Opening Act: Sean Paul

01. It's Like That
02. Heartbreaker
03. Dreamlover
04. My All
05. Shake It Off
06.Stay The Night
07. Fly Like a Bird
08. I'll Be There

---"B" Stage:
09. Fantasy
10. Your Girl (Snippet)
11. Always Be My Baby
---End "B" Stage

12. Honey
13. Don't Forget About Us
14. I Wish You Knew (Snippet)
15. Hero

---Encore:
16. We Belong Together
17. Butterfly Reprise

From Albany Times Union: Carey hits the notes, but concert needs a tuneup

And lo, The Voice did deign to make an appearance, finally, at the Pepsi Arena on Friday night, an hour after the opening act had finished. And lo, The Voice was good. At times, The Voice was great -- soaring, passionate, magnificent in its range and acrobatics.

Mariah Carey still has a marvelous instrument. And if she's never met a note that she didn't want to filigree or use as a multi-octave launching pad, well, she does it better than anyone. You can't hold the flourishes against her by now. (Her negative influence on all those "American Idol" auditionees is a bone to pick another time.)

At the Pepsi, as part of her "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour" tour, Carey stormed through "Fly Like a Bird," which spent almost two months at the top of the R&B charts. She caressed the ballad "My Heart," from her smash-selling "Butterfly" album. "Fantasy," done from a midfloor secondary stage as a duet with a videoscreen version of Ol' Dirty Bastard, funked long and hard. And her duet on the Jackson 5 tune "I'll Be There," sung with Trey Lorenz, with whom she recorded it, was loose and lovely. (Lorenz got a few moments of his own, too, including a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" that rightly riled up the arena.)

But, really, between the unnecessary diva elements -- putting on sunglasses is a costume change? -- and the frequent waits, the concert entertained merely as much as it aggravated. Carey's breathiness seemed more frequent and annoying than her bravura vocal work, especially in songs like "Shake It Off." Worse, the drippy insipidities of her lyrics proved wearing throughout.

Finally, you'd think that Carey, at 36, more than a decade and a half into her career, would be better at stage patter than this effort at a song introduction: "Um, so, yeah -- I love you back. And I'm not just saying that, too. What I wanted to tell you is that I'm going to do a song -- well, how do I tell the story different? Well, um, anyway, here goes."

Jamaican dancehall sensation Sean Paul, accompanied by seven musicians, four singers and his own undulant pelvis, opened the show with 45 minutes of infectious, head-nodding reggae rhythms. He could have done with fewer exhortations that "the lay-deez" in the crowd should "make some noyyyy-ze," but his feel-good grooves more than compensated. And his sentiments seemed heartfelt, if crude, when he said, "Everybody who wants peace, make some (freakin') noise!" Why one of the backup singers did a strip routine before standing on her head is anybody's guess.

MARIAH CAREY with Sean Paul
Performance reviewed: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Pepsi Arena, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany
Length: Carey, 90 minutes; Paul, 45 minutes
Highlights: Carey's sultry, soaring ballad "My Heart" and her six sexy dancers, who kept things entertaining when she left the stage to, for example, put on sunglasses; Sean Paul's island-bouncy "I'm Still in Love With You"
The crowd: About 7,000, fervent and diverse.

By Jenna Gilliland:
Mariah did an amazing show tonight. Unfortunately, she didn't sing some songs I wanted to hear, like Vision of Love, Thank God I Found You Remix, or Make it Happen. But she did Stay the Night, and a snippet of Your Girl.

I was kinda disappointed that she doesn't use the little videos anymore, like the girls in the bathroom scene. Those sounded like fun. Trey sounded great, the DJ pumped the crowd, and Sean Paul did a good job at vamping the crowd before the show. Sean Paul came on at 8, and Mariah around 9:40 or so. Her high notes were flawless!

By Riah's Rob:
I just wanted to give a quick review of the show last night. Mariah sounded and looked so Hot Tamale last night...she had super straight hair. She did "Your Girl" on B-stage after "Fantasy" and "Don't Forget About Us" on the main stage after "Honey." She said she was mixing it up a little and that that was the second time that she did "Your Girl" live. She put some lip gloss on during a song and threw it into the audience and said, "Now you know that's 'hot' lip gloss." LOL! 5 outfit changes which were all hot on her body.

Trey was so good during "Crazy." It was a night I'll never forget. Met some nice fellow lambs outside waiting to see her leave. They were a little bit difficult inside with the pictures being taken and made me throw out my signs which other people had inside so I was kinda upset she didn't get to read my one sign that said, "I Wanna JoyRide With You Mariah" and I didn't get to use my sign for Trey either. I was lucky because Mariah spent a good portion of the show infront of me. I was 4th row center stage. Any lamb that hasn't gone to a show yet... oh my god, GO !!!!!!!!!!!

By mimifan460:
Last night was the best night of my life! I traveled about 2 and a half hours to see my hero, Mariah Carey. The concert was amazing! First, Sean Paul came out and sang for awhile. We had to wait quite a bit to see Mariah after that, but at 9:40, Mariah took the stage. I don't remember the entire setlist, but she opened up with "It's Like That" and "Heartbreaker."

My seats were pretty good, but they were a lot better than I thought. Mariah sang "Fantasy" a snippet of "Your Girl", and "Always Be My Baby" on a smaller stage RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!!!!!!!!!! I was waving and screaming, "I love you, Mariah" so much I'm sure the bouncers and Mariah thought I was insane! While she was on, according to my dad, Mariah smiled and waved and pointed straight at me! OMG, wow!

When Mariah returned to the big stage, she sang "Hero" and "Don't Forget About Us." When Mimi left the stage, the audience started screaming: "Mariah! Mariah! Mariah!" After screaming, Mariah came out and sang "We Belong Together" and a bit of "Butterfly".

The whole concert was amazing. Mariah's outfits were gorgeous, and her voice was fantastic. That was one beautiful night I'm sure I will never forget.

By Pedro Hernandez:
I went to Mimi's show in Albany on the 1st and the show was awesome! I was so excited that I had the chance to see Mariah live. She looked beautiful and her voice was out of this world! I love the way she took things at a very intimate way when she talked to us lambs in the crowd.

She was so cute when she tossed her lip gloss in the crowd and said, "That's some hot stuff there." My favorite song she sang was the snippet of "I Wish You Knew" which she sang with such a passion. At one point when she used the B stage for some of the songs she was standing less then 5 feet away from me!!! And that's when she said hi to me which made my night.

Overall the show was incredible and I'm proud to say that it was my first concert ever, and the one I will remember for the rest of my life. Thank you Mimi for making me part of your "Adventure."