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Mariah Careyproves hervocal pipescan performReview by DAVID KONJOYANSpecial to the RegisterSince her first album in 1990, singer Mariah Carey has won fame and fortune by virtue of her impressive multioctave voice and youthful, dream-come-true Cinderella story. She sold hit records in the millions and married the boss of her label, Sony Entertainment.Of course, Carey had been prepped: She got a spot on “MTV Unplugged” where she not only proved she could work that big voice in front of an audience, but won critical praise for investing her performance with a warm soulfulness rather than just technical mastery. Then, for her latest single, “Hero,” the video is of an apparently staged live concert and it goes to great lengths to show how Carey can connect with and win over an audience.And the Universal audience lad been prepared as well. Few artists have the benefit of play-ng what amounts to a greatest-lits show on their maiden tour. Harey has landed nearly a dozen songs in the Top 40, and the per-ormance stuck primarily to the aits, with a few other time-worn 'avorites (The S.O.S. Band’s “Be 3ood to Me” and Harry Nilsson’s ‘Without You”) to round out hings.The familiarity of the material helped create a comfort zone for the singer and her audience, and Carey displayed an endearingly charming personality. She toldMariah Carey► Where: Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City► When: Tuesday night► Bottom line: While her lack of concert experience showed, Mariah Carey managed to entertain nonetheless.This fairy tale was exaggerated because she has been protected from the intimacy, anxieties and physical wear of touring. Yet Tuesday night at the Universal Amphitheatre, the 24-year-old vocalist made her first live singing appearance in Southern California (only her fourth live show ever). And this story has something of a happy ending as Carey, despite her obvious inexperience and having to live up to three years of anticipation, delivered a promising performance.stories with a conversational ease, allowing her New Yawk accent to drift through. And she made constant, often physical, contact with her adoring young audience.But she also tended to slip into a shy, little-girl demureness, at times resorting to trite Shirley Temple-ish thank-yous and giggles. She does not yet possess the sophistication that her image-makers would have us believe.For the most part, that fits with her songs. They remain simple and innocent paeons to love. She introduced “All in Your Mind,” a track from her debut album, as a piece she’d written in high school. That it fit with the rest of the show reveals much about the nature of her music.There is little depth or emotional grit in her material, and though she’s been decried for favoring technique over passion on record, it was to Carey’s credit Tuesday that she brought a sense of urgency and heart to her lightweight music.She was particularly captivating on the acrobatic “Vision of Love” and her remake of the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” (on which she was joined by original duet partner Trey Lorenz, whoA DREAM TOUR: In Mariah Carey's California, she proves that the vocal aren't studio enhancements.first performance in Southern acrobatics evident on her albumsthe glass-shattering high notes but still seemed in command of her powerful voice. Though she and her crack seven-piece band (led on piano by her producer Walter Afanasieff and bassist Randy Jackson), brought nothing new to her music onstage, theThe familiarity of the material helped create a comfort zone for the singer and her audience, and Carey displayed an endearingly charming personality.tacitly challenged Carey to a highest-note contest — he won). She also turned in a robust take on the more recent “Dream-lover,” a splendidly fluorescent bit of girl-group retro.Working through a cold, Carey struggled most of the night formelismatic histrionics the singer delivers on record come off much better live. Carey thrilled the crowd repeatedly with the twists and turns of her voice.Given Carey’s mainstream music and often over-the-top production values, this was a concert that easily could have slid into Vegas glitz. But the singer played it smart, constructing a stage that looked like a pared-down version of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation tour setup and covering both ends of the urban spectrum with street-style dancers and a full gospel choir on several songs.Yet the production was never excessive and Carey wisely downplayed her own role as diva with only four, fairly restrained costume changes, all simple variations of the same tasteful black outfit.It would be easy to be cynical about an artist whose career path seems so calculated. But while Mariah Carey may not yet be the consummate performer, three years of patience and grooming paid off in a surpris-inplv satisfvine concert.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Thu, Nov 25, 1993
Page 177
Full Page
Clipped by
Heartfox W.
CA 27 Dec 2023
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