By Mico Roan
Universal Amphitheater August 18 Concert Review
by Mico Roan
You can compare Mariah's concert at Universal Amphitheater to an instructions from a cookbook: a little bit of dancers... a pinch of back-up singers... a bunch of band members... a pack of full voice of talent... and many high notes as possible.The Result: MASTERPIECE!! Mariah's concert is extravagant and elegant.
I went to the venue at 5:10 pm trying to find the entrace to the theater, which was too small to be seen. Then I've waited in line up to 6:00 pm. Then the security guard tells us that no cameras were allowed inside. They will confiscate it if you bring one. Then we enter the gate and I was one of the first who got in. I see the merchadise stand at the line and bought a Tour Book because that's the only one that I can afford and I think that's the most important to buy than the other merchandise items. I was the first one to buy the tour book. Then I fall in line with the others again near the main building... the security are gonna search us if we have any illegal things like cameras, recorders and things of that nature. Then we get in the vicinity at 7:45 pm. We waited for the show to start not knowing that there's a sort of opening act on the way. The opening act was the D.J.'s of Power 106... they rap there hell out and try to pump-up the crowd. They rap on the music of Beyonce's Crazy in Love, Snoop Dogg, 50cent's In Da Club, and others... then after their show... we waited again for at least 20 mins before the Looking In intro begins to play with dancers belly dancing on the stage... then Mariah enters at the back of the stage... (between Log 20 and Log 19) singing Heartbreaker Remix... (She is wearing the pink dress with the beads) then at the stage she sang the original version. The performance was OK. Then after that... she sang Dreamlover which was OK too. Then she sit on a large red couch and sip a little bit of tea for her throat. Then she sang Through The Rain with a lot of emotions. She even do a long whistle between the first chorus and the second verse. Then after that she sang My All like the version you've heard at the Las Vegas files. Then like the other concerts, the dancers dance at the mix of My All while Mariah is changing to her next ensemble. Then the Marionette show begins. Mariah enters singing Clown... (She is wearing the green dress) a dancer dressed as a clown tied up to three tall corporate guys dressed in black suits like a marionette. The performance is very dramatic and the meaning of the song shows in the performance. Then after that, Mariah sang the internet voted song for the evening: Can't Take That Away with a lot of emotions. The version of the song is like the live performance at Blockbuster Awards. Very awesome!!! She nealed at the ending then exit the stage. Then the Honey video clip was shown on the screen (the first part) and after that Mariah enters and sang the song with the dance steps like the performance at the Around The World video.(She is wearing the blue dress) Then she exit again at the stage and then the I Know What You Want video played at a large white curtain and she sang the bridge part and dance on one part. It's nice to watch. She is wearing the Harley Davidson Outfit. Then she exits the stage again while the dancers dance up to the end of the song. Then after that the curtain opens and you can see that Mariah was hanging on the air into a swing made out of white cloth. Then she landed at the grand piano singing Subtle Invitation. At the bridge of the song, she lie on the piano then goes up again and sing the rest of the adlibs and chorus at the stage. She even ran while singing "if you really need me baby... just reach out... dont you hesitate to call me...yeah yeah..." Then after that she sang My Saving Grace saying that that's her story in a song. She sang it with a lot of emotion and the version is like the Oprah live for the first part and Soul Train live on the ending. It's live and no lipsyncing. She didn't even lipsync on the whole concert (exept i think, in my opinion, on Fantasy.) Then the great Band Introduction where she adlibs with the band playing slow jazz music. She even tells the story of Mary Ann's sister's boyfriend who cheats on her. And also, every backup singer sang a small part. Then after that. Mariah and Trey sang I'll be There like it's been yesterday since they sang the song for the first time. It's like being on the set of the Unplugged episode of Mariah. The performance is Great! With the growls in-between the song. Then after that, Mariah left the stage and Trey sang his song called Friend Of Mine with the other back-up singers singing with him. Even making them sang a few lines of the song at the ending. Then Mariah enters wearing the red dress and sing Bringin' On The Heartbreak which to me is the most irritating part of the concert because of the loud sound system and the excessive guitar solo. But I got through it and Mariah's voice is Great and even hit the high notes. Then the band continue playing with the irritating guitar solo. Then the ODB part of the Fantasy Remix played on the screen and Mariah shows up again wearing the baby blue top and pink short shorts and sang the song with all the dance steps like the once on the Around The World Video. Then after that she sang Always Be My Baby. The version is like the once she sang on Las Vegas. Then after that, she sang Make It Happen. This is one of her great peroformance for that night. It's like a mix of the live version on the Madison Square Garden video and the Diva's Live in 98. The best performance ever!. Then after that, Mariah, the dancers, and the back-up singers do their bows and exit the stage. The crowd went wild thinking that that's the end of the show. The crowd didn't stop shouting and clapping for 3 minutes and then, Mariah showed up wearing that dress with feathers and sang Vision of Love which is also her best performance. She sang it like the album version and ended it with a long high note. She even do the high note on the part of the chorus like the original version. She did the adlibs very well. Then she sang Hero. Another of her great performance. She even went down to the crowd and sing to them. The version is like the original version. It's a great performance for an encore. And like Vision of Love, she ended the song with a graceful and long high note. It gives me chills and also made me cry. Then the Butterfly chorus played and she sang parts of it and exit the stage. That's the end of this wonderful song. Her voice is fantastic as ever. And her beauty glows from within. It's all worth my money. It's worth the wait. wait.. i forgot to say that it is Full Pack!!! The amphitheater is full and loud!
Pictures:
Meet and Greet:
Thanks to micoroan at FOMM for the report and to MariahCarey.com for the Meet and Greet pics.