Carey struts her stuff at Trump Taj Mahal
By Vincent Jackson, Press of Atlantic City, August 19, 2006

Love her or hate her, pop singer Mariah Carey's current live show, "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour," gives people plenty to talk about.

Carey performed the first of two shows on Thursday at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, her first appearance here in almost three years. She's back at the Taj tonight.

The vocalist's attire drew immediate attention. Carey, 36, arrived on stage to sing her first song, "It's Like That," in what looked like a black bra, short shorts and a black, see-through cover-up.

Carey's fans love to see her strutting and posing in clothes that cling to her body as if holding on for dear life, but as she closes in on middle age, some may wonder how much longer she'll have those curves to show off.

Even though Carey employs three backup singers, two female and one male, and she can duplicate the vocals from her records in a live setting, not everybody appreciates the bird-like sound she makes when she takes her voice to the top of her range.

For someone known for her vocals, Carey sings no songs in an acoustic setting. Synthesizers and backup singers join her even on ballads.

Carey, the biggest-selling female performer of the 1990s, also wanted the audience to know that people talking behind her back comes as no surprise or shock to her.

A video segment during the show features a handful of women in a ladies room. They say bad things about Carey, like how she thinks she owns the greatest legs in the world, and how they heard she allegedly underwent cosmetic surgery, etc. In the video, Carey emerges from a bathroom stall. She says hello to the women, and they say hello back. Each side pretends that Carey didn't hear what the women said. When Carey leaves the ladies' room, the women mock-sing one of her songs.

Carey's fans can say this video segment shows the down-to-Earth qualities of Carey, how she knows women gossip about her.

The singer's critics can argue that during a 95-minute show this just demonstrates Carey's insecurities. An attractive woman, a five-time Grammy winner, and a multi-millionaire, who transformed herself from someone unknown into one of the most famous vocalists in pop music, why should she care what people say about her?

Carey modified her show to fit the 5,000-seat Mark G. Etess Arena. She usually performs in arenas with 10,000 seats or more. She typically leaves the stage, walks through the crowd, and sings songs from a second stage in the back of the room, but she didn't do that here.

The vocalist's admirers should like this show. Carey sings her biggest hits from her comeback CD, "The Emancipation of Mimi," including "We Belong Together," "Shake It Off" and "Don't Forget About Us" and many of her No. 1 pop hits, including "Vision of Love," "Fantasy," "Always Be My Baby," "Honey" and "Hero." A DJ played old-school and new hip-hop hits to keep the crowd pumped during her several outfit changes. Five video screens provided a great view of the stage to everyone in the arena.

For people thinking of seeing Carey for the first time out of curiosity, this tour may not show off her skills to best effect.

At the end of the night, nonbelievers may feel like they ate at McDonald's for 90 minutes. It was enjoyable while you were doing it, but in retrospect, you could have spent your time better doing something else.