Mariah spotlights her recovery, wardrobe
Mariah Carey is doing just fine. She promises. Triumph was the theme of her Friday show at the TCC Arena and Carey whacked her audience over the head with it. During "My Saving Grace", childhood photos, press clippings ("Mariah's Breakdown" then "Mariah, Standing Again") and recent post-flip images of Carey looking relaxed were projected on the backdrop.
In addition to her songs, which often alluded to the singer's 2001 physical and emotional breakdown and subsequent recovery, Carey sewed together the set with banter about, you guessed it, recovering. Though when she wasn't obsessing over her rough 2001 - worse things have happened to people - Carey was on.
Her 2-hour show was a sort of seasonal take on her greatest hits, mixing Christmas songs with chart-toppers. The 33-year-old singer entered from the rear of the arena wearing a sequined skirt and a halter top. She walked down the aisle to a remixed "Heartbreaker". Once on stage, it took her 90 seconds to plug one ear and break into her signature high-octave squeal-singing - it's not a recording studio trick. Astonishingly, she was never out of tune in that tonal stratosphere.
For the first few songs ("Dreamlover", "My All") the stage was crowded with Christmas decorations, three backup singers, five musicians and six goofily clad dancers - a tutu, a red-glitter top hat and gypsy attire were part of the wardrobe. Another interesting production decision had Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec paintings projected on the backdrop during "Dreamlover".
Carey went through nine outfits during her 16 songs, all of them designed to highlight the singer's physique - which is sort of like her second instrument. She plays it well. Arpeggio after arpeggio were followed by hip-thrust after hip-thrust, though the moves were a little classier when she wore one of four evening gowns. One of her skirts was so short that she had to cover up with a blanket as she sat down to sing "Through the Rain".
During "Fantasy", which was a duet with Old Dirty Bastard thanks to the miracle of videotape, Carey wore gym shorts that would have gotten you kicked out of gym. Fast. Carey's thigh-bearing take on Mrs. Claus came during "All I Want for Christmas is You" a return to the wall-of-sound Christmas song. For "I Know What You Want", another video duet, this time with Busta Rhymes, she had on cutoff jeans and a Harley-Davidson shirt. This outfit lasted for about a verse before Carey left the stage to change again.
The audience of almost 6,000 didn't seem to mind the long wardrobe breaks - thanks in part to the deft backup singers who entertained them with Southern-style soul during one of Carey's costume changes. Carey dedicated "Hero" to her fans and thanked them for sticking with her during the ups and downs. Then, dressed in a really shiny gold number, she went down to her people, many of whom were crying, and touched them. (Arizona Daily Star)
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