MMI'S LIVE DVD IS VERY PLEASING

In April, 2005, singer/songwriter/producer Mariah Carey dropped her 12th album “The Emancipation of Mimi” which in addition to becoming her 3rd album to debut at the top of the album charts, became her biggest selling album since 1997’s “Butterfly” and a favorite among her fans and peers, who along with praising her for adding R&B and Hip-Hop with Pop, was asking the diva with the seven-octave range to tour, and after winning 3 Grammy Awards in the R&B Category, her first win since 1991 (she still should have won for Album of The Year), Mimi decided to hit the road, making it one of the industries long awaited tour in years. Now fans can see enjoy seeing it on her latest DVD “The Adventures of Mimi” which was filmed in Anaheim California last summer. Directed by Sanai Hami, the DVD has great editing, and shots that will make viewers think that they’re actually at the concert, enjoying the songstress strut her stuff, as well as interviews with Carey, her crew, and musical director Randy Jackson from American Idol and a mini movie directed by Spike Lee.
The adventure begins with a clip of co-producer Jermaine Dupri ad-libbing his part of her comeback hit “It’s Like That” while Carey comes from under the top stage sporting a black glittery bikini suit and long cape, with smoke blowing after she sings the opening line of the hit, before being joined by her dancers who are wearing black masks. What makes this opening hot are the vocals, the shots of her sexy DJ Suss One, after she sings ‘the do always spinning the cut.” It’s followed with Carey performing the remix and album versions of her 1999 top charting hit “Heartbreaker” which features close up of DA-Brat, Missy Elliot and Jay-Z’s video clips and a nice long shot capturing the male dancers on the main stage while Carey and the choreographers on the staircase strutting to the middle of the stage which gains a loud round of applause from the audience, who goes crazy when she performs “Dreamlover, where she sings in mid and lower ranges and incorporates The Notorious B.I.G.’S debut single “Juicy” into the song, reminding people that she’s the undisputed Queen of remixes. After acknowledging some of the fans, she launches into “My All”, which has a nice Soulful Latin feel thanks to the guitarist, her longtime background vocalist Trey Lorenz and the Aunt/niece duo Maryanne and Sherry Tatum and two of her dancers performing salsa in a silhouette, before joining the males during the house version of the song, before DJ Suss One hypes the crowd by telling the ladies to get up and bounce, while Mimi returns, sporting shades to perform “Shake It Off” strutting seductively in front of her large set of glittery letters spelling her nickname and on a stripper pole. After changing into a yellow gown, Mimi takes the audience down memory lane with a soulful version of her debut single “Vision of Love” displaying her Opera and Gospel roots, further demonstrated on the inspirational “Fly Like A Bird,” which she was backed by a Gospel Choir. She later joined by Lorenz for their rendition of The Jackson 5ive’s classic “I’ll Be There” which wins cheers and giggles from the audience thanks Lorenz’s smooth falsetto, and their joking ad libs.
After changing into a black-sequenced butterfly top, skin-tight jeans, Carey and the male dancers wearing black sequenced wind breakers are escorted to a stage in the middle of the audience where she performs “Fantasy” featuring the video clips of the late Old Dirty Bastard, performing his trademark line ‘Me and Mariah go back like babies and pacifiers” has the audience jumping, along with the percussion and live breaks. After thanking God and the fans, she performs “Don’t Forget About Us” and “Always My Baby” which has couples cuddling and singing to each other.
She returns to the big stage during “Honey” where she dances with her dancers dressed like Maries and cheerleaders performing various routines including Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal“ and the wop, while Mimi drops the floor smoothly before performing a brief medley of “I Wish You Knew” and “Can’t Let Go” which would have been nice had she sang one of my all time favorite songs in it’s entirely, but the performance from her background vocals and her hitting her high note compensates for the loss as well as her bringing Boyz II Men on stage to sing their record breaking classic “One Sweet Day” which has the audience in tears. Especially those who lost loved ones. Before performing “Hero,” Carey speaks about the song had helped her through her own trials and tribulations. “In times in my life that I had to turn on that song lyrics myself and flip it to my own life” she says before performing the classic and “Make It Happen” which features the choir returning to back her up.
After leaving, Mimi returns for the encore performance of her Grammy Award winning single “We Belong Together” earning a standing ovation.
The DVD was great, but it would have been nicer had she perform more of her hits including “Someday,” “Emotions” “The Roof” and “Lover Boy.” Those songs would have mad the DVD complete, but it was a nice DVD seeing Mariah Carey reap the benefits of her career and sharing a nice show with her fans.