Guess
Aug 6th, 2006, 10:57 PM
Here is a life lesson Mariah Carey apparently missed during the Adventures of Mimi: the harder you try to make people like you, the less they will.
It's understandable the Glitter-girl has some issues after being criticized, ostracized and written off for forgotten in the past few years. But those critics were not among the fans who paid from $19.50 to $129.50 to see her show at the American Airlines Arena on Saturday night.
The fans wanted to watch the diva resplendent in high notes and high heels, basking in the glow of her deserved and surprising comeback. They wanted to see Ms. Mimi singing her heart out, not ceding the stage for up to 10 minutes at a time to let DJ Clue spin other people's hits like it's a South Beach club.
They wanted to hear her breathe new life into the 17 No. 1 hits that rank her second to only the Beatles.
She's too talented, too successful, too weighed down by Grammys to be anything but a star on stage. But on the first night of her tour, she opened her set with a video of a roller coaster and a monologue about the ups and downs of life. She apologized repeatedly for minor gaffes in the act, such as sipping water and asking that the fans be turned on and the music turned up.
She showed video skits of women trash-talking her in a club, and then in a toilet stall.
News flash, Mimi. No one cares anymore. Your life is on the upswing. Forget the story line so we can concentrate on the good times.
The music stands for itself. She took us back with Always Be My Baby and Hero and Dream Lover and her Jackson 5 remake, I'll Be There.
She kept us going with chart-toppers from last year's The Emancipation of Mimi album, Fly Like A Bird, Shake It Off, We Belong Together and, the opener, It's Like That.
And the audience especially liked it when she relocated from the stage to a platform surrounded by fans on the floor. She looked poised and confident ó so close, riding the range of her vocal skills. Her smile looked genuine.
It was all about the music.
The show didn't end until close to midnight, largely because it took Carey almost an hour to get on the stage after Busta Rhymes finished his opening set. The break was so long, in fact, that the distracted stadium completed 7 1/2 revolutions of the wave.
Busta, whose career has lasted almost as long as Carey's, was an entertaining opener with everything from Scenario, his 1992 duet with A Tribe Called Quest, to his 2003 hit with Carey, I Know What You Want.
Source: Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/08/06/0806careyreview.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=17)
It's understandable the Glitter-girl has some issues after being criticized, ostracized and written off for forgotten in the past few years. But those critics were not among the fans who paid from $19.50 to $129.50 to see her show at the American Airlines Arena on Saturday night.
The fans wanted to watch the diva resplendent in high notes and high heels, basking in the glow of her deserved and surprising comeback. They wanted to see Ms. Mimi singing her heart out, not ceding the stage for up to 10 minutes at a time to let DJ Clue spin other people's hits like it's a South Beach club.
They wanted to hear her breathe new life into the 17 No. 1 hits that rank her second to only the Beatles.
She's too talented, too successful, too weighed down by Grammys to be anything but a star on stage. But on the first night of her tour, she opened her set with a video of a roller coaster and a monologue about the ups and downs of life. She apologized repeatedly for minor gaffes in the act, such as sipping water and asking that the fans be turned on and the music turned up.
She showed video skits of women trash-talking her in a club, and then in a toilet stall.
News flash, Mimi. No one cares anymore. Your life is on the upswing. Forget the story line so we can concentrate on the good times.
The music stands for itself. She took us back with Always Be My Baby and Hero and Dream Lover and her Jackson 5 remake, I'll Be There.
She kept us going with chart-toppers from last year's The Emancipation of Mimi album, Fly Like A Bird, Shake It Off, We Belong Together and, the opener, It's Like That.
And the audience especially liked it when she relocated from the stage to a platform surrounded by fans on the floor. She looked poised and confident ó so close, riding the range of her vocal skills. Her smile looked genuine.
It was all about the music.
The show didn't end until close to midnight, largely because it took Carey almost an hour to get on the stage after Busta Rhymes finished his opening set. The break was so long, in fact, that the distracted stadium completed 7 1/2 revolutions of the wave.
Busta, whose career has lasted almost as long as Carey's, was an entertaining opener with everything from Scenario, his 1992 duet with A Tribe Called Quest, to his 2003 hit with Carey, I Know What You Want.
Source: Palm Beach Post (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/08/06/0806careyreview.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=17)