Concert review: Mariah Carey at DAR Constitution Hall
The legendary songstress Mariah Carey gave a somewhat spirited performance last night during her 90-minute show at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. At times, Carey was magical. She showed off the incredible vocal range that has made her arguably one of the top female vocalists of her time.
She also displayed a noticeably heftier figure that she squeezed for dear life into unflattering outfits. (At one point, when she descended from the rafters on a swing wearing a sparkly champagne-colored gown, she looked sort of like a sausage wrapped in ruffles and rhinestones.)
Although Carey emerged at about 8:30 p.m. and ended the show about 10 p.m., her actual performance time was much shorter. If you count the outfit changes, the stage breaks she took to sip champagne and the ultra tacky onstage makeup touch-up, Carey performed for about an hour. "I know. I know. It's diva behavior," she said to the audience. She wasn't joking...
It was truly unfortunate for fans who paid as much as $149 a ticket to watch Carey rhythmlessly wobble from one side of the stage to the other. Carey only sang about a dozen songs. (It seemed like more Michael Jackson songs were played during her concert than her own material.) Absent were "Vision of Love", "Emotions" and "One Sweet Day".
A dozen or so songs for an artist starting out is understandable. But for Carey, who has 20 years of solid material - "We Belong Together" was recently named song of the decade by Billboard - it is completely unforgivable. Shame on you, Mariah. Shame.
Carey was golden when she performed hits like "Shake It Off" and "It's Like That" from 2005's "Emancipation of Mimi" and "Touch My Body" from 2008's E=MC2. They were all crowd pleasers. On more than one occasion, Carey attempted to show off her whistle register (when she hits those really, really high notes). When Carey began a song with the whistle register, like she did with "It's A Wrap", she was golden. Sadly, Carey had a tendency to lose that note when the music blared in the background - especially at the end of a song.
Toss in a couple more songs - the crowd pleaser "Always Be My Baby", "My All" from "Honey" and "Obsessed," as well as some background dancers and that was it, folks. Overall, it was a disappointment. We all know that Carey can sing the phonebook. We know that she has an arsenal of hits. And we all know that she is capable of bringing down the house. I just wish that she would have put all of these weapons together for a concert that didn't cut corners. (The Baltimore Sun)
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