Live review: Mariah Carey

                                                                               Photo credit: Ken Leanfore

03 January 2013

by Poppy Reid

Tuesday, January 1
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre

For a woman renowned as a domineering diva – a trait which has only served her well along her 22-year career – Mariah Carey showed an undeniable vulnerability at her first Australian concert in fourteen years.

Bringing the glitter, five octave vocal range and a practised calm to the Gold Coast Convention Centre, the five-time Grammy Award winner may not have offered the concert she visualised, due to ongoing technical difficulties, but not once did she attempt to pull a woollen guise over her 4,500 capacity crowd. Instead she kept her ‘lambs’ informed every step of the way, even if that meant expertly turning her frustrations into a song.

Opening her first concert since June last year was husband Nick Cannon, despite his embryonic status in the music industry, the rationale behind her #1 supporter being her support act is obvious. “It’s my job to get the party started,” he yelled from behind the white DJ decks. Cannon’s set involved consistent advocacy of his wife’s upcoming performance, plugging the party that was happening ‘in the house tonight’ and singing over his iTunes playlist, which was more eclectic than a technicolour dreamcoat with songs from Blur, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Gotye.

When Carey stepped out onstage, a sparkling hourglass walked by one of her six, vested male dancers, the sound problems had already begun during opener Can’t Take That Away . Her crowd paid no attention however, to make a Mariah Carey performance astounding, the only ingredient needed is her voice.

“Anything from last year or any year that you didn't like - play that track because I would like to shake it off.” through four outfit changes, hits like Shake It Off, Touch My Body, Always Be My Baby, Don’t Forget About Us and a reeling Jackson Five cover (I'll Be There) with special guest Trey Lorenz (initially recorded in 1992 for a MTV Unplugged set), Carey was transparent in her annoyance with her crew and her band.

“I know there's like 200 of you, can one of you fix the ear thing?” she laughed before settling us with an impromptu rhyme about the Gold Coast. “And you're not starting the song without me being ready. What are we thinking?!”

Long-time fans of the 42-year-old almost praised Carey for being the diva she has long been publicised as, but for an artist who has sold over 200 million records on the back of thirteen albums, a little upset is apposite. The true surprise for her zealots though, was how humbling her helplessness was; the Gold Coast witnessed a rarity in the stunning career of a pop superstar. “I would say thanks for nothing if the band didn’t hear it though,” Carey only half-joked.

Closing with Hero and We Belong Together before a festive mash of All I Want For Christmas Is You and Auld Lang Syne, Carey had come out on top, her fans swayed their homemade signs, danced between the confetti and lost themselves in her songs that shaped an MTV generation.