| Thursday 26 February 2004 |
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Beirut swoons to the siren songs
There are so many things one could write about a Mariah Carey concert in Beirut. In an attempt to give a balanced perspective let's start with the good things. She sang many of her most popular songs including "Heartbreaker", "Dreamlover" and "Fantasy", and her voice though older and more tired than in her heyday still did the trick.
Carey smiled a lot, worked the crowd well, wore very little and looked surprisingly very Lebanese in her outfits and make up. She would fit perfectly alongside Haifa. Carey was polite and thanked everyone, explaining she had wanted to come to Beirut for a long time. It genuinely seemed she was enjoying herself.
The concert venue was packed with 6,000 people eager to see the singer, and with tickets priced from $20 to $175 this proves the pulling power in Beirut of even a fading international star such as Carey. That is a big boost to the credibility of the Beiteddine Festival Committee who brought her to the capital.
And the crowd, a mixture of young screaming teens and old screaming teens (and their parents) absolutely adored the glamorous star. From the minute she came on stage to the minute she left, there was an atmosphere of complete adulation from the audience. At every costume change, Beirut's Mariah fans screamed there were around 12 in between the 15 songs performed, from skimpy glittering miniskirt and crop top exposing her chest to bright pink hot-pants to long black evening dress.
Interestingly, the audience screamed almost as much before Carey came on stage when Bruno, one of the recently ousted kids from the popular Star Academy television show, arrived to watch the concert. But bad aspects prevailed as well, despite the obvious delight and cheers from the crowd. Indeed, what it was exactly they were cheering for was difficult to fathom. Perhaps it was just the fact that someone who has been on everybody's TV screens and numerous magazines for the last 15 years was there in front of their eyes in the flesh.
For though it was certainly entertaining, Carey's show fell disappointingly short in terms of its musical accomplishment and performance. Mixed in with her singing, which was backed by both live and taped vocals, we had the opportunity to watch a mediocre dance show of simple, uninspiring moves in costumes so dated they looked like they had stepped out of the set of an early 1990's episode of The Cosby Show. We also had the opportunity to watch sentimental video footage of Mariah on tour and of her duets with rap stars such as Busta Rhymes who obviously were not present.
The sound suffered from the poor acoustics of BIEL it really is not the best place for a concert of this scale but, unfortunately, remains one of the only places in Beirut where it is possible to stage such an event. By far the most disappointing aspect was the fact that for the most part the backing music to Carey's songs was pumped through a PA system, prerecorded and mimed by the musicians on stage. For a couple of songs, they did play their instruments, for instance when the backing singers were improvising during another of Carey's costume changes and when she introduced the band.
But for the price of these tickets, surely the audience deserved more than canned backing tracks, prerecorded sound or high-tech tricks. The audience deserved a wholly live performance both in singing and music. Ultimately, nobody seemed to mind however, and the screams kept coming as Carey left the building. (The Daily Star)
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