Carey reclaims title at NextStage
When you rack up as many hits as Mariah Carey did in the '90s, you don't need to tour. So, for the most part, the siren-voiced diva simply stayed home. But in the wake of her 2001 cinematic bomb Glitter, Ms. Carey has decided to hit the road for a rare extended tour that brought her to NextStage in Grand Prairie on Tuesday night. And as awkward and corny as the show was at times, it also reaffirmed her status as one of pop's most powerful vocalists.
Ms. Carey's show recalled a low-budget version of the theatrical dance spectacles Janet Jackson has been putting on for the past 15 years. Her nine-person dance troupe spun and skipped around sets that looked like a circus or a giant living room, but instead of taking part in dance routines a la Janet (or Britney or Madonna), Ms. Carey stood still in her high heels and sang - far removed from the action. The effect was like watching an organist playing along to a silent movie.
When she did venture into the fray, the results weren't always pretty. Before one song, she slowly descended from the rafters seated in what looked like a large dishrag. Even stranger were the moments when Ms. Carey sang along to MTV video clips of herself, or, in the case of her post-Glitter ballad "My Saving Grace", to a garish video montage of favorable press clippings. During other songs, she simply left the stage and let the videos or her backup singers do the work, buying her time for yet another costume change. (For those keeping track, there were eight costumes in all, each one a tad more sparkly and skin-centric than the last.)
Yet amid all the T&A theatrics, the saccharine love songs and the REO Speedwagon-like clichés about perseverance, the operatic beauty in her voice still shone through. True, Ms. Carey catapulted a dozen notes into the stratosphere when one or two would have done just fine. And her version of Def Leppard's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" was pure bombast. But she also turned in a simple, soulful version of the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" and turned what could have been a chore - introducing her band - into a sublime jazz ballad. Ms. Carey might never own the stage the way Ms. Jackson or Madonna do, but then again, they'll never have a voice half as potent as hers. (The Dallas Morning News)
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