extravaganza, she did well.
Like Celine, Mariah sang a song while suspended high above the stage. Like Celine, Mariah was joined onstage by generally extraneous people, some dressed as circus performers. Like Celine, Mariah can really belt out a song.
Also like Celine, the media takes its shots at Mariah, but she chooses to focus on the love shown by her rabid fans -- and there was plenty of that. One man in a Honey B. Fly shirt -- that's Carey's official fan club -- bum-rushed the stage, but wanted only to stand near her and profess his love, which he did.
Carey shooed security away and asked the fan his name, which was Sam. She immediately started quoting Dr. Seuss, the whole "Sam I Am" thing. The capacity crowd exploded at her impromptu act.
Carey's voice was not at its usual strength; after most songs she'd sip from a cup and tell the crowd, "Little tea, little tea." But her fans hardly cared.
It was Carey's first show on the U.S. leg of her "Charmbracelet" world tour, and she said from the stage that she was glad to be back on familiar turf. She entered the hall like a boxer, coming down the center aisle, singing to the folks sitting on the aisle as she passed.
She had the crowd at "Hello."
Review by Doug Elfman (Las Vegas Review Journal)
What: Mariah Carey
When: Saturday
Where: Caesars Palace
Attendance: 4,100 (sold out)
Grade: B
Pop singer kicks off first U.S. tour in three years at Colosseum
Pop-diva concerts are all about the visuals. So, Cher rides a fake elephant on her "farewell" tour. Christina Aguilera beefs up her "Stripped" tour with a guy who, duh, strips.
And Mariah Carey's new tour du jour looks like a Barbie doll has dressed up for a ball but has gone tiptoeing onto the stage of a hip-hop Cirque du Soleil show. It is, as the phrase goes, ghetto fabulous.
I know that sounds bizarre because it looked bizarre on Saturday, when Carey kicked off her first U.S. tour in three years at the outstanding Colosseum, which Caesars Palace built for pop-diva Celine Dion.
Here are images from Saturday's glamtacular:
Carey wore eight form-fitting costumes that shrink-wrapped her hourglass figure. One short-short dress sparkled pink. Later, a pink glitter top matched her pigtails. Carey is 32.
The butterfly is Carey's logo (it symbolizes her Peter Pan flight away from a world of meanie-pies), so she wore a butterfly ring. And there were stickers of pink butterflies stuck to a grand piano.
Eleven dancers lounged around and sometimes danced, not so originally, in hip-hop circus wear, like the guy in a Lakers jersey wearing a long, yellow necktie, and the dude in the sparkly top hat.
Five very good band members could have passed for street-basketball players, wearing sports jerseys and complicated hair rows.
Stage settings, and large-screen videos, gave nods to the film "Moulin Rouge" and to Cirque du Soleil shows: chaise lounges, circus platforms and a windmill.
The happy Barbie theme fit Carey's personality the best. Long ago, she gave her inner, playful child a forever hug, and she hasn't let go.
Her album titles read like answers to the quiz-show category of "things you see in a nursery" -- "Music Box," "Butterfly," "Glitter," "Rainbow" and "Charmbracelet."
But she also did the adult thing on Saturday. A few times, she rotated her hips and thighs suggestively, but not smoothly, as if she doesn't employ these motions much when she's off stage.
Beyond the imagery, it was a concert, of course. Carey sang new songs and pop hits from the past decade: "Daydreamer," "I'll Be There," "Fantasy," "Always Be My Baby," "Make It Happen," "Vision of Love" and "Hero."
Carey's songs were similar to each other. They were inspirational, midtempo singles bearing hip-hop rhythms toned down for the masses. Her five-octave voice was full. Like Aguilera, Carey is a rare pop singer; she can outbelt her four, gospel-capable, backup singers.
Speaking of the stronger-voiced Aguilera, both she and Carey have been made fun of, publicly, by rapper Eminem, because Eminem gains fame by making fun of women he has known. Aguilera didn't address Eminem on her tour here.
But Carey sang "Clown" about him. During the song, two men wore white-guy-executive masks, stood on stilts and used ropes to control a dancer in a big Eminem wig, marionette-style. Fans cheered loudly when she sang of the "Clown," that, essentially, he is a stupidhead.
Carey gave fans talking points. "The vibrance is quite invigorating." "This next song is about survival and perseverance and all those kinds of things." And, "This is another one of those inspirational songs."
Carey's got a great voice. Her songs are catchy. Some are quite good. Sometimes, she goes too far. She still turns the word, "all," in "Vision of Love," into a gymnastics routine of at least 10 syllables. But she puts her talent to fair use.
Maybe Carey's girlie nature dips into infantilism at times. But it doesn't feel calculated. The validation of her shallow personae is that her big smile seems genuine.
Meet & Greet Reviews (Top)
Review by Juan
Last night was an evening that I will never forget. The show was amazing; this was Mariah's best performance ever. Mariah is a sweetheart. My favorite performance was when she performed "Bringing on the Heartbreak." I love the way she did it. It was just like the Music video. Mariah danced a lot in this tour. She shaked her booty a lot (that was really nice.) Something really funny happened when she was performing "I'll be there," at the end of the song she was telling us to help her sing the song. Some guy named Sammy ran into the stage and started singing. Mariah just gave him the Microphone. Then Sammy went back to his Seat then Mariah was like " What's your name?" Mariah took him back on stage. It was really funny, Then Mariah Just introduced herself to Sammy. Mariah also told Sammy "Good job." After this little Incident happened Mariah's Bodyguards got right in front of Sammy's Seat. I can't wait till I see her in Denver on August 10, 2003. By the way Mariah Was 30 minutes late. The show was supposed to begin at 8:00pm, but she went on stage at 8:30pm.
Anyways here is where the real story begins. After the show we were told to meet in the Theater lobby. That's where you were supposed to meet if you had backstage passes. Anyways they took us backstage at 11:00pm. I was very disappointed. I don't even know why do they even bother taking us backstage. Everyone is so mean. Her Security guards were really mean. Even her fan club people were so mean (marc.) Anyways when they took us where Mariah was they told us no Pictures or Autographs. I was like what the hell I have the Fan Bracelet to give to Mariah. We were only With Mariah for like 30 seconds it was in and out. We just got a Group picture taken with Mariah, and that was it. After they take the picture they escorted us out. We had no Contact with Mariah whatsoever. Anyways After we took the picture with Mariah I grabbed the Fan Bracelet. And I ran to where Mariah was. I was like "Mariah here is your Charmbracelet", she did not hear me the first time but she heard me the second time. When I reached to give it to her, one of her security guards grabbed my hand. Mariah reached out for her Fan bracelet. When she reached out for it," she said thank you so much. I love you" Then she looked at the cover and smiled at me. Then one of her guards was going to take it away from her. But she said no this is my Charmbracelet. She knew about the project. I was so happy I was able to hand her the book. Lambs I know Mariah will not receive all of the books. I was so lucky I was able to hand it to her. It was not the way I thought it would be. What matters to me was that she did get the book. All of the fans where Up set it was not the way we though it would be. We thought we were going to be able to take at least one picture with Mariah. We also though we were going to be able to have a Conversation with her.
After the Meet and Greet, Four lambs and myself decided to hang out in the main entrance of the Theater. I thought something was going to happen because, there was like 4 hotel Security Guards just looking at us and Talking on their radios. We waited for like an hour. Then an hour later Mariah comes out. She was heading to a restaurant around the corner from the Theater. We said hi to Mariah, She was so nice. Her Security Guards where holding her hands so she was not able to Sign Autographs. Me and my three other hands. Were running after Mariah. We were talking to Mariah while taking so many pictures of her. When Mariah went into the Restaurant, We tried to go inside. We wanted to eat dinner there too. Unfortunately they were closed, they were only open for Mariah, and her people. Mariah took about and hour and 30 minutes to eat. When she came back out. She passed right in front of me I asked if I could please have an Autograph and she said yes. She Signed My tour took. I also told her "Mariah ill see you in Denver in a few weeks" she responded by saying "I'll see you there." Anyways we Chased Mariah all the way to the main entrance of the hotel rooms. She was so nice to everyone. Mariah looks like a Barbie doll in person. When people saw Mariah Walking in the Casino they would Freak out. Everyone was running after her, I felt bad for her.
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