Oakland review
Carey fans hang on her thrill ride of highs
and lows
 
It wasn't just Mariah Carey's dancers who were
doing backflips at Monday's sold-out show at the Arena in Oakland. By the
opening number, the diva-in-absentia had the crowd on its feet, as she
time-traveled back to some of the messier moments in her personal history.
It's not as if she didn't warn the 19,000 faithful,
kicking off her 90-minute set with a short, thrill-inducing cinematic climb
up a roller coaster, with Carey narrating platitudes about her opulent
soap opera come to life.
"When I was little I was so scared of roller coasters,
but you learn you have to face your fears," she said breathlessly. "But
just when I thought the scariest part was over, something more terrifying
would happen."
Like detonating her marriage to music mogul Tommy
Mottola, being released from her recording contract, the failure of 2001's
"Glitter" album and quasi-autobiographical movie of the same name and attendant
canceled tour dates, the hospital stays and the famous glass- and dish-throwing
episode in a London hotel room, all documented in tabloids and by Carey
on her own Web site.
To the singer's continuing credit, she doesn't
try to conceal any of those tawdry details from fans, as if she could in
her barely there outfits. Instead, she used them as rather touching fodder
to detail many of the two dozen songs she performed. "How many times have
I had to apply this song to my own life?" Carey mused mid-verse during
"Hero," her self-penned 1993 song that became one of the unofficial anthems
of 9/11.
After the conclusion of the short film, the singer
ascended from beneath the stage, like a goddess rising from the depths
of the ocean, screaming over the din, "San Francisco, how ya feeling?"
Oozing down a lavish spiral staircase in her mile-high
Christian Louboutin stilettos, all jutting hips, tossed curls and purring
vocals, Carey effortlessly slid into "It's Like That," the first single
from her Grammy-winning 2005 album "The Emancipation of Mimi," opening
her show with a mighty leonine roar. It was more Victoria's Secret TV spot
than pop music show, and in the first of five costume changes, Carey looked
resplendent -- albeit a little more zaftig than in recent years -- in a
black peignoir set that revealed more than it concealed. "It takes a lot
of guts to dress like that with that body," one reveler gushed to a friend.
While not a trained dancer by anyone's stretch
of the imagination, Carey sensuously moved in half-time down the frighteningly
steep staircase once again, stumbling on the fourth step, all the while
caressing her prodigious curves and running long, manicured fingers through
her imposing hair in time to "Heartbreaker's" disco beat. But the stumble,
like the extra weight, humanizes her even more to fans, eliciting a small
gasp among the faithful.
A wounded sex kitten, Carey coos, pouts, then
goes for broke, emitting sounds that you'd think only dolphins could utter
at the close of "Dreamlover," one of the 17 No. 1 hits that allowed her
to become one of the wealthiest stars of the 1990s.
"What do you want, Frisco?" she demanded as she
plunged into "My All," before someone in her cadre undoubtedly gave her
a geography lesson.
"I know we're in Oakland," she said a little defensively,
flashing only a little of her diva ire. "Some of my friends are here from
San Francisco, so I can say that, you know. I love me some Oakland.
"Anyway, this is one of the first places that
played my first single when I was little," cooed the 36-year old singer
in appeasement, before asking permission to take a small sip of her ever-present
Fiji water, a far from her halcyon days swilling Cristal Champagne.
The newly emancipated Carey is all business, down
to the strategically placed cutouts in her Barbie doll gowns, to the mirrored
"Mimi" that descended from the ceiling before "Shake It Off," a clever
kiss-off with the perfect intersection of high concept and low culture:
"I gotta shake it off/ Just like the Calgon commercial." All the better
when you know that nothing less than Chanel really touches her golden skin.
During the tune, Carey put on a pair of expensive
hit-man sunglasses. Why? Because of the high-wattage sign or because her
future really is so bright again she does needs shades? "The Emancipation
of Mimi" has already racked up 5 million in sales, she's taking guitar
lessons, and it looks as if there's another movie on the horizon.
Some of that momentum was lost during the chanteuse's
five costume changes. Sometimes the breaks were so long that it allowed
the DJ to romp through decades of rap and R&B tunes, such as Bell Biv
DeVoe's "Poison" and the Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance."
In the meanwhile, longtime backup singer Trey
Lorenz stepped out into the stoplight to sing the Jackson 5's "I'll Be
There," with Carey, then to finish up alone with a rather weak and dispirited
three-song medley, culminating in an anemic version of Gnarls Barkley's
"Crazy." The only thing crazy was Carey allowing this singer so much face
time.
All of that was forgiven when the singer came
back for the second half of the set, slowing the pace just a bit with "Fantasy,"
a song that pairs her pop vocals with a hip-hop beat, a winning formula
that the singer has been employing since she left the controlling clutches
of her record-exec husband. She performed the song as a duet with the disembodied
video of the late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, which was as disconcerting
as it was affecting.
But that sentiment colored the entire night. At
times, as cameras flashed over the audience, fans could be seen with tears
in their eyes, wrapping their arms around themselves as they sang along
to hits like "Always Be My Baby" or the feisty heart-tugger "We Belong
Together," only equaled by Carey herself, whose immaculate made-up eyes
welled up with tears during the latter song.
But that is the true gift of this singer. While
Jennifer Lopez may claim to be Jenny From the Block, Carey shows that she
still lives there, even if she gets there in a chauffeur-driven roller
coaster.
Source: San
Francisco Chronicle (All rights reserved)
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
Posted on October the 4th. |
!!!!!!
.
From the medias, I can eventually admit it, they are so dumb and conditioned
to hate, but from fans.... fake asses who go to see Mariah and soon after
critisize her or even insult her, fans who pirated Mariah's tracks, fans
who are happy others didn't get to see Mariah... whatever, the list is
so long, too long.... No, I'm not bitter, it's freakier than Halloween!!!!!
Damizza's
"Guilty" postponed and book with Mariah stories (among others) in the works
