Sunday 21 December 2003

An intimate evening in Arizona

If I have to describe Mariah Carey's concert in a few words, they should be exciting, full of energy, a perfect show and a lot of emotions. The TCC Arena was not a place where we could see Mariah getting inside the arena as in other theaters and arenas, so the show started at 7 pm. Many fans were waiting, and Mariah's music was everywhere. There was a lot of expectation because Shania Twain was playing at the sime time in Phoenix, which is a city about 1 hour from Tucson.

When we got inside the TCC arena. The stage was almost the same than the average version of the tour, but this time with Christmas adornments, and huge Christmas trees, people went to buy merchandise, and find their seats. The show started at 8:00. The opening number was a 7-year-old girl who sang a catchy song. When she left, we waited for almost one hour, crowd started feeling angry and eager to see Mariah, a few persons started screaming bad stuff to Mariah, it was really not a good moment. Then a group of fans started screaming "Mariah, Mariah". It was something nice from them, and then the whole audience was screaming "Mariah" in stead of "boo".

After just one or two minutes, the big screen played the intro video for the show. Dancers and the host were preparing the audience. Mariah appeared from the audience singing and looking good with a blue sexy outfit. While she was performing "Heartbreaker" and "Dreamlover", everyone forgot the bad incident with all the angry people yielding to a hour and a half delayed Mariah.

The next two songs were Through The Rain, and My All, both songs showed Mariah's amazing voice, which sounded perfect, even when we all knew Mariah has been sick during the past days. While Mariah was singing Through The Rain, a girl from the TCC security staff asked me for my camera. That really made me angry, so I couldn't enjoy this amazing song. When Mariah started singing My All, I though I had to enjoy the moment, so I forgot about the camera.

One of the best moments of the night came when the first Christmas song was going to start. On the film shown on the screen, appeared an old cartoon with Santa Claus and his reindeers, then Mariah appeared with a large suit singing "Hark! The herald angels sing/Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)", she sang just like she sounds on the Merry Christmas album, a little bit stronger. When she was singing lights were shinning over me and my billboard with the "Mariah Carry Me" message, she smiled and she singled out for my area and said "I see you right there", then I appeared on the big screen. That was so amazing.

The next part of the concert was "Honey" and "I Know What You Want". Mariah kept the show in a climax the whole night, which is great for any singer. Mariah looked so sexy with the classic outfits for each one of the songs. Many people from Tucson know how to speak Spanish, so they were excited for hearing Mariah speaking Spanish during the introduction of the video of "Honey", even when Mariah has a pronunciation mistake on one word (who cares?).

Mariah appeared on the stage with a large suit, the one she has been using to sing "Clown". She introduced "My Saving Grace", which was perhaps the most emotive song of the evening. Films and pictures of positive moments, Mariah with fans, and with her family. Mariah improvised a little because she add the "Jesus is the answer" phrase on the climax of the song. I really felt this song, and it made me feel closer to Mariah. This song means a lot for me too.

Mariah changed her outfit once again, she appeared with a new black sexy suit. She introduced her musicians and singers with the jazz presentation. Mariah joked a little bit, she reminded us that she has been sick and her voice was not perfect, she said "I'm doing the best I can, with all what I got." She was introducing her band, she said she was not going to be able to reach low tones, but at the end of the day, she could.

After introducing the amazing back up singers, Mariah and Trey Lorenz made a few comments about the #1 single "I'll be there", the whole performance was amazing, and both voices were perfect. I get amazed with Trey's voice. He also performed "Friend of mine", I really enjoyed these songs. The screen showed an old Christmas movie with Santa Claus, the musicians start playing and Mariah appeared with another outfit, this time she was wearing a large red outfit. She sang "Joy to the world" with her amazing voice, the performance was full of energy and the crow was singing along. By the way, Mariah's voice sounded here better than in the album.

After the amazing Christmas performance, Mariah introduced the following song. Mariah: "I know all my fans know this song," of course, I knew what song she was talking about. "Can't take that away (Mariah's theme)". The following songs were the classic "Fantasy" and the gospel track "Make it happen". During the "Make it happen" performance, Mariah looked two different outfits, including a large glittering dress.

The last part of the show began when Mariah introduced her first single, she explained she wrote the song when she was very, very young, and that this song was her first single ever. Mariah even signed an autograph while she was singing, she said "I don't know if I can do this, but I'm gonna try." After "Vision of love" Mariah thank her fans for being with her during the good and bad moments of her career, she knows this song means a lot for many people, and she know how to handle with the emotions of the fans. "Hero" was very special and the whole crowd was singing the fan hymn. She went into the crowd and show people's hands. When she ended "Hero" the butterfly chorus was being played and sung by the back up singers and the fans.

Mariah said "Thank you" and she said "bye". I was like "she is supposed to sing All I want for Christmas is you," the rest of the crowd was still seat, they knew Mariah was going to sing the last song. After all the mystery, Mariah appeared up the stairs singing "All I want for Christmas is you". She was wearing a sexy Santa outfit. My brother was like "Oh boy, look at her". This was one of my favorite songs, a lot of cool music, dancers, snow falling, Christmas gifts, this is one of those moments when you really enjoy the magical season. When she was over, her dancers who took her away from the stage, while she was saying "Thank You Tucson", she closed the show with the classic "Merry Christmas" and in the film on the screen a Santa Claus saying good bye.

I went to pick up my camera, and I was surprised because I saw many, many people waiting to pick up their cameras. When I had my camera and my photos I went outside the TCC arena, I wanted to see Mariah. I knew there were just a few possibilities to see her, but anyway I was eager to see her once again. I found her bus, so I waited for over one hour. I saw two guys waiting to see MC too. They were walking around, one of them asked me if I could see something, and I answered that I was waiting but I didn't see anything yet. A security guy came to us and he told us that he didn't want to disappoint us, but Mariah left in a limo. We did not believe a word, and we kept waiting. The two guys even trespassed the Tucson Convention Center, they couldn't see anything. Unfortunately, they were discovered, so they left. A few minutes after I left too.

The whole evening was great. I enjoyed the concert as the first time I saw Mariah, she is very professional because she was sick and even so, she sang as a goddess of music. Every single thing of the concert was amazing, I really loved it and I hope to repeat the experience. Everytime I see Mariah I like her even more. I just have a recommendation, Mariah has be more punctual because a fan can understand the situation, but any other person deserves to be angry if Mariah delays one hour and a half, as she did.

(Mariah Hero)



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