By Frank:
There was a bit of a change for this concert. I thing Mariah was still feeling under the weather from the concert on Thursday but I'll get in to that in a sec.
To start off, they were still strict on the camera deal. They were not even letting anyone bring in a camera phone. So after a patdown from the security and having to put my cell in the car, I got in around 9pm. Hoping that I didn't miss the beginning of the show, I was happy to see that it had not started yet. So I took my seat and the show began around 9:15pm.
She began with "It's Like That," "Heartbreaker" and "Dreamlover." She still looked fabulous and "It's Like That" and "Heartbreaker" were great but by the time she got to "Dreamlover" she seemed exhausted from doing 3 fast-paced songs in a row. I really think whatever she was battling might have gotten the best of her, but like the trooper she is, and not wanting to disappoint she took it in stride. She was trying to get the crowd to sing along and help her out a lot more than the last couple, but when she had to, boy did she hit and carry her notes!
I know I commented about the casino concert crowd on Thursday's show but this crowd was DEAD. When Mariah hit the stage, there was a lady in the row behind me sleeping. WTF SLEEPING?? I don't think she lifted her head till the 5th song. The crowd mostly sat through the whole concert. The 2 people sitting next to me geez... the only reason I knew that they were alive was because they got up and left in the middle of the concert. You shouldn't have come if you weren't going to stay. That's what happens when the casino buys a lot of tix and give them out as comps, you get people that couldn't care less if they were there or not.
Well, Mariah was only on for about 1hr15min. She cut out "Fantasy" and "Make It Happen" and I do believe "One Sweet Day," the bathroom video skit and a whole wardrobe change which sucked 'cause I think that she looks so beautiful in that aqua dress. And Trey Lorenz sang 3 songs instead of his usual 1. By the end of the concert she seemed so exhausted. No Encore. She sang "We Belong Together" as her last song but she was still great! If anyone has a chance to see her live they MUST because even sick she still shows why she has 17 #1s. Well, hope Mariah feels better. She put on a great performance for being sick.
By Paul (Mr. Mom):
I was at both concerts and Saturday's show was way too short. Thursday's was maybe 10 minutes longer. Sorry, it's NOT FAIR for paying that kind of money. I'm not a cheap person and I'm not a stupid person, either. And I've been a dedicated and supportive FAN since Vision of Love. Saturday's was an hour and 10 minutes long and Mariah wasn't on the stage or singing for ten of those minutes.
By Rudy [sprungformc]:
I'm glad we had $175 seats and that I went for the more expensive seats on Thursday instead - they were much more worth it then. But yes, she sounded incredible tonight. She sounded better and looked even better than she did the other night.
Overall, the difference between Saturday and Thursday was that Thursday had One Sweet Day and Can't Let Go snippets and also had full versions of Make It Happen and Fantasy Remix. Saturday didn't have a trace of any of those songs.
By Rob (roberthuss):
I saw Mariah last Friday night in Philadelphia and tonight in Atlantic City. First, let me say that her voice was much better in Atlantic City (although she had a great voice in Philly too - her voice in AC was just better - more high notes, etc).
The first thing is that the stadium she played in AC is much smaller, and her full set does not fit. That's unfortunate because her full set is incredible. People who ONLY saw AC would be disappointed.
Secondly, I am HAPPY to report that there was no pre-show. YAY! I couldn't stand Sean Paul last week in Philly (or could half of the audience who was sitting down and looking like they wished it was over).
The show was scheduled for a 9pm start time, but it started at 9:30pm on the dot. The real shame of it is that she sang about 5 fewer songs in Atlantic City than she did in Philly. There was an entire block of songs missing. In fact, where the Philly show took 90+ minutes (with encores), the AC show was only about 70 minutes with NO encore. It was VERY disappointing.
Seating was also a problem at the Taj. People were moving around and giving themself "free upgrades" as they would say it into open seats. There was very little if any control over the floor seating and people were moving around and then people would show up for the seats, and they would move again.
Also, there were several people smoking in the stadium which made for an unpleasant evening for those around them. Security was VERY strict while entering to ensure no cameras got in. They would not allow any cameras or cell phones with cameras inside. They made you check them and get them after the show. People with cameras in the concert were getting one warning and then they were being KICKED OUT. No joke, I saw two people who took a picture - had security come up to them and warn them - they took another, and they were escorted out. No joke!
All in all, I enjoyed the show tonight. Yes, she did sing Vision of Love! I am just very disappointed that the set list was shorter and we saw about 20 minutes less of her (and no Encore!).
By idoggy:
The show was short and sweet. Her voice was awesome and she did a lot of belting and sounded at ease doing so. She sounded much better than on the Charmbracelet tour (I was at the Caeser's show). Like other people said, the crowd was not into it. My friend, whose family is in the casino business, says the casinos buy a lot of tickets to give out as comps (freebies) to their casino guests, so there were a lot of very old people there, some who left in the middle of the show (I was surrounded by 70 year old couples).
Mariah did not seem to connect with the crowd and visa versa. She sang the hell out of her songs but seemed like she was in a hurry to get on stage (show started very promptly for mariah, many people hadn't even taken their seats yet) and get off (cut out many songs and no encore). When she announced she was going to sing her last song (We Belong Together), everyone started bolting towards the exits, very rude. It must have sucked for her to be up there singing and seeing everybody leaving.
Anyway, my friends, who were not Mariah fans, said the show was awesome. They were surprised at how powerful her voice was and said she gave them goosebumps. So it was still a good show for the general public.
By Two French Sisters Fans:
Here is our review of the 2 shows at the Taj Mahal.
"First of all we want to say thank you so much to you Mariah for these two wonderful nights and these wonderful moments!
We are two french sisters fans and first focused on going to Tunisia 'cause it's more near from us than AC, but when we saw that the so called packages for European fans never came a second show at the Taj Mahal was added, so finally decided to go to AC and we weren't disappointed at all by this 'cause the Mark G. Etess Arena is such an intimate and a beautiful place and so it's really better than a stadium.
It was two magical and wonderful nights.
For all Mariah's haters and especially for the so called fans who seem to be more haters than fans : THE SHOW IS ALL IN LIVE, THERE IS NO PLAYBACK AND THE VOICE OF MARIAH IS WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL MORE THAN EVER !!!!!! Like always she sings more and more beautifully and does more and more things with her voice. And don't tell us about the pre-recorded 'cause saying that you look like totally nasty, crazy and silly, THERE ISN'T ANY PLAYBACK OR PRE-RECORDED, SHE SINGS DIFFERENTLY EVERY NIGHT AND IT'S WONDERFUL.
It was really good to hear and see Mariah like this : FREE, free to do what she wants, sing like she wants. She is here on stage, we can really feel her presence and she sings like she wants, there is a lot of variations and that's so great. It's like for the Rainbow Tour, she looks like having a lot of fun, being, singing on stage and that's wonderful and we are really happy for that. She was here for having a party and she did it for her and all the people who were here.
All the songs were full of emotions, Mariah was really on each song and we were really captured by all songs and carried awway. All the songs she sang sounded better than ever, the old hits, the new hits, and sounded so much better than in the CD.
For the 1st show there was a problem with the sound and hearing this we were stressed for Mariah 'cause they didn't really resolved the problem during the show. But despite of this thing, the show was fabulous and were so happy to be here.
During the 1st show we only saw one Spike Lee short video, it was the one with the poor silly girls, who sing Say Somethin' at the end of the video and it's so funny. So there is a few awful and nasty girls in toilets with miniskirts, silicon ... who are laughing about Mariah in a very bad way, about her legs, how she wears, ... (this reminded us some "so-called fans"), but what they don't know is that Mariah is here and hear all they are saying, Mariah comes out of the toilets and looks at this girls with a big smile in a nice way and these poor girls are here so stupid, Mariah goes out and after the silly girls sing Say Somethin' so wrong and dancing like "we do like Mimi", laughing at her but Mimi doesn't look like ridiculous when she dances in SS video and it isn't the case of these poor girls. These girls were so embarrased when they saw Mariah, but when you think something about someone you aren't embarrased when this person hear all these things, that why this short video make us think of some so-called fans, who always say bad and wrong things about Mariah when she isn't in front of them but when they are in front of her they asked for pics with her and autographs. So the so-called fans, be careful we don't know but perhaps with this, Mariah wants to say "I know what you say about me but not in front of me".
The second show was shorter but even if we were a little sad not hearing some songs we weren't disappointed 'cause like for the precedent show, Mariah was really here and it was wonderful too. We read that a lot of fans were disappointed but we don't think we have to be 'cause it was wonderful and we don't think that the fact it was shorter was scheduled 'cause Trey sang 3 songs (and it was very nice and cool 'cause he is got a wonderful voice, "Merci Trey") and there wasn't an encore and in Tunisia the 2nd show was shorter than the 1st but there was an encore, so we think it wasn't scheduled at all and we think to be disappointed isn't a good thing 'cause we never what happen behind the stage so ... !!!!!
So it were 2 wonderful nights, full of emotions, we were really happy to be there and really happy to see Mariah like this, free to do what she wants, it's so good and nice to see you like this Mariah. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH. and more you were really here with the audience even if a big part of the audience wasn't really here and wasn't really on.
And we really really really really hope that you will come in Europe and especially in Paris for this tour 'cause we already miss you and need to see you again.
BIG THANK YOU TO YOU MARIAH. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR BEING HERE AND BEING YOU AND GIVING SO MUCH TO US. THANK YOU.
We also wanna say a BIG THANK YOU to all the staff :
- the dancers, Rachel (you're so nice and a wonderful dancer and choreographer, thank you, we love you. We are really sorry for you dad and we think of you a lot), Michelle, Eddie, Earl, Russell and Brian.
- the backsingers, Trey (MERCI for singing 3 songs during the second show, we were really happy to here you and we hope to find your CD in France), Maryann and Sherry,
- the band members
- the staff, Michael Richardson, Mark Sudack, Darrell Clark (Smile please, Darrell), Rob Payne and all the others ...
- and the last but not least : Jack, you are so cute, it was the first time we saw you in real and we find you sooooo cuuuute, we hope to see you soon and hope you will win the Regis & Kelly contest this time 'cause you really deserve it.
We hope to see you all in Paris very soon, we already miss you all and Mariah you can't imagine how much we already miss you, thank you so very much one more time, we hope to see you very very soon in Paris for your tour. Lot of kisses with a lot of love.
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