The Adventures of Mimi Tour

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The Adventures of Mimi Tour
Tour by Mariah Carey
Start date July 22, 2006
End date October 28, 2006
Legs 3
Shows 2 in Africa
32 in North America
6 in Asia
40 in Total
5 Cancelled
Mariah Carey tour chronology
Charmbracelet World Tour
(2003-2004)
The Adventures of Mimi Tour
(2006)

The Adventures of Mimi Tour was a 2006 concert tour of arenas by American R&B/pop singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. Named after a fan's "Carey-centric" diary of the same name,[1] 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.

Contents

[edit] History

Unlike her previous tour, the Charmbracelet World Tour, three years prior, Mariah started this tour 16 months after the release of her latest album, the extremely successful The Emancipation of Mimi. She had initially not wanted to tour, dreading the long travel times and not needing one to promote the already best-selling 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.[2]

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" 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.

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.

During breaks in the tour, Carey reportedly was continuing to write and develop concept ideas, and possibly record, for a new album.

The tour ended with unfortunate drama as her concluding Hong Kong performance was cancelled because of low ticket sales and what promoters said were the pop star's "unreasonable demands." [1] 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 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."[citation needed]

[edit] Tour Personnel

Enlarge

[edit] Production staff

[edit] Executives

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

[edit] Show

  • Tour Manager: Teri Lynn
  • Show Director: Barry Lather
  • Musical Director: Randy Jackson
  • Choreography: Rich & Tone
  • Choreographer: Rachel McIntosh
  • 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: Lou Ablahani
  • Costume Designer: June Ambrose
  • Dressmaker: Nile Cmylo
  • Personal Assistant/ LAC LMT: Lisa Ripi
  • Personal Trainer: Patricia Gay

[edit] On-stage performers

[edit] 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

[edit] Dancers

  • Rachel McIntosh
  • Eddie Morales
  • Earl Wright
  • Michelle Brooke
  • Bryan Tanaka
  • Russel Wright

[edit] Special guest appearances

[edit] 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.

[edit] Setlist

Enlarge

This is the setlist performed most frequently.[3]

Main stage
Rollercoaster film with Mariah narration
Costume 1 - black bikini lingerie with cape

DJ Clue break - old school cuts

Costume 2 - yellow/orange gown

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

B stage
Costume 3 - bikini top with capri pants and a chain

Back to main stage

DJ Clue break - current hiphop and club cuts

Enlarge

Costume 4 - green/turquoise gown

Encore
Costume 5 - beige gown

Band only, as Mariah leaves - "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 butteryfly confetti shot into the crowd)

Band only, as Mariah is carried away by two guys - "Butterfly" (Reprise)

Other songs performed at individual shows included "Without You", "Stay the Night", "Breakdown", "I Wish You Knew", and snippets of "I Know What You Want", "Friend of Mine", "Melt Away", "Close My Eyes" ,"My Saving Grace", "Joyride", "Love Takes Time" and "Your Girl". The setlist was often tweaked, sometimes changing snippets to a full treatment, cutting out Spike Lee's video skits, or even foregoing construction of the B Stage. 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.

[edit] 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."[2]

Date City Country Venue
Africa
July 22 Tunis Tunisia Stade El Menzah
July 24 Tunis Tunisia Stade El Menzah
North America
Date City Country Venue
August 5 Miami United States AmericanAirlines Arena
August 7 Tampa United States St. Pete Times Forum
August 9 Atlanta United States Philips Arena
August 11 Philadelphia United States Wachovia Center
August 13 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre
August 15 Montreal Canada Bell Centre
August 17 Atlantic City United States Trump Taj Mahal
August 19 Atlantic City United States Trump Taj Mahal
August 21 Boston United States TD Banknorth Garden
August 23 New York City United States Madison Square Garden
August 25 Uncasville, Connecticut United States Mohegan Sun Arena
August 27 East Rutherford, New Jersey United States Continental Airlines Arena
August 29 Toronto Canada Air Canada Center
September 1 Albany United States Pepsi Arena
September 3 Wantagh, New York United States Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
September 5 Syracuse United States Turning Stone Casino & Resort
September 7 Washington, D.C. United States Verizon Center
September 9 Detroit United States Palace of Auburn Hills
September 11 Chicago United States United Center
September 14 Houston United States Toyota Center
September 16 Dallas United States American Airlines Center
September 19 Winnipeg Canada MTS Centre
September 21 Edmonton Canada Rexall Place
September 23 Vancouver Canada GM Place
September 25 Calgary Canada Pengrowth Saddledome
September 27 Sacramento United States Arco Arena
September 30 Las Vegas United States MGM Grand
October 2 Oakland United States Oakland Arena
October 4 San Diego United States iPayOne Center
October 6 Los Angeles United States Staples Center
October 8 Anaheim United States Honda Center
October 10 Phoenix United States US Airways Center
Asia
Date City Country Venue
October 16 Tokyo Japan Nippon Budokan
October 18 Nagoya Japan Nagoya Rainbow Hall
October 20 Tokyo Japan Saitama Super Arena
October 21 Tokyo Japan Saitama Super Arena
October 24 Osaka Japan Osaka Jo Hall
October 25 Osaka Japan Osaka Jo Hall
October 28 Hong Kong - CANCELLED China Tamar Site

[edit] Commercial reception

Commercial reception[3][4]
Date Venue Attendance Ticket Grossing
Tickets Sold Tickets On Sale Percentage Sold
August 5, 2006 AmericanAirlines Arena - Miami, FL 13,156 13,156 100% $1,074,620
August 7, 2006 St. Pete Times Forum - Tampa, FL 13,354 13,542 98.6% $714,455
August 9, 2006 Philips Arena - Atlanta, GA 11,226 13,288 84.5% $660,595
August 11, 2006 Wachovia Center - Philadelphia, PA 15,160 15,160 100% $979,702
August 13, 2006 Air Canada Centre - Toronto, ON 13,532 13,532 100% $1,019,580
August 15, 2006 Bell Centre - Montreal, QC 13,200 14,161 93% $1,046,560
August 17, 2006 Trump Taj Mahal-Atlantic City, NJ
August 19, 2006
August 21, 2006 TD Banknorth Garden - Boston, MA 11,993 14,922 80% $1,034,794
August 23, 2006 Madison Square Garden - New York City, NY 13,930 13,930 100% $1,300,400
August 25, 2006
August 27, 2006 Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, NJ 12,697 13,525 94% $1,076,790
August 29, 2006 Air Canada Centre - Toronto, ON 13,532 13,532 100% $1,019,581
September 1, 2006 Pepsi Arena - Albany, NY 6,519 6,519 100% $449,248
September 3, 2006 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater - Wantagh, NY 11,725 13,855 85% $654,534
September 5, 2006
September 7, 2006 Verizon Center - Washington, DC 12,121 14,199 85.3% $839,643
September 9, 2006 Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, MI 12,804 12,804 100% $894,399
September 11, 2006 United Center - Chicago, Ill 12,958 13,930 93% $919,268
September 14, 2006 Toyota Center - Houston, TX 11,252 11,830 95% $828,293
September 16, 2006 American Airlines Center - Dallas, TX 10,521 11,494 91% $806,096
September 19, 2006 MTS Centre - Winnipeg, MB 8,915 9,557 93% $611,223
September 21, 2006 Rexall Place - Edmonton, AB 12,013 12,578 96% $880,306
September 23, 2006 GM Place - Vancouver, BC 14,189 14,652 97% $1,223,100
September 25, 2006 Pengrowth Saddledome - Calgary, AB 11,984 11,984 100% $815,242
September 27, 2006 ARCO Center - Sacramento, CA 12,353 12,510 99% $938,106
September 30, 2006 MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, NV 13,730 13,730 100% $1,844,530
October 2, 2006 Oakland Arena - Oakland, CA 12,510 13,585 92% $960,369
October 4, 2006 IPayOne Center - San Diego, CA 9,480 10,000 95% $765,431
October 6, 2006 Staples Center - Los Angeles, CA 12,844 13,882 92% $1,230,397
October 8, 2006 Honda Center - Anaheim, CA 11,475 12,024 95% $918,283
October 10, 2006 US Airways Arena - Phoenix, AZ 12,049 13,136 92% $880,739
October 16, 2006
October 18, 2006
October 20, 2006
October 21, 2006
October 24, 2006
October 25, 2006
TOTALS 341,222 361,017 94.5% $26,386,290

Note: Shows in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Denver, and Seattle were originally scheduled, but cancelled due to low ticket sales.[5] A planned second Madison Square Garden date was also scrapped.[5] At least six shows on the tour sold out, while dates were added in Canada.[5] (Canada offered her fast ticket sales and a favorable financial conditions.)[6] Sales in Japan have been quite strong [3], although as previously mentioned the final show in Hong Kong was cancelled allegedly partly due to low ticket sales. [2]

[edit] Critical reception

Reviews of the tour were generally positive. 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.[5]

Other critics commented on the short length of the show, especially given that she was offstage for several breaks while undergoing costume changes,[7][8] 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.[9]

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). On the other hand, Carey did appear in Africa for the first time ever.

[edit] Broadcasts and recordings

According to her musical director Randy Jackson, the show at Honda Center in Anaheim on October 8, 2006 will apparently be used for a future DVD release and possibly a television special. Indeed, Carey had a pre-concert taping at the Anaheim location, apparently in order to include fans, regulate the lighting, and review other technical aspects in preparation for the night's actual concert taping. The DVD's name will be: "The Adventures of Mimi" Tour DVD.

[edit] References