|
Fan Reviews
Journalist Reviews
Meet & Greet Reviews
Fan Reviews (Top)
Review by Jeramiah
The show started with a video of buildings, and the sky-line of any major U.S. city, playing to the song Looking In. When the video went off, Da Brat ran on the stage, and did the rap at the beginning of the Heartbreaker Remix and ran back off once she was done. Then Mariah emerged from the back of the theater, singing the first verse. Halfway through the first chorus, the song switched from the to the original Heartbreaker (the way it did on MTV‘s Through the Rain Special). She made her way through the hysterical crowd, and onto the stage without missing a single beat. When she got onstage, a dancer dressed as the ring-master pretending to paint a portrait of her, and a troupe of dancers pretended to be paparazzi. Snapping pictures of her, as she struck numerous poses, to the jumpy beat.
When the Heartbreaker/Heartbreaker remix medley was over , the crowd stood on their feet, waiting for the next song. Mariah said hello to L.A. and said she was excited to be performing for us tonight. Mariah introduced Dreamlover, and everyone stood on their feet clapping, while Mariah dance with the male dancers. During the line, "Someone to comfort and hold me", one of the dancers put his arms around her, and she continued to play along. She hit all the right notes, and even hit the high note towards the end of the song.
Then she introduced Through The Rain, by saying this is a song about perseverance. And an oversized red lounge chair was pulled onstage, and Mariah sat down. During the first 2 songs the crowd stood on their feet, but as Mariah took a seat, so did the crowd. Before starting the song, she grabbed a glass of "herbal tea", she told the audience that it might look a glass of wine, but it’s a special tea, made to soothe her throat. She sang T.T.R more amazing than I’ve ever heard it before, and right before second chorus, she hit the high note again, and the crowd went wild.
After Through The Rain, she got up from the chair and said this is a song from Butterfly, and introduced My All. Then the guitar riff came on, and she delivered line after line of the spicy ballad, re-working a few of it’s ad-libs, to make the song sound more emotional. There were dancers off to the side, slow dancing, and when she left the stage, the My All (Classic Club Mix) rang through the speakers, giving the dancers, and back-up singers a chance to hold their own weight. Lots of people got up and started dancing along.
Mariah came back out in a dark dress, that shimmered gold in the light. Large circus props were added to the stage, and Mariah sat on one of them (I don’t know what it’s called, but if you’ve ever been to a circus, it’s that round thing that the elephant stands on). Then the opening riff to Clown came on. As Mariah sang the first verse, a female dancer, complete with clown outfit a curly blond wig and mic in hand showed up, and pretended to perform for the audience. Then men on stilts, with Nixon masks came out and started pulling her around, by the stretchy material attached to her clothes, and a third guy came out and held a marionette thingy over her head. All while tears with dollars sings in them rolled down the screen, I actually felt kind of bad for her, but I had no remorse for the actual clown (and we all know what his name is)!
Then, Mariah said, "For those of you who don’t know -through my website, the fans can go and vote for the 1 song they want to hear for each night of the tour, and this song’s been winning for quite a while now, and I think it’s one of my best songs, lyrically" and she introduced Mariah’s theme, and the crowd went crazy. She sang it the way she did on Divas Live 2000, but she added a couple more ad-libs, and at the end of the show got on her knees and belted out the last few lines of the song, everyone stood to their feet and applauded. After the song she left again, and they closed the black curtains.
Then the beginning of the Honey video came on and the crowd went ballistic! On the Part where she exited the pool, after fleeing from her kidnappers, a couple of male dancers ran onstage, with these long metal pipes in their hands, and the did a fight sequence to the beat of the song, then when the verse finally started, Mariah entered the stage wearing a tight blue oriental minidress, with white butterflies on it. The dress was a little short, but it showed off her long legs, half way through the song they played Mase’s rap, on the video screens, while Mariah and her dancers did some dance steps in the center of the stage. After the performance Mariah jetted backstage to switch ensembles one more time.
A few seconds later I Know What You Want played on the video screens. They instrumental in the beginning played for about a minute and they played extra footage of Mariah and Busta from the video shoot, while female dancers were dancing on the stairs, this part of the show was very entertaining, and although Mariah wasn’t on stage, the entire audience was on their feet, watching the action. When the song came on it started from Busta and Rah Digga’s verse, then Mariah came out in a Harley Davidson top, a pink visor, and cut-off denim shorts. She sang the chorus, and the bridge, but she didn’t whisper, she did them in her full-voice, and it sounded incredible. Then she stuck around for a split second, to show of her moves. She isn’t the best dancer, but she was winding her hips, like a girl from a Sean Paul video! She can really move her body, and I was very impressed. Then she walked off stage, and the dancers took over for the last verse, which was actually the first verse, but they played it last.
When the song was over, the black curtains opened up again, revealing only a white curtain. Then Subtle Invitation started playing. Everyone was like where’s Mariah, then the white curtain came down and there was M, right in the middle, she had on a white tube top dress, and a pair of clear high heels. During the first chorus of Subtle Invitation, she was lowered to the piano (Which had yellow glittering butterfly stickers on the side, but sometimes, they change the colors). When she got on top of the piano it was only the second verse, but she was belting out the words, because she had a "Britney" mic, and I think she wanted us to know that she was really singing. At the bridge, she flipped her hair back in a seductive way and the crowd went crazy! At the last chorus, she hopped off the piano, and starting running around belting out "If ya really need me baby, reeeee reach babe , don’t ever hesitate to call me" and, "Yay Yeeeaah, if you’re listening to me babay, like you used to, before I even knew you," she hit all the right notes, and I loved it, it was probably the best performance of the night!
Then she introduced My Saving Grace, as her life story put to words, and she belted the end of the song, and I was one the few people standing up in my row, but I didn’t care, because I came to have a good time, and nothing & no one was going stop me! Mariah looked so sincere while she was singing it, and they was a sad picture display playing on the video screens. I don’t really listen to this song, but when I heard it live I was really touched and I cried at the very end. Please don’t tell anyone, because it’ll ruin my "hardcore" reputation, but it’s a really meaningful and spiritual song, and it comes across better, when performed live.
Then everyone stood to there feet & clapped, then Mariah began to introduce the band, while they were playing a slow jazzy song. She said each of their names, and sung doo-be-doo-doo-doop every now and then. Then she said a few lines about each member of the band. When she got to the guy one the keyboard (Eric Daniels), she said, when I sing he tries to go lower than me, then they had a little stand-off, but Mariah vocals beat the keyboard every time! Then she got to the guitarist (Vernon "Ice" Black) and he had a short jam session before she moved on to the back-up singers.
So she introduced her back-up singers by saying they are the best, and insisting that no one can beat them at what they do! First she introduced Takeytha Johnson, and she just smiled and said hi, you could tell she was a little shy. Then she got to got to Sherry, and introduced her to the audience, and told a little story about skinny heifers trying to steal her man, then Mariah told her to sing their theme song, so she sang the chorus to Nivea & Jagged Edge‘s Don’t Mess With My Man . After that, Mariah introduced Mary-Ann who gave the crowd a sample of her vocal ability by doing a little ad-lib to the music, then she moved on to Trey Lorenz, and she was like, for those of you who did know, this is my good friend Trey Lorenz, but we all like to call him "Big Nasty". Then Mariah was like tell them why we call you Big Nasty, and in a low deep voice, Trey answered, "because I‘m big, and I‘m nasty" and the crowd went wild!
After introducing the on-stage crew, Mariah and Trey walked to the front of the stage, and she said This next song was made popular by the Jackson 5, but they and I sung re-made it when we were just teenagers, then the opening riff to I’ll Be There came on, and they sang the song together. Half way through the song Trey put his arm around Mariah’s waist as he as they sung to one another. Then Mariah went backstage again, and left Trey there. He talked to the crowd a little bit, then he introduced his own song (Friend of Mine), and to my surprise, some of the people in the audience actually knew the song! But I noticed that he kept going to there corner of the stage, and while he was there, he sung to Cali Lamb most of the time. Then towards the end of the performance he got the three female back-up singers to sing little parts of the song, and each of them blew the crowd away with their jaw-dropping voices, Mariah was right, they can "sang", lol.
After Big Nasty & the Chocolate Éclairs finished their number, Mariah came back out and performed Bringin’ On The Heartbreak. Once again, she changed outfits. This time around, she wore Latin-inspired burgundy dress, like the one she wore in the video. When she hit the high notes towards the end of the song, she grabbed onto the microphone, and dipped towards the ground, and the whole performance sent chills up and down my spine. She hit every single note, and added a few extra ad-libs at the end. Then Vernon "Ice" Black came out with his guitar and jammed with Mariah for a minute, then she went backstage, as he finished his guitar solo.
A moments later, the Fantasy (remix) video played on the screen, and the crowd went wild when Old Dirty Bastard’s intro came on. Meanwhile, on the stage, the dancers were pulling around black segmented walls, with lighted butterflies on them around the stage. No one knew where Mariah was, but when it came time for her verse to start the butterfly pullies were moved to the sides and Mariah was sitting in the middle of the stage on a chair. This time she was dressed a blue tank, with a pink crown in the center that read --- princess (I couldn‘t make out the first word!), and she had a pink track shorts, with dark pink trim. She performed the opening lines by herself, then a couple of the dancers joined into the chair routine halfway through the song‘s first chorus. Someone said it was lip-sung, but I don’t it because between each line you could hear Mariah breathing on the microphone.
Then she introduced Always Be My Baby, and the crowd went bananas again! I think this was the favorite song for a majority of the attendees, because almost the entire room was singing along! She sang to the crowd, too. I think it was during this performance that she pointed out MARIAHbest, and told the audience that she came all the way from Japan to see her! Towards the end of the song, the dancers threw about 10 beach balls into the audience, and people kept throwing back onstage, so Mariah was running around the stage singing, and kicking around beach balls at the same time, it really showed many people her playful side.
When the song was over she started talking about how much fun she was having, and how special the fans were to her, but people were still throwing the beach balls onstage! so eventually she said, I’m going to stop fooling around with these beach balls, because they’re messing up my dialogue. For some reason I remembered the camera in my underwear during this time, so I took a few pix, but there was staff at the end of each staircase, and one of them spotted the flash, so I only took about two more pictures, then I put my camera away again.
After that performance there was a short pause, and all the props were removed from the stage. Mariah introduced the Gospel-tinged up-tempo track, Make It Happen, and the crowd started cheering her on once more. During the performance Mariah sung the strong lines of the song in the center of the stage, while her dancers stood behind her on the stairway, and clapped in unison, like the choir on the Divas Live Performance. At the bridge of the song Mariah closed her eyes, opened her arms, and did a slow spin, as if she was taken in all the energy, and the dancers came down from the stairway, and lined up on either side of her, as she delivered the lines, "Don‘t let go, don‘t never ever let go". After this performance they all held hands and took a bow, and Mariah said good bye to L.A. This performance was one of the shows high points for me.
I knew there was three more songs left, but I was waiting for a few people to leave after Mariah said good bye (So I could move closer to the stage). But not a single person in the entire place got up! Somehow they all knew that the show wasn’t over. It only took Mariah about a minute to get back onstage. She changed from the sporty outfit, into this beautiful tan colored gown with a tail made of ostrich feathers, she looked absolutely beautiful! She came back through the top of the staircase and walked to the microphone. Everyone was standing up, but no one said a word. And When they first little note from Vision of Love rang through the theater, the crowd went into a frenzy! It was amazing to see people who still enjoy good music! As we all know V.O.L. is vocal roller coaster, and with this performance Mariah has proved to me that she still has the voice that got her to the top!
Then she introduced Hero, and everyone got into the "Hug your neighbor " mood. Even people who showed no emotion during the show stood on their feet, and took in the performance! As she sang Hero, it was like a wave of calmness came over the entire audience, and everyone was swaying from left to right, and everyone was all teary-eyed, it was a truly mesmerizing moment, seeing 5,000 people swaying from left to right, in perfect harmony is something that I will never forget! Near the end of the song she walked through the crowd, and they went hysterical. When Hero was over, Butterfly came on, but she didn’t sing the song, she just said good night once again and that was the end of a truly amazing concert!
Review by Jae
Well it was another magnificent show by a magnificent artist. I had already seen the show earlier on Monday, and knew what to expect, so the only thing to wait for now was the meet and greet. I'd bought a lamb to give Mariah, along with a special project we absolutely needed to present to her, hoping we'd have just enough time to do so. Armed with a camera stuck in my pants, a large sunflower, my lamb and my tour book, I was ready to go.
We sat by some wonderful fans, and they were so fun; one girl was seeing Mariah for the first time and she was so excited, it was too cute, and these guys we met brought a stalk of sunflowers to give to Mariah. My friend Kelly had gone with me and her goal for the night was to meet Trey.
The show started, and Da Brat flew through the curtains singing her thing for the opening of Heartbreaker, then Mariah came through the crowds at the back of the theater, people went crazy, she was sooo beautiful! The songs went on, and Mariah conquered each and every one, singing each note perfectly, sounding like a recorded track. Who ever said Mariah couldn't sing live just got their butt dragged through the dirt. She was so cute, her little antics throughout the show just charming everyone in the audience, with her swaying hips, butt shaking, and the occasional tea-sip. Then Roque came out and touched her up a bit, and she announced that it was just a "tad bit excessive."
Later Mariah talked a little to the audience, and acknowledged two girls that came all the way from Japan to see her! (I know, crazy people). But the girls had won the meet and greet and when we meet later on they are just too sweet.
After Mariah does the introductions, Trey sings a little song while Mariah goes backstage to change, and he ran to the side of the stage where we were sitting, Kelly was the only one in our section standing and screaming for him, he pointed at her and sang to her. She was ecstatic. All the people sitting around us were like, "go get your man!"
While I was trying to click a picture of Mariah, a man came up to me and told me to put it away or I'd have to check my camera, which was a lot nicer than on Monday, when they were taking cameras left and right, no questions asked. So I crammed the camera into my pocket, and didn't bring it out until later.
Finally while Mariah was singing Always Be My Baby, the guy sitting by us ran up to the stage and handed her the flowers, and he ran up and down the aisles screaming and getting high fives from everyone, he was just too cute! We were all happy for him.
The show came to an end, and Mariah did the line up with the entire cast and they did their bows, then everyone disappeared. Well, being the true Mariah fans that we all are, we know Mariah never does a show without doing Hero, so we knew we could expect her back. And of course, she arose wearing this interesting little number of feathers and nylon, and sang Vision of Love, then Hero, walking through the crowd and taking presents from people. She said goodnight, and the magic was almost over.
Journalist Reviews (Top)
Review by Phil Gallo (Variety)
Mariah Carey
None of the music in Mariah Carey's 100-minute show is particularly enthralling or extraordinary, but the fact that she has assembled a well-designed and well-paced show that emphasizes the beauty of her voice is nothing short of remarkable. When she was on top of the world -- pre-"Glitter" -- Carey's L.A. perf was a train wreck; she was as unfocused as the overblown show. Current tour is the first indication in her 14-year career that she can succeed as a live act.
By keeping it light and simple -- and wisely getting her bearings straight in theaters rather than arenas, where the Charmbracelet tour was originally routed -- Carey alternates between glamorous and playful, inspirational and reflective. It's a family show in many ways, with sets inspired by Paris' Moulin Rouge, the circus and the night sky. The dancers, nine of them, fill the stage with moves and fashions that are more "Rent" than risque.
And as much as Carey's latest disc, "Charmbracelet," veers deeper into hip-hop than most of her previous work, current show stays grounded in her trademark pop. In her version of Def Leppard's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," she uncharacteristically ventures into arena rock, a move that's about as far afield as she can go.
Even with six costume changes -- all of her wardrobe shows off her well-toned body -- the emphasis remains on her voice. Portions of raps and instrumentation are obviously prerecorded, but when Carey lets it rip, it's all her: Strong and assured, she's able to climb octaves with grace and never slips into the vibrato that so many of her contemporaries overuse.
Few artists have fallen from the mountaintop like Carey: a much publicized divorce after a high-profile marriage; public displays of instability; being dropped by two labels; and the release of a movie, "Glitter," that needed "Gigli" to exist to prove there could be worse.
She wants the fans to know she's all right. Nearly all the songs Carey performs reflect on a positive state of mind and her will to persevere -- eventually one has to wonder if she gets her lyrics from self-empowerment books and Cosmopolitan articles. "Through the Rain," "My Own," "Can't Take That Away" -- those form half the Mariah story, leaving the other half to love songs -- "Dreamlover," "Subtle Invitation," "Always Be My Baby."
Carey performs Sept. 18 at Radio City Music Hall.
Review by Chris Gardner (Hollywood Reporter)
Mariah Carries On
Mariah Carey was riding high last week after she completed two shows at the Universal Amphitheater near Hollywood.
"It was a very feisty crowd tonight," Carey said Thursday, perched on a velvet couch in her dressing room after the second night. "Monday night was a fun crowd as well, so I was expecting more of an industry crowd tonight, and I was pleasantly surprised. Even though there were some industry people here, there were still so many real fans that it was a great show -- it didn't feel so corporate."
The songbird was in the midst of her first U.S. tour in three years (with 11 dates left to go), and thanks to the scaled-back settings, she couldn't be happier.
"I am having so much more fun onstage this time around because of the combination of being able to do the old songs, showcasing the new material and the energy of the audience," said Carey, who had just been belting out everything from "Hero" to "Honey" for ticket-holders including Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland, "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson and Prince, who also caught a piece of Monday's show.
"This particular tour, being in the more intimate venues, does something different to me as an artist and as a performer, rather than being in a vacuous arena," said Carey, who scrapped initial plans for a more elaborate tour partly because of weak demand. "I can see people in row 15 singing the lyrics to an obscure album cut and see people with fan club shirts 20 rows back -- that makes me feel good."
So what does Carey think of all the star-making television vehicles such as "Idol" or "American Juniors?"
"Randy keeps me abreast of all those things," she said. "You know, whatever works. For this moment, those things are popular, so that's cool. I'm fine with that."
Carey was also upbeat about the upcoming release of "Mariah Carey -- The Remixes," a dance and workout double CD from her former label Sony.
"You get all the hip-hop versions, like 'Heartbreaker" with Missy (Elliott) and Brat and 'Thank God I Found You' with Nas and Joe, 'Honey' the So-So Def remix, but then there all the house versions with people like Junior (Vasquez)," she said. "All those records bring back memories, but they are still good today and I've always wanted to do a remix album."
Meet & Greet Reviews (Top)
Review by Jae
Everyone left and we went to the designated waiting spot for the meet and greet winners, and I noticed that there was a lot of people there, compared to how many fans should have won for HBF. I later found out that some of those people were radio winners, and some were just people trying to sneak in without passes. I wasn't happy about the radio winners, I thought this had been an exclusive thing for HBF members, but oh well, I was meeting Mariah! So we were moved into a tent outside with food and drinks, and waited for Mariah. Waited, and waited, and waited. Mariah had to do some interviews. Mind you the show was over at 11p. I noticed a young girl talking to some other fans, and I realized that Belle was there, and she just looked so adorable, I got a picture of her. She is so sweet and gracious, Mariah is definitely rubbing off on her. Then later Mary Ann came out and took a few pictures, I clicked one of her as well. Kelly was waiting for Trey, clutching a little letter for him and wanting a picture with him, but he wasn't coming out. Finally, Roque came out and people were clicking pictures of him, and Kelly noticed Trey! She nabbed him, took a picture and talked with him for a minute or two, then he signed her hat. She had her moment.
We waited longer, I met another really sweet fan that was so excited about meeting Mariah, and we talked for awhile, then Isabel, the woman who runs the Good Morning Lambs radio show came around and was interviewing people for the show. She was the sweetest person in the world, a true Mariah fan. We stood around and discussed our different projects and how MonarC is screwing us over, and kept on waiting.
We kept on waiting for Mariah, and at 1am she still hadn't shown. They started to line us up, HBF members on one side, Radio winners on the other. They let the HBF members in first, and we got towards the back, hoping we'd have a little more time to present our project to her. I think they ended up doing three groups of HBF members, or they put more than 10 people in the first group, because when it was our turn, there were only like 6 of us. The bodyguard gave us some last minute instructions, no pictures, no hugs, one autograph.
Well, I was getting my hug no matter what the man said, so when we first got in there and Mariah approached us, I asked for my hug and I got it! I told her she was the best! She was soo great! She looked absolutely perfect, except the stage make-up had been a bit excessive.
One girl shared with Mariah about how Mariah had helped her through some tough times and it was really touching. Then we took the picture and we starting getting things signed. Kelly was motioning for me to move in, and I called back "I'm working it, girl!" Mariah turned her head to me and smiled. I noticed Louise McNally and waved to her, and Mariah's publisher, Cindi Berger laughed.
Some girls left, and I got in front of Mariah and got my tour book signed, and while Mariah was signing, I presented our project, which was really Kelly's idea, I'm just helping and organizing.
(The project will remain disclosed until we hear from Mariah's people, but its a biggie!) I told her it was a gift Mariah's fans wanted to give to her because we think she truly deserved it, and we loved her, but that unfortunately, MonarC had not been cooperative in helping us on our journey. She looked up and pointed to one guy, saying "this the MonarC guy, why haven't I heard about this?" She seemed almost irritated, probably being tired and such, and he saved his butt so he wouldn't look bad in front of his boss by saying "I haven't heard anything about this" and took the papers.
I'm hoping Mariah gets them back, but at least she knows about it now and can ask for them. I told her again that we want to do it for her and that we all love her, and I stole another hug, moving in without really giving her an option to say no, then I was pushed out of the room quickly. I can't remember everything verbatim, but I remember telling her I loved her and looking into her eyes, and the way she felt when I hugged her, and that's most important. Of course, I forgot to give her the lamb, so I had the bodyguard thrown it into the pile for me. Isabel had a beautiful CharmBracelet for Mariah that her sister had made, the charms on the bracelet were little picture frames, and each frame held a picture of Mariah's family members. I wasn't there when she received it, but she seemed very happy, she was like, "Awww its my family!" I guess the radio people weren't allowed a picture, just a chance autograph, because a few minutes after we were out, Mariah was leaving. We waved at her limo and screamed we loved her, and she was gone. We got out of there around 2am. It was a magical night, thanks so much to Mariah and HBF, Mariah I know you were tired, but it means a lot to us that you took the time to meet us, and we love you forever! We're going to Make It Happen with this project, thanks to HBF for helping us out!
|
