Well i got to see Mariah at MSG and it was good, a few guest surprises but Mariah is not a Arena type performer, that should be left to the Stones and BonJovi. Now Mariah played under 2 hours which to me, is not acceptable, sorry folks, but if you have 10+ albums, i dont need a half hour of Sean Paul. But overall she did do a good show, However just last night MC performed in Conneticut and did a 70 minute show!! I saw the set list posted, and she did 11 full songs, now i know Conneticut might not be the BIG media town, but if you get people to pay up to $100 to see you, you at least owe them two hours or more.

That's not right at all. She gyped the people in Conneticut plain and simple. As Lastdecember said, she's been aroung for too long to not be able to do a 2 hour+ show now. The fans deserve so much more than 70 mins with all of that material.

GO to your darkest fear, the cold-sweat stuff you awake to in the night, like being thrust onto the stage of Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people wearing only your underwear and 6-inch stiletto heels, to sing impossibly high notes.

Welcome to a night in the life of Mariah Carey.

The voluptuous singer - who, despite being a hometown girl, rarely plays the city - spun a greatest-hits set for fans at the Garden Wednesday night that featured soaring vocals, questionable fashion decisions and a little help from her rap mogul friends - Jay-Z and Sean Combs.

Besides her abilities to overcome personal adversity and hit glass-breaking notes so high only bats and dogs can hear her, Carey has the skill to make people smile.

No, really.

One just had to look at the fans sitting nearby. All had this non-New York goofy grin that made them appear as if they just got to go to Camp Mariah for vacation.

It wasn't just the women in the house, many of whom have actually benefited from Carey's long-established summer camp program for girls, or the guys who ogled the singer's boudoir booty display. Stone-faced Jay-Z, a guy who only shows his teeth to clench a Cuban, was grinning the biggest, dopiest schoolboy smile as he worked an early-show duet of "Heartbreaker" with Carey.

At the close of the tune, the rapper, who bows to no one, kowtowed to Carey with outstretched arms and a crooked smile - their chemistry was terrific.

Minus the terrific chemistry, much the same could be said of Combs, who ran out of the wings to join Carey in the final throes of her hit "Honey." Combs popped a few "yo yos," gave a shout-out to the greater metropolitan area, folded his arms and eyeballed Carey over the tops of his shades.

Carey was thrilled that he joined her, but he added little to the performance beyond the puffiness of his ego.

Part of the charm of Carey's show was the general looseness of the concert. The two-level stage looked used, as if it had been picked up cheap in the Czech Republic. The between-song DJ-ing lent the affair the air of a bad bridge and tunnel club. Carey even had to stop the show at one point because a clergyman she invited to do the spoken-word part of "Fly Like a Bird" missed his cue and had to be found backstage and ushered into the spotlight.

But M.C.'s deal isn't about cheesy sets, weird fashion or even celebrity guest stars. It's about the voice. And for the first five songs, including her duet with Jay-Z, Carey didn't blow anyone away.

Where she finally found her groove was when she reprised her first No. 1 single, "Vision of Love." She warbled through the lows and used all of her five octaves to reach the song's summit.

Who knew the word "love" could be stretched and contorted into an opus unto itself? She managed to repeat that performance passion during her late show rendition of "Hero."

At 36, Carey seems to be very comfortable in her own skin. She was relaxed throughout her 20-song set, which featured a good but not great cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." Other fan favorites included "Fantasy," "Don't Forget About Me" and "Always Be My Baby," which Carey performed from a secondary stage set up on the floor at the center of the Garden.

Carey did make a mistake by giving up a chunk of the middle of her set to backup singer Trey Lorenz. Despite his ability to carry a tune, Lorenz was unable to command the audience, and his mid-show mini-set just put sand in the concert's gears.

Still, this was a very successful, fan-pleasing concert that made you wonder why Carey doesn't play her hometown more often.

purplecam said:

Did she also let Trey do his solo set too? If so, it was much shorter than 70 min. In other news, Dan Aquilante has this to say about the MSG show:



It took her FIVE songs to warm up!?!?! Where in CT did she play?

Rogue588 said:

I think the reviewer was stating that her first 5 songs are songs that arent really songs that need "strong" vocals, which is true. Songs like Heartbreaker, its like that, dreamlover which are early in the show are not tough vocal songs

lastdecember said:

No fans that could get backstage have said Mariah hasn't been feeling well. And, that's been a continuous and common comment made for awhile now. Something seems to be going on w/ her, but nobody knows what it is.

lastdecember said:

No fans that could get backstage have said Mariah hasn't been feeling well. And, that's been a continuous and common comment made for awhile now. Something seems to be going on w/ her, but nobody knows what it is.

My All doesn't need "strong" vocals? Perhaps you should read that review again. Nowhere did he state that her first five songs didn't need ""strong" vocals". In fact:


You've heard her current stuff, right? I'm thinking it's more she's losing her voice. Perhaps that's why all she seems to do is whisper her songs since Honey.

Well i have this debate with people in terms of MC's voice, yes her vocals have changed but SHE has not made the adjustment to that, that is where this whisper comes in. Also i must say that vocally on this tour she hasnt sounded better, in terms of hitting notes from yesteryear. This issue that mariah has with her voice comes from bad vocal trainers that im sure she has worked with, which is just what will happen to Beyonce, Jessica, and Christina by the time they are 30 or sooner. Everyone knows how to stretch for notes that should be saved for showtime at the apollo, but no one is trained enough to vocally adjust their voices when they start to lose their strength. As far as her voice not being strong at the show, well i was there and she didnt use back tracks like so many others, and she did deliver well for a 37 year old who had been in the business since she was 19.

Also, he points out that she seemed "comfortable in her own skin" and "was relaxed throughout her 20-song set".

Well when Prince came to Connecticut, he tore the roof off the mother, doing a well over 2 hour show! and had that arena jumpin'

P2daP said:

Wallingford?

Also, I don't know how it is with other artists...but if Prince is into what he's doing or the crowd gives him a tremendous amount of energy, that also dictates the length of the show. Perhaps KC wasn't showing J some love?

70 minutes? that's like half a guitar solo in prince time!

roundables said:

Well i have heard reports like that, but i really think that is caused by the medias image of her being "Fat", Mariah is said to have lost 34 pounds for this tour in about a 3 week span, people that is not healthy. To drop that much weight (when she didnt need too) she probably starved herself, which is the same crap that is going on now with Beyonce, havent you noticed that her booty is gone and she is now white. But in defense of fans and concert goers, if as a perfomer you cant go out there and deliver you cancel the show. I heard Bono say the other day if he did a show and didnt feel he was doing well he would give back the money.

people the woman is SHIT live. i'm surprised she played for 70 mins. she's all voice and costume and raging insecurity.

wavesofbliss said:

This generations Diana Ross i guess.

Well when Prince came to Connecticut, he tore the roof off the mother, doing a well over 2 hour show! and had that arena jumpin'

people the woman is SHIT live. i'm surprised she played for 70 mins. she's all voice and costume and raging insecurity.

lastdecember said:

No doubt!

I wouldn't pay 1 cent to see Mariah perform. A total waste of time.