The Adventures of Mimi

The Adventures of Mimi

Tour by Mariah Carey
Associated album	The Emancipation of Mimi
Start date	July 22, 2006 (2006-07-22)
End date	October 28, 2006 (2006-10-28)
Legs	3
Number of shows	2 in Africa 32 in North America 6 in Asia 40 Total
Box office	$42.5 million
Mariah Carey concert chronology

The Adventures of Mimi was a 2006 concert tour of arenas by American R&B singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was one of a few tours in her then-sixteen-year career and was 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. At the end of 2006, the tour placed 24th on Pollstar's "Top 100 Tours", earning $27.9 million with 32 shows from the North American leg.^[2]

Background

Mariah Carey performing in Tampa, Florida on August 7, 2006.

Unlike her previous tour, three years prior, Carey 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.^[3]

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 "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.

Mariah Carey performing with the first costume.

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.

Throughout the tour, there were some canceled dates due to poor ticket sales, including one such show that was canceled for Hong Kong.^[4] In regards to the Hong Kong incident, tour manager Benny Medina stated 8,000 tickets had been sold 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." The promoter, however, stated the show had to be canceled as 4,000 tickets were actually sold, and "unreasonable demands" were being made by Carey.^[5]

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.^[6][7]

Some critics commented on the short length of the show, especially given that she was offstage for several breaks while undergoing costume changes,^[8][9] 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.^[10]

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.

Set list

This set list is representative of the official DVD tracklisting. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.^[11]

Shows

Additional Notes

• 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."^[3]
• Carey performed a show at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on July 29, 2006 as part of the Pepsi Smash concert series. These tickets were not available to the public. Only winners selected through an online contest. The show featured the same stage setting but a shortened setlist with some different costumes.
• A planned second Madison Square Garden date was also scrapped.^[6] At least thirteen shows on the North American tour sold out, while dates were added in Canada.^[6] Canada offered her fast ticket sales and a favorable financial conditions.^[15]

Cancelled shows

Personnel

Notes

References

External links

• Media related to The Adventures of Mimi Tour at Wikimedia Commons