The Adventures of Mimi Tour

infobox concert tour
concert_tour_name = The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour


artist = Mariah Carey
album ="The Emancipation of Mimi"
start_date = July 22, 2006
end_date = October 28, 2006
number_of_legs = 3
number_of_shows = 2 in Africa
32 in North America
6 in Asia
40 in Total
5 Cancelled
last_tour = Charmbracelet World Tour
(2003-2004)
this_tour = The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, the Tour
(2006)
next_tour = TBA:"For the DVD of the tour, see The Adventures of Mimi (DVD).""The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour" was a 2006 concert tour of arenas by American pop/R&B singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. Named after a fan's "Carey-centric" diary of the same name, [MSN [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14190642/ Mariah Carey takes on Madonna with new tour] ] the bus tour started in late July and ended in October, with two stops in Africa, twenty-five stops in the United States, seven in Canada, and seven in Asia.

History

Unlike her previous tour, three years prior, Mariah started this tour 16 months after the release of her latest album, the successful "The Emancipation of Mimi". She had initially not wanted to tour, dreading the long travel times and not needing one to promote "Mimi". But after requests from fans to appear in concert, she decided to do so to celebrate one of the best times in her career.Asbury Park Press, AP story by Nekesa Mumbi Moody, August 11, 2006.]

Similar to the past tour, Carey gave her fans the chance to submit their ideas for set lists and for the title of the tour. Her long-time musical partner and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson joined her tour as the musical director, although he did not often appear at shows due to concurrent "Idol" auditions.

During the tour, Carey revamped her image as a performer, performing remixes of her songs, dancing along a bit with her dancers, having guests onstage, and going into the middle of each arena onto a checkerboard B stage to perform "Fantasy", "Always Be My Baby" and her last Billboard Hot 100 number one hit, "Don't Forget About Us". (The B stage had become an increasing popular way for large-venue performers to get closer to their audience ever since U2 introduced it on their 1992 Zoo TV Tour.) The main stage was a two-level affair, with the band situated on the lower level, backed by strands of glittering material, and a staircase between the two. Carey's "MC" logo was present in several places.

Once again, Carey invited her long-time friend and back-up singer Trey Lorenz to sing "I'll Be There" and "One Sweet Day" with her and perform several songs on his own during one of her costume changes. Except for an occasional guest appearance, raps on her songs were the pre-recorded originals, with the rapper shown on the video screens.

During breaks in the tour, Carey reportedly was continuing to write and develop concept ideas, and possibly record, for a new album. At her August 15 show in Montreal, Carey reportedly had a "wardrobe malfunction". She was singing on the B stage and suddenly, in her own words, "the twins" almost came out of her top.

The tour was moderately successful, out of the 40 dates, only 19 sold out and five had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales. Nearly 25,000 tickets were not sold. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102600632.html Mariah Carey's Hong Kong Show Canceled - washingtonpost.com ] ] The tour ended with unfortunate drama as her concluding Hong Kong performance was cancelled because of what is claimed to be low ticket sales and what promoters said were the pop star's "unreasonable demands." [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/26/arts/AS_A-E_CEL_Hong_Kong_Mariah_Carey.php] In response, tour manager Benny Medina said 8,000 tickets had been sold (compared to the promoter's claim of 4,000), and blamed the cancellation on the promoter's failure to pay Carey the money that was due to her."If there were only 10 people in this venue, and this particular promoter ... had fulfilled his contractual obligations, we would be there. Mariah Carey loves her fans in Southeast Asia," Medina said. "He has defaulted several times, right up into the last 48 hours. Literally we tried to hang in there with this guy."Fact|date=February 2007

Tour Personnel

Production staff

Executives

*Manager: Benny Medina
*Co-Manager: Mark Sudack
*Tour Executive: Michael Richardson
*Handprint Entertainment: Melissa Ruderman
*Maroon Entertainment: Gina Rainville

how

*Tour Manager: Teri Lynn
*Show Director: Barry Lather
*Musical Director: Randy Jackson
*Choreography: Rich & Tone
*Choreographers: Rachel McIntosh, Eddie Morales, Anthony Talauega, Richmond Talauega, AJ Jones
*Lighting/Set Design: Justin Collie/Art Fag
*Sound Design: Mike McKnight
*Sound Engineer: Howard Page
*Video Director: Chris Keating

*Vignettes: Directed By Spike Lee
*Frefall Intro: Bill Boatman & Michael Shores

*Security: Darrel Clark
*Security: Rob Payne
*Make-Up Design: Paul Starr
*Hair: Lew Ablahani
*Costume Designer: June Ambrose
*Dressmaker: Nile Cmylo
*Personal Assistant/ LAC LMT: Lisa Ripi
*Personal Trainer: Patricia Gay

On-stage performers

Band

*Keyboards: Eric Daniels
*Keyboards: Lamonte Neuble
*Drums: Jerohn Garnett
*Bass/Keyboards: James Butler
*Background, duet, and featured vocals: Trey Lorenz
*Background vocals: MaryAnn Tatum
*Background vocals: Sherry Tatum

Dancers

*Rachel McIntosh
*Eddie Morales
*Earl Wright
*Joshuah Michael
*Michelle Brooke
*Bryan Tanaka
*Russel Wright

pecial guest appearances

*Da Brat - Atlanta, New York City, Wantagh, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles
*Jermaine Dupri - Atlanta, Las Vegas
*Diddy - New York City
*Jadakiss - New York City
*Styles P - New York City
*Jay-Z - New York City
*Choir and pastor from True Worship Church in East New York - New York City, East Rutherford, Wantagh
*Mario Barrett - East Rutherford
*Jack (Mariah's Jack Russell Terrier) - Wantagh
*Mike Jones - Houston
*Boyz II Men - Anaheim
*Chris Brown - Los Angeles

Opening acts

Sean Paul or Busta Rhymes were the main opening acts for the show. Sean Paul did most of the first shows with a set that lasted approxiamtely 40 minutes. Busta Rhymes opened most of the latter half of the shows with his sidekick Spliff Star. R&B singer Ne-Yo opened the show in San Diego, while rapper Chingy opened the show in Anaheim. The show at Mohegan Sun and Tokyo's Budokan had no opening act at all.

etlist

This is the set performed most frequently.Mariah Daily [http://www.mariahdaily.com/corantofiles/news-archive-8-2006.shtml August 2005 news archive] ]

"Main Stage"
**"Costume 1 - Black Bikini Lingerie With Cape"
* Rollercoaster (Video Introduction)
* "It's Like That"
* "Heartbreaker" Remix / Original Version
* "Dreamlover" Remix Juicy (Notorious B.I.G. song)
* "My All" / "My All" (Morales' Remix) (cut at first show in Saitama, Japan and in Uncasville, CT)
* "Shake It Off"

DJ Clue Break - Old School Cuts

**"Costume 2 - Yellow/ Orange Gown"
* "Vision Of Love" ("Stay The Night" performed at first 4 shows as well as in Verona, NY, Ucasville, CT, Tokyo, Nagoya and first show in Saitama)
* "Fly Like a Bird" (cut at some shows in Tokyo, Nagoya, first show in Saitama and Osaka, as well as Uncasville, CT)
* "I'll Be There" (Duet With Trey Lorenz)

Trey Lorenz Break - "Never Too Much", "A House Is Not a Home", "Crazy"

**'Costume 3 - Bikini Top With Capri Pants and a Chain (or With Black Shorts and Sunglasses)" "B stage"
* "Fantasy"
* "Don't Forget About Us"
* "Always Be My Baby"Back to main stage"
* "Honey"

DJ Clue Break - Current Hip Hop and Club Cuts

** "Costume 4 - Green/ Turquoise Gown"
* "I Wish You Knew" (Snippet)
* "Can't Let Go" (Snippet)
* "Thank God I Found You"/"Make It Last" (Snippet) (Sung With Trey Lorenz) (Cut At Some Shows)
* "One Sweet Day" (snippet) (fuller version sung with Mario in East Rutherford, NJ and full version sung with Boyz II Men in Anaheim, CA)
* "Hero"
* "Make It Happen" (cut after 2nd Toronto show but sung in Anaheim, CA)

**"Encore" "Costume 5 - Beige Gown"

* "We Belong Together"
* "Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)"

"Japan Encore"
**"Costume 5 - Christmas Costume"

* "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (Japan exclusive, with Christmas trees on stage. T-shirt gifts thrown into the crowd, confetti spray as "snow" and then butterfly confetti shot into the crowd)
* "Butterfly" (Reprise) (Band only, as Mariah is carried away by two guys)

Other songs performed at individual shows included "Stay the Night", "Breakdown" (performed in Tunisia and Miami), and snippets of "I Know What You Want", "Can't Let Go", "Melt Away" (Detroit show), "Close My Eyes" ,"My Saving Grace", "Joyride" (Tampa show), "Love Takes Time" and "Your Girl" (first verse and chorus performed at a few US shows on 2nd stage). The setlist was often tweaked, sometimes changing snippets to a full treatment, cutting out Spike Lee's video skits (which were completely cut after the first few shows), or even foregoing construction of the B Stage (most of the time in the smaller casino venues and at the Jones Beach show). Even once she sang incomplete some songs that were on full length elsewhere on the tour, such as "Make It Happen", and in some cities she omitted the encore and directly performs "We Belong Together" and the close of the main set. At certain shows, DJ Suss One appeared as the DJ instead of DJ Clue.

Tour dates

Of note is that Carey never schedules shows in two consecutive nights, as she "actually [has] to have a full day and a half off between shows, whereas most touring artists do it every night," and she spends her down time preserving her voice by not talking and "sitting in a humidified room, sleeping."

Also of note Carey performed a show at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles as part of the Pepsi Smash concert series. These tickets were not available to the public. Only winners selected through an online contest.

Commercial reception

Note: Shows in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Denver, and Seattle were originally scheduled, but cancelled due to low ticket sales.Newsday [http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-ffmus4854099aug20,0,4234562.story What's wrong with Mariah Carey?] ] A planned second Madison Square Garden date was also scrapped. At least thirteen shows on the North American tour sold out, while dates were added in Canada. (Canada offered her fast ticket sales and a favorable financial conditions.) [Billboard.com [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002839796 Mariah Looking To Tour For Musical Inspiration] ] Sales worldwide were very strong, in Tunisia Mariah played for more than 76,000 fans on 2 nights, while in Japan she had a completely sold out tour where she performed for more than 130,000 fans in 3 cities, although as previously mentioned the final show in Hong Kong was cancelled due to conflicts with the concert promotor, 8,000 tickets were sold for the show. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/26/arts/AS_A-E_CEL_Hong_Kong_Mariah_Carey.php Hong Kong Mariah Carey concert canceled over poor response, 'unreasonable' demands - iht,arts,celebrity news,Hong Kong Mariah Carey - Arts & Leisure - International Herald Tribune ] ] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102600632.html Mariah Carey's Hong Kong Show Canceled - washingtonpost.com ] ]

Critical reception

Reviews of the tour was generally mixed. Most critics celebrated Carey's transformation from a pop star to a full-fledged hip hop artist. They also praised her vocal performances saying that was the main attraction of the spectacle. [The Detroit News [http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060910/ENT01/609100341 Mariah was on fire in her 1st Metro show] ]

Other critics commented on the short length of the show, especially given that she was offstage for several breaks while undergoing costume changes, [The Connecticut Post [http://www.connpost.com/ci_4251288 Mariah Carey concert disappointing] ] [Mass Live [http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/republican/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/1156751588314570.xml&coll=1 Mariah Carey performance brief] ] while others felt Carey was trying too hard to make the public like her, especially in terms of the "rollercoaster" metaphor she used to begin the show. [Palm Beach Post [http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2006/08/06/0806careyreview.html Mariah Carey concert review] ]

Also many European fans felt betrayed because Carey did not take her tour over there. Critics on both sides of the Atlantic questioned this decision because countries like Germany, France and the UK are normally definitively included in her tours as Carey is popular in those territories ("The Emancipation of Mimi" is 1x platinum in Europe). However in a subsequent interview, Carey stated that she was disappointed she did not have time to take the tour to Europe but would the next time. Carey appeared in Africa for the first time ever - while she did not appear in Australia and Singapore, and hasn't appeared since her 1998 Butterfly Tour.

Recordings

According to Carey's musical director Randy Jackson, the show at Honda Center in Anaheim on October 8, 2006 was intended as the basis for a concert filming and subsequent DVD release. Indeed, Carey held a pre-concert taping there, in order to include fans, regulate the lighting, and review other technical aspects in preparation for the night's actual concert recording.

The resulting DVD, called "The Adventures of Mimi", was released over a year later, beginning in Europe on November 19, 2007, with releases in other regions of the world coming over the following two weeks.

References