Mariah Live In New York

From The Archer Review, Issue 4: Thanksgiving Special Preview (Mon 23 Oct 1995)

New York's Madison Square Gardens recently played host to a spectacular superstar performance by Mariah Carey. The live concert will be shown in a special thanksgiving presentation for the US Fox TV network, to air on 29 November. Our roving reporter was there to catch a glimpse of the Queen of Sony and immerse himself in her captivating tones.

I boarded a flight in St. Louis bound for Pittsburgh and a change of aircraft. All went without incident, arriving in LaGuardia airport exactly on time at 12:45pm EDT. Ah, New York City! The same filthy, indifferent, apathetic carrion of corruption and neglect (I don't mean that in a bad way!) that I had come to know and love during my tour of duty there. I idled about the airport for awhile, having over 6 hours to consume until the show. I also had to take my mind off the anticipation. Checking out the airport seemed a good diversion.

Very little (well, actually nothing) had changed in the year since I worked there. I ran into a few people I had worked with, exchanging pleasantries and catching up a tad. They did add a cool little music stand on the corner of the US Air main concourse. It was small, but very well stocked, with many used CD's and very good prices. Of course I checked, and Mariah's first three offerings were in stock. Used, but well represented. I choked down some lunch, being almost too excited about the event to eat. But I knew I hadn't eaten breakfast, and by showtime I'd be regretting it. McDonald's. Ugh! But cheap.

After checking to see if my old roomies were working (no), I decided to head on over to Manhattan and start making my way to the Garden. I was hoping to find my old room mates at work, as I was really counting on crashing in their room for the night. I sure as hell wasn't gonna shell out $80-$100+ for a room just to sleep in for 6 or 7 hours! I knew vaguely where the hotel was, as they had changed accomodations since my departure. But Queens is nowhere to be wandering around at night (after the show), looking for a hotel. If I couldn't find out before hand, I probably wouldn't be going. "The hell with it!," I thought. This sure wasn't going to stop me from seeing Mariah!

Boarded a bus (the Carey line, ironically!) at curbside, destination Grand Central Station.

After checking out the train terminal for a while, which is a pretty cool example of industrial American architecture, and reviewing a perplexing subway map, I decided to traverse the distance to Madison Square Garden on foot. It was a gorgeous day, and what better way to dispense the extra time than a brief tour of some of Manhattan?

I arrived at the Garden, some 14 blocks from my arrival point on the island, and sat down on one of the planters at the 7th street entrance. Almost immediately I noticed a rather hippy looking fellow dressed all in denim, walking out of the building to smoke a cigarette. And around his neck was a back stage pass with Mariah's Fantasy pic on it! Ah, I needed to talk to this guy! If there was any chance at all of actually going back stage, I was going for it. I decided to wait until he finished his smoke, and approach him as he returned to the arena. While waiting, a panhandler walked up to the guy next to me and started reciting his story, a real street-veteran tearjerker. I could see who was next in line and decided to spare myself the soap opera. I got up and walked across the courtyard, looking over some of the people on the other side of the plaza. It couldn't have been 30 seconds later that the beggar had moved on to another part of the crowd, and I turned to see the golden-ticket-holding hippy had vanished! Damn! I hurried inside, where he was nowhere to be seen.

Some men in the lobby were bringing in many boxes and setting up some tables and wire-grid display walls. "Oh, yeah!" I thought. "This is a good thing." Soon they had displayed on the wire wall three different Mariahwear offerings: A white T-shirt, with Mariah from the Daydream cover beautifully rendered on the front, and the back proclaiming "Mariah Carey Television Special Live from New York Madison Square Garden October 10, 1995" The second was a black T, with a more closeup version from the album cover and the same phrase on the reverse. This shirt had the interesting effect of having Mariah's hair and top blend in with the black fabric, leaving only her face, neck, hands and whisps of hair readily visible. The result was beautiful and a touch eerie, in a Cheshire-cat like manner. I knew I had to have it! And the white one would make a perfect gift for a very dear friend of mine, whom had not the fortune to be with me for the performance. The third piece was the very light gray sweatshirt with the "Camp Mariah" green heart, and again the same phrase as the previous two on the dorsal. Each T-shirt was $25, and the sweat was $40. I definitely bought the second of each type of T-shirt sold that night, the first ones going to an older woman with what looked to be her son. She bought the first of all three types. So, even if you were there too, and had one of those fantastic seats, just remember that I got my T-shirt before you did!

I started making some phone calls, trying to inform my friend of her gift, and basically just killing time until seating began.

The ushers finally moved aside the ropes in the lobby, and we were allowed to enter the "A" tower, a construction of escalators - one at each of the four corners of the arena - designed to ascend you to your seating level. A very effective design, I noted.

I quickly made my way to my assigned seat to settle in before the show. I was surprised that seating began only 40 minutes before scheduled showtime, and by all appearances it would take much longer to fill this huge arena. The first thing I noticed was how damn high I was! Someone opened a door somewhere, and suddenly this oxygen mask dropped from the ceiling above and a flight attendant appeared to demonstrate its use. Well, actually, I did notice there was only one section higher than mine. Wow, at least I wasn't dead last! The stage was white and unusually shaped, with odd curving stairs descending to a rather small circular platform on the front edge, and a quite high, curving platform in the rear, ascended by risers. A generous expanse of level stage lay between the two. Three huge video display screens were affixed to the midnight-blue wall behind the platform. The band's instruments were clustered in a rather large arrangement centered at stage right, at the end of the rear, raised platform.

No sign of any performers yet, and people were still coming into the venue at a steady pace. Either the show was not quite ready to get underway, or the director was waiting for more patrons to find their seats. Perhaps a combination of both?

An energetic young girl down and to my right tried determinedly to initiate waves in the crowd, with rather pathetic response. A time or two it appeared it might catch on, but generally fizzled about 1/2 way around the arena. During this time I started talking to a couple next to me, a handsome young man and his very attractive companion. Turns out she is also a singer, one who has signed a record deal with the Smack label, which ironically is an "indie" subsidiary (in some fashion) of Sony! Her name is Taryn Storm, and she's supposed to start out with a tour of Europe sometime early next year, I believe she said. She mainly does pop, R&B and dance tracks, and she's a very good dancer as well. We had a great time swapping stories and getting to know one another a bit. Her manager gave her the tickets, and although she likes Mariah, I think she's more of a Whitney fan. Like they say, there's no accounting for taste. I told them all about my reporting for the Vision list (and The Archer Review, as it turns out- Ed), and indicated that was why I was taking notes.

The lights go down and the crowd begins to cheer, knowing things are underway. I hear a muffled voice on the P.A., mumbling something quickly. The only words I can pick out are "...host of MTV Jams, Bill Bellamy!," and then he came running out onto the stage. He talked about the concert being on TV, and that it would air 29 November on the Fox network.

The backup singers take the stage, and the crowd is really getting revved, Bill really building up to the appearance of the one we were there to see.

Mariah stuns the crowd with Fantasy

Finally, we hear the opening chords to Fantasy, that dreamy little intro with Mariah oh-ing and ooh-ing from somewhere unseen, a brilliant white light flooding into the darkness from behind the stage. It was hard to hear, but I'm pretty sure she hit the upper register note right before the intro breaks into the body of the song. Then there she was! She was wearing very tight black pants (I couldn't tell if they were jeans from that distance) and a hugging black top which exposed just an inch or three of her midriff. She had on black shoes with almost blocky looking high heels. Her hair was about as curly as she had it for the FAF show in the church last Christmas. It was then I realized exactly how far from the stage I really was. I knew it was Mariah; I could hear it was Mariah; but to see her, it could as easily have been Cindy Crawford or Madonna with a wig. This did bum me. But I wasn't about to let it spoil one moment of this show! I seriously considered sneaking down into one of the several unoccupied seats in the lower sections, but the ushers were prowling around the section entrances like guard dogs, alert to any would-be intruders. I decided to stay put and enjoy from my perch. A troupe of hip-hop dancers flooded the platform early into the song. The whole things sounded great!

Performance finished, Mariah speaks for a few moments, then apologizes for having to hurry backstage to "touch-up" the song. Apparently the sound engineer blundered a bit and she had to overdub something, or a situation to that effect. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear any of it.

Bill introduced O.D.B., who shuffled out and offered a variation on his Bad Boy Mix, minus any live Mariah. He was very well received by the crowd, diggin' him all the way up.

O.D.B. sauntererd off, leaving Bill talking about the FAF and stating ALL proceeds from the night's show would be going to the charity.

Mariah came back out to the front of the stage and did an outstanding presentation of Open Arms. When I reviewed Daydream, perhaps I erred when I stated some things may be best not remade, no matter how good. She sounded so good! Something that beautiful could never be a mistake.

After listening to Bill clown around for a bit, Mariah returned to a completely dark stage. She joked about the lack of lights, calling out for the production manager, Larry, to provide some illumination. "Larrrrry..... Laaarrrrrrrryyyyy... we need some lights, Larry!" She then instructed us to not be angry with her for the delays and gaffes in the production, but (jokingly) rather to vent our frustration at Larry. And I can assure ol' Larry was damn sorry she did this, as things would develop!

Lighting finally situated, Mariah delivered an excellent performance of Dreamlover with some scenes from the video projected on the video displays behind her. Terrific song! Mariah again disappeared behind the stage.

Bill entertained the crowd again, followed by the Fiorella H. LaGuardia School of the Performing Arts choir occupying the risers behind the main stage. Bill joked some more.

Mariah then came out and said she wanted to introduce a very special guest. A stage hand then walked out with Jack, Mariah's spunky little Jack Russell terrier. She said Jack had a new trick he wanted to demonstrate, and also stated how he was famous, having appeared in Dreamlover, All I Want For Christmas Is You, and during the home-movie clips following her previous Thanksgiving special. She then produced a stuffed bunny or something (hard to see what) and instantaneously Jack started bounding into the air, trying to subdue the evil, fluffed menace. She then held the vicious incarnation directly above Jack, where he leaped into the air, latched on with needle-like terrier teeth, and hung swinging in midjump, content with his deadly victory. She then walked him back around the rear platform and returned to the stage.

Mariah and choir performed Make It Happen. It was an extended version, although the same arrangement we've all come to love. She was absolutely wailing! Outstanding. Mariah and then choir departed the scene.

After much cajoling and persuasion, Bill finally convinced the band to perform a little something to fill the time. They played maybe 30-40 seconds of a nice jazz groove, and then trailed off and stopped. Maybe it was some union thing? As I would appreciate even more later into the event, it's a damn good thing Bellamy was there! He really helped fill the long breaks between songs, and definitely averted what could have turned into some ugliness in certain sections of the audience. Most of these people were New Yorkers, after all!

Mariah returned and announced she would do a new song, Always Be My Baby. I love this song already, and I was thrilled! She then said since it was new, she'd have to teach us the chorus part so we could sing along and help her out. She went over the "doo-doo-doot... pause, pause; doo-doo-doo-doo-doot-doo-dow" section. Twice I think. This was really fun! She then launched into the song, and she was jammin' so great! All too soon, song over, Mariah gone.

More Bill shenanagins, and then he announced Boyz II Men were in the house. The crowd freaked!

A potent combination

BIIM actually took the stage, and the crowd absolutely exploded! I honestly think it was more intense than when Mariah first came out, although not from me! I felt kinda' bad for her... Then the Boyz started into One Sweet Day, and Mariah appeared on cue to begin her verses. It was incredible! I'm still not a big BIIM fan, but the combination of them and Mariah was so potent! You could almost see the energy, even from my distance!

After Mariah and the Boyz finished and exited, the stage lights went dim and.... nothing! For another two minutes... nothing! "Oh, my Gawd!," I thought. "They're leaving a dead stage!" Not being an expert, even I know you never, ever leave a dead stage at a live concert!! You at least declare intermission and pipe in canned music! You have a drunk clown farting on stage! Someone reading from a book, anything! If this had been a rock concert, there would have been a pile of shit thrown all over that stage. And it didn't take long for even this crowd to respond, either. Larry got his first real taste of "Let's go, lar-ry!! clap-clap-clapclapclap, Let's go, lar-ry!! clap-clap-clapclapclap..." Some more radical concert goers behind me offered their version with "Lar-ry sucks! Lar-ry sucks!..." If this lack of entertainment had continued much longer than it did, I shudder to think how surly this crowd might have become! Even though the disparagement was directed at poor Larry, I still felt bad for Mariah, that this should occur during such a special event for her.

Mariah and Wanya perform I'll Be There for an anxious crowd

Mariah and Wanya took the stage, sitting along the front. They performed a lovely version of I'll Be There, although I still prefer Trey's accompaniment. The crowd really went wild when Wanya did his little solo bits, which I thought sounded rather forced. Again, I felt bad for Mariah at the amount of attention being lauded on her guest, and not on her. Maybe that's just me. They ended the number and left the stage.

Bill brought some audience members to the stage (without Mariah) and joked around with them. Again, thank goodness for Bill! I could only wonder where he was during that long break?

Mariah and BIIM return, having to perform OSD all over again. I don't know how, but it was even more intense than the first time!! Just shattering! Again, they close and exit.

Bill brings up 7 1/2 year-old Amanda to the stage. He clowns around with her for awhile, even usurping Walter A. from his piano bench to let Amanda demonstrate her piano scales and one chord for us! The crowd was very kind.

Mariah returned and talked to Amanda for a minute, ending with a "big juicy hug," according to Bill. This time she was wearing an ankle length matte black, strapless gown, with a big slit directly up the back.

Mariah launched into Hero, but was halted after a few moments by the ubiquitous Larry.

Mariah restarted Hero, and it doesn't take long to realize she's using a modified vocal arrangement. It was more ad lib sounding, and a wonderful but completely appropriate variation on the familiar. Simply beautiful! All too soon, song complete, Mariah vanished.

Mariah does what sounds at first like a perfect performance of Vision of Love. I was stunned, in awe, in love again like the first time. I have heard this song so many times over the years, and it was absolutely as beautiful as the first time she ever sang it. However, I think it was the drummer who failed to wait for her to indicate the opening beat after the intro chords, and they had to do a retake.

Mariah started into the second offering of VOL, but after only about 10 seconds into the vocals, the song was halted. Someone else (Jason?) indicated in his recollection it was Mariah's error, but I wasn't able to determine why they ceased. Being closer, he may have seen or heard something I missed.

VOL again, this time without a hitch. Still just as beautiful. I wished she had sang it even again.

A boy with an injured leg was brought onto the stage, and Mariah hugged him before he returns to his seat. Lucky bastard!

Mariah asked the horde of "Camp Mariah" sweatshirt-wearing kids in the front floor section if they could sing the "Camp Mariah" song. Apparently not, as it was never even attempted. Ungrateful urchins! (Of course, I jest)

Mariah then performed Without You, so beautifully, just wonderful. She then thanked everyone for coming and, well, that was it! The crowd cheered and clapped for a bit, then died down and began to filter from the arena.

Bill took the stage one last time, and also thanked everyone for coming, reminding us to watch the show on Fox on 29 November. Yeah, like we were gonna forget!

On my way back down the "A" tower, there were one or two youths with boxes of T-shirts at the ends of the escalators one 3 different levels. They were probably in the other 3 towers as well, and all of them were selling bootleg Mariah concert T-shirts, folks! They were only asking for $10 for these lightweight T's, and on the front was this kinda' crazy psychedelic version of the Fantasy cover, I believe, while the back showed her in her Daydream pose, with a contrived list of tour cities and the words "Daydream Tour '95."

After making my way down to street level, I decided to catch a cab back to LaGuardia to assess my overnight accomodations situation. On my way around the arena, I saw a moderate sized crowd gathered around a bunch of limos parked next to the Garden. "Wow," I thought, "might she actually still be here, leaving in one of these?" Apparently all those people had the same thought, and after 10 minutes or so, one of the limos pulled into the garage-door opening into the arena, returning a few minutes later. A good portion of the crowd swarmed down onto the limo as it exited, myself among them! It turned out to be O.D.B.'s mother, along with her friends. She was very nice, and didn't know if Mariah was still inside or not. We waited for some time, and eventually I saw a roadie come out with a backstage pass, so I asked him if she was still within. He didn't know either. Finally, after about 1/2 hour, two girls came walking from out of the garage door, looking disappointed and saying Mariah had left long ago. I don't know how they got in, but they seemed quite genuine. I was also a bit disappointed at having waited so long for nothing, but I had little else to do anyhow. I quickly hailed a cab and directed him back toward Queens.

He was a very cool Jamaican, and we had a great talk about reggae, Jamaica, New York, St. Louis, and how island heat makes women want to have sex a lot more (I kid you not!)

In the airport, I was hoping I could at least get down to the breakroom I used to hang out in during work, but the whole concourse is closed at 11:00pm! Damn! I sure could've used that couch down there. So, I sought out any comfortable spot in the terminal. Zilch. I headed down to baggage claim. There were a few rows of "padded" chairs, but you couldn't lay down because of the armrests, and my ass started falling asleep after about 20 minutes of slouched sitting. After some shifting about, I discovered this was not going to work! You cannot sleep when your ass is!

So, I was up and looking for any out-of-the-way horizontal surface on which to recline. Then, I remembered the baggage carousels! Each one has a platform around the top (about 5 feet up) which is carpeted. Not padded, but at least not bare stone or steel. I walked up the slanted metal carousel surface, and reached the platform beyond. Between the chute where the bags come down from the ceiling and a lighted display sign, there's a little cubbyhole about 3 1/2 feet wide by about 1 1/2 feet deep where I can curl and be practically unnoticed by anyone, unless they walked all the way around to this far side of the carousel. Since there were no bags for the rest of the night, there was little reason for this to occur. At 1:00am, I lay down on my side in a sort of ball, clutching my bag of Mariah T-shirts, and went to sleep.

At 3:30am, I was startled awake by a loud, rushing noise. I jerked my head up to see an alerted utility worker, busy polishing the tile floor with one of those big rotary brush machines. He seemed about as surprised to see me as I did him, but I just displayed my airline ticket folder, pointed to my watch, and layed back down. He didn't seem to care much and went back to his work.

At 5:05am I had been awake for a few minutes, having succumbed to the dull pain forming in my misaligned neck. I went over to the baggage service office to retrieve my small carry on bag, which incidentally had been locked away from me since 11:00pm the night before. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and hair (with different brushes,) and changed into a clean dress shirt.

Topped off with a touch of cologne, I was ready to board my plane to Charlotte, changing planes and continuing on to St. Louis. I don't remember either plane taking off, and I only vaguely remember both landings, having slept completely through all incidents between. Arriving back at Lambert Field at 10:15am CDT, it was hard to believe what I'd done in the past 26 hours, yet there I was with a head full of memories and two T-shirts to prove it!