THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI TOUR
THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI TOUR!
Once upon a time, in a little world that was very black and white and money ruled, lived a little girl who was both black and white, very poor and very, very lonely. Most kids thought she didn’t fit in and the grownups, well they didn’t really get her either. One day the little girl was feeling so sad and so terribly misunderstood she ran into the yard, sat on her swing and cried as she watched a miraculous sunset. Through the tears. She whispered her worries to the only living soul who understood her. Her kitty cat Clarence. She said, "Clarence, when I grow up I promise I’m nver going to forget this feeling. I’m always going to remember what it feels like to not fit in and be misunderstood." Who knows if Clarence was listening? But that Mariah Carey kept her promise. That mixed and mixed up little girl grew up to be a superhero of sorts, mesmerizing millions with her song writing prowess and a legendary five-octave range, becoming, in short, one of the most beloved and best-selling artists of her time. Years later, and after many retellings, Clarence and that little girl have been forgotten by the rest of the world. Mariah’s life has often been recast as a "rags to riches" story - with a few highly public stumbles - on her way to fortune and fame. But those of us who know her, know that fairy tales don’t necessarily end with "happy ever after", that princess can be damsels in distress and that castles and prisons can turn out to be one and the same.
The real source of her superpowers is that misunderstood little girl who became both her muse and her memory. She is the part of Mariah that allows her music to heal that lonely frightened misunderstood child in all of us. A child leads her ministry. And she keeps her sane too. She’s the one who reminds her to choose friends who love to laugh and ride roller coasters, to stop the tour bus and take in the beauty of sunbeams breaking through storm clouds, that finds butterflies magical and the joy in being a girl. Her name is Mimi and these are her adventures.
THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI - D.C. 01. It's Like That
Venue: Verizon Center
City/State: Washington, D.C.
Event Dates: September 7, 2006
Gross Sales: $839,643
Attend / Capacity: 12,121 / 14,199 (85.4%)
Prices: $125 - $19.50
Mariah performed in Washington, DC at the Verizon Center on Thursday, September 7th. The show was sold out and the crowd was extremely enthusiastic.
Setlist:
02. Heartbreaker
03. Dreamlover
04. My All
05. Shake It Off
06.Vision of Love
07. Fly Like a Bird
08. I'll Be There
-- Begin "B" Stage
09. Fantasy
10. Don't Forget About Us
11. Always Be My Baby
--End "B" Stage
12. Honey
13. I Wish You Knew (Snippet)
14. Can't Let Go (Snippet)
15. One Sweet Day (Snippet) with Trey
16. Hero
---Encore:
17. We Belong Together
18. Butterfly Reprise
01. It's Like That |
MARIAH'S ENTRANCES
Mariah Carey is not the most kinetic of live performers. The pop diva with the glass-shattering voice doesn't really dance, and she doesn't race around the stage -- preferring to take dainty, deliberate steps in her designer stilettos. And who can blame her? It can't be easy keeping your balance on heels so high that they look like knitting needles.
Mostly, then, the movement is limited to Carey's vocal acrobatics -- and there were plenty during her concert at Verizon Center on Thursday. Though she's been showing off a more breathy style in recent years, Carey still has a propensity for taking off on runs that sound like a boiling teakettle with perfect pitch.
"Dreamlover" even opened with Carey playing the role of wailing soul, as she unleashed a series of piercing, whistle-register notes before swooping back down to alto- and soprano-range normalcy. (The song also had her playing another role, for which she wore spangly black undies and a matching bra, a chiffon boudoir robe scarcely covering her back. Later adding sunglasses to the outfit, she resembled an incognito Frederick's of Hollywood model.)
Still, Carey somehow managed to cover quite a bit of ground during the show. Of course, most of it was the ground leading backstage, but who's counting? Oh, right: Us!
Carey exited stage right a half-dozen times during her 90-minute concert, sometimes for just a minute or two but also for lengthier periods that usually signaled a costume change. (Total outfit count: five.) Some of the breaks dragged on long enough for a deejay to spin parts of at least two dozen hit rap and R&B records as a hype man barked about taking it back (Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison"), waaaaay back (Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' ").
The frequent strolls backstage repeatedly derailed the concert's momentum, which was a shame since Carey was in such fine voice; no longer an emotionless vocal technician, she even sounded like a credibly gritty soul singer during an inspired reading of her first hit, 1990's "Vision of Love." Ultimately, though, the walk-offs did her in: When Carey left the stage, yet again, after a powerhouse performance of her soaring (if saccharine) ballad "Hero," the crowd cheered briefly, then turned nearly silent -- not realizing that it was time to call Carey back for an encore.
It took flashing stage lights to prompt the audience, and eventually Carey returned to sing "We Belong Together," the biggest hit from her enormously successful comeback CD, "The Emancipation of Mimi."
One of the best-selling titles of 2005, the album reestablished Carey, 36, as a bona fide hitmaker after a series of artistic misfires and a very public meltdown. Thus, this is very much a triumphal tour. The show opens with a video of Carey saying that if whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, then, well, gosh, she's really strong -- apparently to the point that she can even turn references to her failures into symbolic celebrations. The concert here closed with two confetti guns spraying the crowd with . . . glitter! "Glitter," of course, being the title of Carey's semi-autobiographical movie and an accompanying album, both of which were tremendous, potentially career-killing flops.
Carey didn't exactly gloat about her return to A-list status, however, and she never fully indulged her inner diva. Not even when the stage lights came back up prematurely between songs while the star was dabbing her glistening face with a tissue. "You caught me," she said with a giggle. If anything, Carey seemed charmingly awkward, coming across as a regular gal blessed with an exceptional voice. She may have 17 No. 1 singles, but she's still just Mariah from the block. Or, as it were: Mimi from the block, as she performed 2005's "Shake It Off" in front of Broadway lights that spelled out her alter ego's name.
The song married a pop vocal to a hip-hop beat -- a formula Carey first started using more than a decade ago on hits including "Fantasy." She performed that tune here as a virtual duet with the late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, who rather creepily delivered his vocal from the grave. Several living rappers also appeared via canned studio tracks, including Jay-Z on "Heartbreaker," as Carey loaded the set with hip-hop-infused material.
But she didn't exactly ignore the ballads and, in fact, the highlight of the show was a fiery cover of "I'll Be There," the Jackson 5 tune that Carey originally recorded 14 years ago during a live MTV special. The song was performed as a duet with one of Carey's backup singers, Trey Lorenz, who spent most of the show seated on a stool at the back of the split-level stage. He couldn't sit still for the entire show, however: Lorenz disappeared backstage before the song, precisely so that he might make a dramatic entrance moments later. Mariah's kind of move, without the high heels.
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DIVA CAREY STILL LEARNING HOW TO PUT ON A SHOW
Over the two-tier stage stood a giant, ivory "M" flashing shades of red and blue. There was a grand staircase to the left, a huge neon, block-lettered sign that spelled out the singer's nickname: Mimi. Even Carey's mike stand glittered.
And such a spectacle wouldn't be complete without a troupe of limber, gyrating dancers. (Carey had six in all.) Her seven-piece band, which included the famed DJ Clue, was tight and high-powered. So with all of these superstar stage trappings, a multiplatinum career spanning 16 years and a behind-the-scenes reputation for being a demanding businesswoman, why did Carey come off as a diva with training wheels for most of the show? She seemed so tentative, breezing through several of her songs and disappearing backstage for long stretches to change costumes. (She did this five times.)
Well, we have to cut her a little slack. Although Carey has garnered envious commercial success since the start of her career in 1990 (she has scored 17 No. 1 hits, the most of any female pop performer), the New York-born singer-songwriter has never really gotten around to establishing herself as a concert draw. And her current world tour, The Adventures of Mimi, feels belated. It's in support of her latest album, the calculated but memorable The Emancipation of Mimi, which sold more than 6 million copies and was the biggest-selling CD of last year. Granted, she currently has a No. 1 hit on R&B radio, the gospel-touched "Fly Like a Bird." But it still feels as if the gaudy, wailing songstress has lost some momentum.
All of that doesn't really matter, though. Carey is out there working hard to ingratiate herself with her fans, even if it seems the world-renowned pop veteran is still learning to put on a show.
The concert's first half was dominated by the hip-hop flavor she has been blending into her substance-free pop formula for nearly a decade.
Wearing what looked like a shimmering black bra and panties set with a sheer duster and spike heels, Carey opened with "It's Like That," the Jermaine Dupri-produced club burner from her latest album. During the performance, the singer preened and pranced around and did a few very simple dance moves. (She may have an amazing vocal instrument, but Carey certainly wasn't blessed with rhythm.)
That segued into one of her most hip-hopped songs, 1999's "Heartbreaker," during which the 'hood-rat female rapper Da Brat made one of two dismissible cameos. Carey mentioned several times between songs that the two were the best of friends. She also graciously shared the spotlight with another pal, the lame R&B vocalist and longtime Carey collaborator Trey Lorenz. The two gushingly revisited their 1992 remake of the Jackson 5's ever charming "I'll Be There." Afterward, Carey disappeared while Lorenz did a mini-set of Luther Vandross classics ("Never Too Much" and "A House is Not a Home") and an overwrought take of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."
With fun mixes of old-school R&B and hip-hop cuts with a little reggae and go-go thrown in, DJ Clue kept the near-capacity crowd up and dancing during Carey's long costume changes. For the second half of the nearly 90-minute show, she settled into her early schmaltzy pop diva image, replete with flowing, tight-fitting (and unflattering) gowns. This was the segment where Carey could have worked even more of her "vocal magic" because the distracting troupe of dancers was gone. Instead, she opted for an anti-climactic medley of such wail-fest ballads as "Can't Let Go" and "One Sweet Day." She did, however, give full treatment to one of her more touching self-penned tunes, "Hero."
Then Carey predictably ended with the dramatic ballad "We Belong Together," last year's biggest pop single. Her exit was quick as a shower of purple metallic confetti fell on the house.
BOXSCORES Setlist: Opening Act: Sean Paul A GREATFUL MARIAH CAREY PLAYS PHILIPS ARENA SOURCE: THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION PHOTOS:
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THE ADVENTURES OF MIMI TOUR
August 5 - Miami, FL
American Airlines Arena
August 7 - Tampa, FL
St. Pete's Times Forum
August 9 - Atlanta, GA
Phillips Arena
August 11 - Philadelphia, PA
Wachovia Center
August 13 - Toronto, ON
Air Canada Centre
August 15 - Montreal, QC
Bell Centre
August 17 - Atlantic City, NJ
Taj Mahal
August 21 - Boston, MA
TD Banknorth Garden
August 23 - New York, NY
Madison Square Garden
August 25 - Uncasville, CT
Mohegan Sun
August 27 - E. Rutherford, NJ
Continental Airlines Arena
September 1 - Albany, NY
Pepsi Arena
September 3 - Hershey, PA
Giant Center
September 5 - Syracuse, NY
Turning Stone Casino
September 7 - Washington, DC
Verizon Center
September 9 - Detroit, MI
Palace
September 11 - Chicago, IL
United Center
September 14 - Houston, TX
Toyota Center
September 16 - Dallas, TX
American Airlines Arena
September 18 - Denver, CO
Pepsi Arena
September 21 - Edmonton, AB
Rexall Place
September 23 - Vancouver, BC
GM Place
September 25 - Seattle, WA
Key Arena
September 27 - Sacramento, CA
Arco
September 30 - Las Vegas, NV
MGM Grand
October 2 - Oakland, CA
Oakland Arena
October 4 - San Diego, CA
Ipayone Center
October 10 - Phoenix, AZ
US Airways Arena
