Guess
Oct 4th, 2006, 10:38 PM
VOICE GETS LOST IN THEATRICS
The big question going into Mariah Carey's concert Monday night at Oakland Arena was how many wardrobe changes would the pop queen make?
The answer was five, which seemed reasonable for a diva of her magnitude.
Unfortunately, that was about the only reasonable thing about the show. Just about everything else she did made little sense.
This concert should have been much better than it was.
It's all about potential. Mariah Carey has 17 No. 1 singles, which ties her with Elvis Presley for the most chart-toppers by a solo artist, and that alone should provide all the ammunition needed to put on a memorable show.
Didn't happen.
Instead, the 36-year-old vocalist has made some poor decisions with her ``Adventures of Mimi Tour,'' the sum of which took the focus away from where it needed to be -- on the music. The concert was poorly paced, cluttered with unnecessary theatrics and devoid of any sense of purpose. Things would have been simpler, and better, if she had just come out, sung the hits and left all the horseplay to the Madonnas of the world.
Following an opening set by speed-rapper Busta Rhymes, who came across as cartoonish as ever, Carey opened her show with a silly video segment of a roller coaster, which was meant to underscore the twists and turns of the diva's life. The star then appeared wearing her first costume of the night, a little bikini-like outfit that aptly showed that Carey has experienced growth in areas other than artistic in recent years.
Working a large two-level stage that was framed under a giant M, Carey shimmied with six dancers as she opened with a bouncy version of ``It's Like That'' from ``The Emancipation of Mimi,'' 2005's biggest-selling CD.
The musical mix, featuring three keyboardists, three backup vocalists, a drummer and a DJ, was mostly solid. Yet there was one major problem -- Carey's breathtaking five-octave voice frequently was buried in a place that was harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa's body.
When you could hear her famously melismatic voice, such as on ``Heartbreaker,'' you didn't really want to -- the diva hit high notes that probably had dogs howling all over nearby San Leandro. Not that there is anything wrong with a good high note, but Carey's vocal gymnastics came across as merely for show.
After only 25 minutes onstage, the star made an exceedingly early exit and left the set in the hands of her DJ, bringing the concert to a halt. Carey returned, wearing a golden gown that was nearly as revealing as the bikini, and produced a few good moments with ``Vision of Love'' and a duet with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz on the Jackson 5's ``I'll Be There.''
She then turned the set over to Lorenz for a three-song segment that had people sitting down faster than when the music stops in a game of musical chairs. That was the second time in roughly 45 minutes that the show completely lost momentum.
The second half was full of badly planned moments, including one of those nauseating medleys.
Again, it's about potential. By closing the main set with a gorgeous and moving version of ``Hero,'' minus all the theatrics, Carey showed how good this concert should have been.
Source: The Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/music/15674672.htm)
The big question going into Mariah Carey's concert Monday night at Oakland Arena was how many wardrobe changes would the pop queen make?
The answer was five, which seemed reasonable for a diva of her magnitude.
Unfortunately, that was about the only reasonable thing about the show. Just about everything else she did made little sense.
This concert should have been much better than it was.
It's all about potential. Mariah Carey has 17 No. 1 singles, which ties her with Elvis Presley for the most chart-toppers by a solo artist, and that alone should provide all the ammunition needed to put on a memorable show.
Didn't happen.
Instead, the 36-year-old vocalist has made some poor decisions with her ``Adventures of Mimi Tour,'' the sum of which took the focus away from where it needed to be -- on the music. The concert was poorly paced, cluttered with unnecessary theatrics and devoid of any sense of purpose. Things would have been simpler, and better, if she had just come out, sung the hits and left all the horseplay to the Madonnas of the world.
Following an opening set by speed-rapper Busta Rhymes, who came across as cartoonish as ever, Carey opened her show with a silly video segment of a roller coaster, which was meant to underscore the twists and turns of the diva's life. The star then appeared wearing her first costume of the night, a little bikini-like outfit that aptly showed that Carey has experienced growth in areas other than artistic in recent years.
Working a large two-level stage that was framed under a giant M, Carey shimmied with six dancers as she opened with a bouncy version of ``It's Like That'' from ``The Emancipation of Mimi,'' 2005's biggest-selling CD.
The musical mix, featuring three keyboardists, three backup vocalists, a drummer and a DJ, was mostly solid. Yet there was one major problem -- Carey's breathtaking five-octave voice frequently was buried in a place that was harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa's body.
When you could hear her famously melismatic voice, such as on ``Heartbreaker,'' you didn't really want to -- the diva hit high notes that probably had dogs howling all over nearby San Leandro. Not that there is anything wrong with a good high note, but Carey's vocal gymnastics came across as merely for show.
After only 25 minutes onstage, the star made an exceedingly early exit and left the set in the hands of her DJ, bringing the concert to a halt. Carey returned, wearing a golden gown that was nearly as revealing as the bikini, and produced a few good moments with ``Vision of Love'' and a duet with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz on the Jackson 5's ``I'll Be There.''
She then turned the set over to Lorenz for a three-song segment that had people sitting down faster than when the music stops in a game of musical chairs. That was the second time in roughly 45 minutes that the show completely lost momentum.
The second half was full of badly planned moments, including one of those nauseating medleys.
Again, it's about potential. By closing the main set with a gorgeous and moving version of ``Hero,'' minus all the theatrics, Carey showed how good this concert should have been.
Source: The Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/music/15674672.htm)