Dressed in a strapless black number and her hair piled high, Mariah Carey embodied every iteration of a diva as she walked through international arrivals at Cape Town International Airport on Monday night. Surrounded by her 10-strong entourage, the Touch My Body singer clutched the hands of her children protectively as she glided towards a private exit of the arrivals gate en route to her hotel. "I'm so excited to be here," Carey said.
Die-hard Mariah Carey lambs, which is a term for fans, bolted into the One & Only Hotel last night charging past security to get a glimpse of their music icon as she arrived on Monday night. Carey, who was escorted by a motorcade and one police vehicle to the Waterfront hotel, will be performing at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday night. Despite the cloudy skies and the occasional rain that fell, her lambs waited for more than four hours for Carey to arrive.
Jacques Naude said Carey saved his life: "Growing up, I was teased about being gay and overweight and socially secluded. I would listen to Mariah's music and it made me feel better. Her lyrics helped me when I was suicidal, I just want to thank her for that."
Friends Karl Furlong and Emile van der Heyde said they listened to Carey's music during their high school days in 2001. Furlong said: "It was about a moment we might never get again, not in this town." The pair waited for two hours at the airport on Sunday.
Lamb Dean Hann took no chances, lining up in the lobby of the One & Only Hotel for hours, hoping to catch a glimpse of the star. "I have been a Mariah fan for 11 years and I have been waiting since then to watch her perform live," said Hann. The 24-year-old cruise line assistant flew to Las Vegas in July last year to see his first concert. "It was the best experience of my life. Mariah might not know me, but I know her," he said.
Regular tickets would not suffice for these super fans, however. Hann has paid R7000 for a meet-and-greet opportunity, while Justin de Vries paid more than R1000 for a front row package. This ensures the 34-year-old gets a guaranteed unobstructed view of the diva. De Vries said: "I just love the way she is. The general public doesn't get her persona. She's so misunderstood but we, her lambs, get and understand her."
(Independent Online)
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