The Adventures of Mimi Live DVD

I went into my local Streetside Records/FYE a couple of weeks ago like a good Lamb to get the new Mariah Carey "Adventures of Mimi" DVD and they looked at me like I was insane. Then I found out that it was a Best Buy exclusive. So I made the thirty minute trip to the nearest location and picked up a copy. With a gift card that I had on hand, it only cost me a couple of bucks. That's neither here nor there. I watched it last week. Disc One is a live concert from last year's fantastic Adventures of Mimi tour. Disc Two is a couple of skits that I already saw online and a behind the scenes documentary that I haven't watched yet because, God bless her, but sometimes hearing Mimi chit-chat can be brutal. Anyway, instead of reviewing the DVD, here are highlights of my write-up from last year's tour when she made a stop in Chicago:

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In 2003, I finally got a chance to see one of my favorite singers, Mariah Carey, live in concert when she played the Fox Theatre here in St. Louis. At the time, she was just getting over the Glitter/"Mariah Carey is absolutely nuts" phase of her career and the sales of her new album were struggling. Since that time, she's had a huge comeback as sales of the follow-up CD, "The Emancipation of Mimi", have gone through the roof and earned numerous awards. Now that she was back on top of the music industry, there was no way in the world that she was stepping in the state of Missouri for her latest concert tour. I checked and the nearest place she would be playing was Chicago. Then I had a bright idea-- don't I have a sister in Chicago that I need to visit? Which of course led us to see...

The Adventures of Mimi Tour
Mariah Carey
The Voice, The Hits, The Tour
United Center
Chicago, Illinois
Monday, September 11th, 2006

- We arrived at the United Center around 8. People were still filing in. The crowd was almost as diverse as an American Idol show. It was mostly 20 to 40 year olds and there were was an almost even mixture of blacks, whites, and Latinos. And you know the hoochies were out in force. Tell me this: what in the world makes a broad come out in public wearing a short white fur coat with booty shorts?

- The opening act was dancehall artist Sean Paul, best known for his hits "Temperature" and "Get Busy", which was once used in a hideous Hardee's commercial where a guy was dancing with a cow. The audience was really into him and he kept them hyped for his whole set.

- After Sean Paul finished, there was about a half hour to change the stage and suddenly the place went dark. The screens showed point-of-view footage of a roller coaster going around on a track. Mariah's voice narrated over the film: "Sometimes life can kinda be like a roller coaster ride...." Aw, here we go! Painful. Can we just cut through the B.S. and get to some short skirts and "Vision of Love"?

- Luckily, soon afterwards the opening strains of "It's Like That" began and Mariah herself emerged from the top of the stage. The crowd went wild. And folks, she came up to the mound throwing some serious heat. She was wearing a black bikini top and shorts that covered approximately 1/4 of her behind. It was the kind of stuff that makes a brother want to jump up and start singing "Creepin" by Luther Vandross. Unfortunately, she also had on this sheer cape thing that never allowed anyone to really get a solid look to see what was going on back there. I had been worried since a few weeks ago when the Crunk and Disorderly blog had posted a picture of her from earlier in the tour with the caption: "Mariah, would you like some syrup to go with that pancake ass?" That even hurt my feelings. Anyway, from the little I could see, things weren't totally flat yet.

- Back to the show, the second song of the evening was "Heartbreaker", which featured our first special guest of the evening, Chicago's very own Da Brat. This was followed by "Dreamlover", "My All" and "Shake It Off" (for which they brought down the giant lighted "MIMI" sign like in the video!). The funniest part was when she started singing over the beat for Biggy Smalls' "Juicy" and this Latino lady in front of us jumped out of her seat and went completely crazy.

- During the first of about three breaks that she took, DJ Clue rocked the crowd by playing bits of such hits as "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" by Michael Jackson, "I Got Five On It" by The Luniz and the more recent "Shoulder Lean" by Young Dro and T.I. The crowd was mega-hyped for this. It was one of the highlights of the night.

- Next was the power ballad portion of the evening. Mariah returned to the stage wearing what was probably at one time an elegant yellow ball gown-- until she took the Hoochie Scissors to it. She reeled off three huge ballads in succession: "Vision of Love", "Fly Like A Bird", and the Jackson 5 remake of "I'll Be There". She hit all of the high notes and did all of the vocal gymnastics that have become her trademark. The crowd absolutely ate it up and she got a couple of standing ovations. She was joined on "I'll Be There" by her backup singer Trey Lorenz. This segment was probably the best of the night. After that, she left the stage to take another break. Trey took over and sang two Luther Vandross songs and his version of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. To his credit, he was able to hold the crowd's attention, which wasn't an easy feat, especially considering that he wasn't even wearing a bikini top and a cape.

- Part Three. The lights went out and psychedelic imagery showed on the screens. After about a minute or so the words "Keepin' it real, son" filled the arena and the face of the late Old Dirty Bastard a.k.a. The Osirus a.k.a. Big Baby Jesus appeared on the screen. It was the start of one Mariah's biggest hits, "Fantasy". The lights came back on and Mariah was now on a small square disco-type stage that was in the center of the arena floor. We wondered how she had magically appeared there. Incidentally, she was wearing some tight ass capri pants. The crowd loved the song and even though it is about ten years old, we sang to every word of ODB's rap in the song, including one of the best lines in rap history "me and Mariah go back like babies and pacifiers".

- She took a break from singing to address the crowd. She informed us that she "wears the tightest pants in the world" and that this was the last night for it. Aw, I bet she says that to all the cities. If this was indeed the last night however, I would like to offer a giant thank you.

- Also during this set, Da Brat joined her once again during "Always Be My Baby". Mariah left the square disco stage and walked through the crowd (with security in tow) and went back to the main stage. In the official Adventures of Mimi tour program it says, uh, I mean, I'm told it says "Why wouldn't I walk thru the audience? (Well, a friendly game of grabass immediately comes to mind). Hello! We're all just human beings having an experience together". I wonder if she really believes any of this stuff in the tour program? Surely someone else wrote it and she just laughed and signed off on it. Anyway, she performed my favorite Mimi song "Honey", so I was happy.

- Costume change time. More DJ Clue. A little bit of Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" segued into Kanye West's "Golddigger". The crowd was as hyped as ever.

- With the capris returned safely to the hoochie side of the closet, presumably to never be seen again, Mariah emerged back on stage in another elegant dress, which could only mean one thing: more ballads. Since this show took place on 9/11, the 5th anniversary of the WTC bombings, she dedicated this portion to the victims and families. She addressed the crowd and said that she would like to express her "grievances" to the families. Uuuuuh, we know she meant. She knocked out "One Sweet Day" and "Hero". After a mini fake encore ceremony, she came back and sang "We Belong Together". Good night. Drive home safely. House lights. Parking lot.

- Verdict: Hot show, nice outfits, excellent singing. I think even my sister enjoyed it. If you only see one Mariah Carey concert this year, make sure it's The Adventures of Mimi Tour.