Oh Mariah, what a heartbreaker
So she sang off-key in parts and wriggled mildly through Monday's concert. But her crowd-pleasing antics drove many of her fans wild. Boyband-chasers and the Pokemon-hungry no doubt had a great time at Mariah Carey's concert on Monday night. And why not? It had all the cutesy action they were hoping to catch.
From her tottering about on uncomfortably-high heels to her boxing ring antics with "Siamese Twin" and nemesis Bianca, Carey's concert had all the elements of what makes MTV sell. In a video clip at the start, celebs from Don King and Donnie and Marie Osmond to Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur) added their two cents about the diva's prowess. The Black Sabbath-loving Bianca, played by herself in videos and a dancer during the concert, did not stand a chance.
Armchair psychologists would probably analyse the latter as an alter-ago to the sweet-as-a-lamb Carey, linked inextricably to a past from which she is trying to escape. The less analytical would put the concert down as good music video stuff and, thus, lacking the rawness of what makes a live performance, well, live.
For one thing, Carey contributed no more than the occasional wriggle to most of the songs, leaving most of the funky dance moves to her 10 backup dancers. If she avoided dancing to focus on her voice, though, it did not really show. Her singing was uneven at best. In fact, the diva got about half-way into her rendition of Phil Collins' Against All Odds before she finally managed to get the pitch perfect. Then there was the rejig of the set list, which shifted some of the more challenging pieces towards the end. Could this be because she could then save her voice to hit the high notes?
Also, the set boxed in the artistes, so those in the gallery seats to the left and right of the stage had to rely solely on the video screens to catch what they could of the stage-happenings. But judging from the good number of the 30,000 fans at the National Stadium who stood, stomped and screamed from the time the lights went down until they went back up again, no one seemed too bothered by the low notes.
Fault her on her lack of soul if you must, but her ability to work the crowd into a frenzy could not have gone unnoticed. She had most of her fans ooh-ing and aah-ing from the moment she appeared on stage in a green halter ensemble that lent more than the occasional sneak peek of cleavage that the 14-year-olds in the front row are unlikely to forget.
She was a real crowd-pleaser - her wide smiles, attempts at speaking Mandarin, and even self-deprecating comments about her sweat drew applause. A smitten fan with a rainbow painted on his face was one of five who got to go on stage and sample local fare with the diva - nasi lemak, pepper crab, Tiger beer. He nicked the straw right out of her "virgin" Singapore Sling after she took a sip.
Next to the diehards who paid $260 for top seats close to her, the ones who had the best time were those furthest away in the $60 seats. Even when she took her bow and left the stage 10.35 pm, they were the ones who stayed and chanted and demanded her back on. The encore was planned, surely, for she donned a fresh outfit for it and saved her signature hits - Hero, Butterfly and Rainbow - for this segment. Besides, the stadium's floodlights stayed off determinedly.
Throughout the show, the dancing, screaming and even the waving of National Day-esque glow-sticks were hard to miss - even Carey's troupe gave the crowd's performance top scores. Carey and gang's last stop had been Japan, and apart from a couple of ruffled curls, Singapore apparently beat the Japanese hands down in embracing her.
Dancer Jamel Brown, aka Loose Joint, told Life! after the gig: "In Japan, they are very mild-mannered, so they clap when your number is over, not just because you're there. The crowd here was a lot louder and more exciting."
Added dancer Rina Takahashi: "I thought everybody was going to be really mellow, but it was a really great crowd." The male dancers also gave top marks to the visual attractions - the women in the audience. [Those were 2 women sitting beside me!]
Dancer Raymond Ultarte said: "The crowd was fantastic, and very beautiful looking... it's eye candy for days." But that said, there was one thing Carey's crew just could not handle - the heat.
"It was literally burning! It was the hottest place we've done since Africa," one crew member said while parking himself under the backstage air-con vents after the show. Even Carey had to stop to wipe beads of sweat from her face, calling up to her cameraman: "Bob, I love you. If I turn around and I'm sweating, then don't put the camera there!"
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