MARIAH CARRIES ON
The legendary pop diva gave Bangkok a moving show
Mariah Carey came to town as the final stop on her Asian tour, playing the near-capacity crowd at a hall in Bitec Bangna after the supposedly more dramatic setting of Borobudur. “Mariah Carey Live In Concert” last Friday lasted barely 90 minutes, with a set heavy with her 90s R&B hits and a couple of new songs from her latest album, Caution, which comes out this week. No Christmas songs on the set list, though I’m sure quite a few of us sort of half-hoped there would be.
For her fans — and there were plenty of them there, singing along passionately — it was always a treat. Carey is a professional entertainer, with her Las Vegas residency and all, and she knew the crowd would love whatever she sang. For casual listeners, there was something perfunctory about the show, the obligatory costume changes, and the diligent yet anodyne backup dancers. Carey is nowhere near a nostalgia act, but still the experience was strictly a 90s one. In any case, it was pleasant to savour her voice and her relaxed virtuosity. After the mandatory sawasdee kha, she went right into it with Fly Away, Honey, Shake It Off and Make It Happen, upbeat tunes to key everybody up. She didn’t sing Dream Lover, but let her chorus do it in a medley while she went backstage to change (that would happen a couple times more). Fantasy, a track that reminded me of the skateboard days in Bangkok, came next, and it remained kind of effective in its lollipop abandon. Emotions, too, got the crowd roaring. Even those at the farthest back rows were enthusiastic in their support, a clear sign of the devotion Carey still commands from many fans.
The second part featured two new songs: With You and The Distance. These, the first two cuts from her new album, have the familiar R&B sensibility of her heyday. The peak, such as it was (one quibble is that the show spread out too evenly without having a real peak), came in the final stretch, with her radio hits Touch My Body, We Belong Together and, of course, Hero, which brought the hall into a chorus, and which likely will be the song she’s forever remembered for.
Carey is nowhere near a nostalgia act, but still the experience was strictly a 90s one