May 31st was the day I purchased my three tickets thru Ticketmaster for “The Adventures of Mimi” concert at Continental Arena, NJ. Section 111, Row 19, Seats 11-13. I was fooled into thinking these were good seats seeing how I spent over 500 bucks with the add-ons. After almost three months to think about who I would bring along, I decided on the biggest Mariah Carey fan I personally know, my oldest sister, as well as her older daughter. During the three month period, I had the tendency to regret buying tickets for a concert by an artist that I wasn’t “head over heals” for. The night before examining the seating chart, I came to the conclusion that I have ****** seats. So I prayed: “God, despite the fact that I have ******-excuse my language, bad seats, please make this concert worth while!”

So now it’s the big day (Sunday, 8/27). We arrive at 6:48 P.M. The workers at Continental welcome everyone with “No cameras allowed!” In the lobby, we are joined by an extremely diverse group of concert goers. Hundreds of eager fans are waiting for the doors to open. Meanwhile, a man is going around, yelling out “Programs, Programs!” I raise my hand. I purchase it for $25. I know, I know; I’m really dragging this story/review out. I’ll skip through a few bits…

After buying some snacks, sitting in our ****** seats which are to the side of the stage, and waiting a long-ass time; “Shunna Pul” hits the stage! Though enjoyable, I was pissed that I spent so much money for such cheap seats. So the intermission occurs. My sister, niece, and I sit there rather depressed we won’t get to enjoy the concert to the fullest. But then a small crowd begins to grow next at the first row, between the closed Section 112 and Section 111. We ask the girl in front of us who seems to know this tour as if she has been at every date if she knows what is going on. She responds with “I don’t know” and then a few jokes are passed back & forth.

After that, these two giddy Jersey girls storm up the steps, yelling “They’re giving out better tickets!” Within a millisecond, my sister is down at the first row trying her best to get tickets. I grab my niece (she’s eight, by the way). She wasn’t running fast enough so I decided to pick her up and jet down the steps lol. I am then joined by about 30 people begging for tickets. My sister’s method was to wait patiently and so she did. She told us (my niece & I) to go sit down. Once again, we sit their depressed as we see the small crowd disappears. But I then notice that my sister’s social self ends up talking to this woman (who is joined by her husband) who happens to be experiencing the same problem as we are. Afterwards, they talk to one of Mariah’s roadies who was initially giving out the “better tickets.” My sister asks him for five tickets. He responds with a loud “five!?” My sister then explains that this woman and her husband are experiencing the same problem as we three are. As I stare from 19 rows above, I see my sister taking a seat in the first row of 111 and smiles at me and. The woman, who I don’t know, waves for us to come down. We’re excited now! My sister tells me that the roadie is trying to get better seats for us but it’ll take some time. We are immediately brought to a halt when the lights go down.

Mariah arrives, well on screen. The “Rollercoaster” intro airs and it was actually pretty nice. The “It’s Like That” beat kicks in and she finally is on stage, looking good in usual Mariah attire (you know what I mean, haha) and the crowd goes WILD. I wasn’t so into it because I was feeling a bit insecure in the beginning (I’m not good around large groups of people, especially in the thousands haha) but this was easily the best vocal & overall performance of ILT that I have seen or heard. Next is “Heartbreaker”; which started off in the remix form. I got my hopes up, expecting Da Brat to come but she didn’t lol. So then the song goes into regular form. Interruption! The roadie comes out and moves us to the first row of 110. We can see the entire stage and we are now fully satisfied, oh and the fact that we’re less than ten feet away from the stage was a plus too. And then something even more miraculous happens; Mariah Carey approaches our section and we all start screaming. Mariah then zones in on my shy little niece who just began to open up because she is a fan of the song. Mariah proceeds to wink and wave at her. My sister & I are instantly smiling out of happiness and my niece crawls into a shy little ball again lol. Nothing else major but the song was a pretty good vocal performance and she didn’t have that much difficultly hitting the whistle register at the end though it seemed brief. Mariah goes backstage.

Within a few seconds, “Dreamlover” begins to play. It’s a big personal favorite so I began to open up a bit, lipping and moving along to the song. The song goes into remix form, sampling “Juicy.” It sounded pretty good. Vocally, it was another hot one. Again she goes backstage and soon returns with a rousing performance of “My All.” The song ended off by fading into the Club Mix, which played for like two minutes while she changed.

It’s time for “Shake It Off”, without the MIMI sign which she told us broke. Very nice performance and look, here she comes towards our section again. I try my best to get her attention by screaming and she actually waves at me (!) and, again, she spots my niece and winks. And once again, Mariah ruins it for my niece who actually started to enjoy herself again lol. When the song is over, she tells the audience that she is going to perform “Vision Of Love” though she supposedly hesitated about doing it. The crowd went mad when she performed, and so did me & my sister. The song was so intense that this huge surge of soul empowered me. I was alive and a pure lamb from that moment on.

The soulful experience continues as a choir enters the stage. Mariah informs the audience that she’ll be performing; you guessed it, “Fly Like A Bird” and tells us about what went down in NYC. That whole situation was pretty funny and she apologized ahead of time if she was to stop if the pastor was not there. My sister then yells “he’s there, he’s there, he’s there!” lol. Anyway, that performance was solid, just like VOL. It was a very inspiring and spiritual performance for the whole audience. And she killed it at the end with the whistle register. The crowd went mad, yet again.

Mariah then spoke to the crowd like she has been doing most of the night. She happens to be very intimate with her fans and she is most definitely NOT a diva or whatever the media portrays her as. Then appears two mics instead of one…you know what that means. It’s time for “I’ll Be There” with the help of Trey Lorenz, who in my opinion, is the male vocal equivalent to Mariah Carey. They both killed it and got the whole crowd moving with all of that soul flowing thru the arena. Mariah then left the stage while Trey was left entertaining the crowd. He was really good, in fact, he made a fan out of me. He did a little tribute to Luther Vandross by singing one on my favorites, “Never Too Much”, as well as “A House Is Not A Home” and a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy.” He then left the stage and a pink, mirror-like object descended from above the stage.

There Mariah was, all the way by Stage B being escorted by her guards onto the stage. She began with my favorite, “Fantasy”, with ODB on the widescreen. It was a huge crowd pleaser and a great, but distant performance. She then went on to talk about “Don’t Forget About Us” is her 17th No.1 hit and how thankful she was. She proceeded to perform it and she nailed it. Everything was so good about this performance. It seemed as if she was holding some of these notes for days. “Always Be My Baby” followed, which now seems like her signature hit, since it’s the most common Mariah Carey classic you hear on the radio and the crowd’s reaction was monstrous. Near the end of the performance, when she was ad-libbing, she walked back, holding flowers that a fan had given her, to the main stage with her guards. She didn’t get the chance to attain all the flowers seeing as how the guards weren’t allowing it but she made note of it right before she actually walked the isle.

Just as she is going back stage to quickly set up for her next performance, the beat for the So So Def remix of “Honey” kicks in. Within seconds, she arrives and the regular album version begins. She got the crowd going, of course. Oh and look, here she comes and waves at my sister, niece, & I, yet again. It was great vocal performance and one of the better up-tempos of the night. She then leaves and it is DJ Clue’s turn to entertain the crowd. He got me moving a lot lol. He was so good on the turntables. It’s great that Mariah kept her audience so entertained while she was preparing for the rest of the show.

Here she comes singing a very small portion of “I Wish You Knew” almost entirely in the whistle register. The crowd went mad. Mariah then talks a bit about “Can’t Let Go” and performs the chorus & the looooong whistle note at the end of the song that was sadly was excluded from the radio edit. I swear, the note sounded even higher than it did on recording. Mariah then asks Trey to join her on a small bit of “Thank God I Found You/Make It Last” which sounded very nice.

After that, Mariah addressed the crowd on how a special guest is in the arena and it’s his birthday as well. Then Mariah says “Please welcome my friend, Mario!” and she went backstage. He performed the first line of the first verse in “Let Me Love You” twice which I was singing aloud to lol. Mariah then joined him again and they performed a good portion of “One Sweet Day” which was so good to hear. Mario then left the stage.

Mariah then told the audience that she’ll be performing “Hero” and expected the crowd to not be willing to hear it. She was wrong. The crowd really felt the performance. She redefined the song for pretty much everyone in the audience. It was really nice when she started singing “there’s a hero inside of you, and you, and you, and you, and you, etc.” She then followed that with a little vocal freestyle. It was truly a beautiful & inspirational performance.

The inspiration continued but in up-tempo form. She performed one of her favorites, “Make It Happen”, which got the crowd moving, surprisingly since it was one of the two notorious but great singles that ended her streak of No.1’s. Mariah then left to go backstage because it was the end of the concert, well, supposedly. The crowd was still wanting more and what’s this? An encore? Surprise, surprise! Here she comes singing the song that put her back on the map. She doesn’t know it but she is about to change my life forever…

“We Belong Together” is the song she chose for her encore. It was a great choice, indeed. Everyone seemed to singing along, including myself. Here she comes towards my section ending off the second verse of the song, approaching the chorus. I was so into the moment that I had no idea what I was about to do. I tilted my head to the side as if I were passionately singing to her. What happens that is so life changing? Mariah Carey then extends her arm towards me we are both making eye contact for 10 seconds straight while singing the following lines:

It ain't even half of what
I'm feeling inside
I need you
Need you back in my life, baby

When you left I lost a part of me

I know, it sounds surreal and it sure felt like a dream but it wasn’t. I’ve been going crazy ever since it happened and I’ll never get over it. When she sings “when you left”, she is supposed to point her thumb to the right (choreographed, I guess lol) and it was pretty delayed, all because of me lol.

Mariah then ends off the performance with that amazing long note at the end of the song. She then returns backstage, while performing a small portion of “Butterfly.” And that was the end of the concert.

I know it sounds extremely cheesy but this whole experience really was life-changing. I am so thankful that God, not only answered my prayers, but made this show one of the highlights of my life, so far. It was an incredible night that I’ll never forget.

P.S. Sorry for writing an epic lol

i heard she sang 8 songs in Atlantic city and people got mad......

Wow, you were really moved (feelings wise)

I'm glad things worked out and you all had a great time, which I think you might have had anyway even in the not-so-good seats but still, you paid a heck of a lot of money so well done to your sister for talking to the roadie. Plus, I guess the other seats wouldn't have allowed for such a unique experience and 'contact'.

I've never been to a Mariah concert but I would love to at some point (and Bon Jovi ).

NICE! I'm really happy for you. I so wanna see her again ,she is really amazing at concerts . DAMN LUCKY YOU!

btw, She didn't perform "Get your Number" ?

I would never pay that much money for any concert..EVER. $500!!!

Anyways, it seemed to work out for you. Cool u got good seats and had a "moment" with her.

Did she have a double chin?

Is she fat in person?

lol j/k anyway good to see you enjoy her show. Mariah

He didn't go for a kelly clarkson concert, duh.

lol, AWESOME Brian...cheesy is good in this situation. Got pics? ^ _ ^

Mig123 - You're talking about the Mohegan Sun concert. She performed 14 songs at that show. Apparently, she actually sounded good. Anyway, she builds her setlists around the size of the venue.

Adora - Thanks! My sister compromises in w/e situation. She so good at doing so lol. And yes, I'm sure it would have a great show even if I was in the crappy seats. I really recommend you see her, she is quite the entertainer. I wasn't expecting this at all.

Mazen - LOL, I guess I'm pretty lucky. But no, she didn't perform GYN. Someone is the audience was requesting "Your Girl" though but she she informed them she wouldn't be performing it. I'm kind of glad she only did the TEOM singles. I really wanted to hear the classics and I got that chance, which I am grateful for.

Rokker - It was worth it!

NG - Thanks :-). She is actually NOT fat like you see in those pictures lecktriker-w/e likes to post continuously or those pictures you see in the media. She is skinny everywhere except for her stomach where she has a small pouch. And she's actually very pretty in person.

Jason - Like it said in the second paragraph, "No cameras allowed!" They were REALLY strict with that as well. They were patrolling the entire audience. They threatened to kick people out of the venue as well.

I find the camera thing really annoying, I can see why they wouldn't want professional cameras but regular film and digital should be ok; particularly in large venues.

I was going to ask if you were allowed to keep them, it would have been a riot if they tried to refuse entry, say it wasn't their problem or confiscate them. I'd be very annoyed if they tried that, which some might at smaller venues.

Lol I can't believe you bought a program on top of ticket price! But hey, as long as the three of you felt it was worth it and evidently you did .

lol, so nothing from the whole venue or anything, like an outside of the stadium pic?

I saw her when she kicked off the tour here in Tampa FL on August 7. It was AMAZING!!!!! This girl can SING *LIVE* and yes she is SMOKIN HOTT! <33

Mariah is awesome. That would be cool if you got her autograph. Hello eBay! Or picture frame, lol. How surreal, but creepy at the same time!

Adora - Yes, I bought a program as well as this hot poster lol. My niece bought this collection of Mariah pins or w/e. And we also bought some snacks. There was so much to choose from so I wish I had more money with me.

Oh that reminds me, at the end of the concert, during "Butterfly", they used these cannon like objects to blow confetti like butterflies into the air. Me & my sister managed to catch 10 and then another roadie comes over to us dumps like 50 on my niece's head lol. So I have a alot. Believe it or not, those butterflies were high on demand. You can only get them if your in the first few rows.

Jason - Only one pic on my cell. It's of the stage right after show. This woman who worked at the arena walked up to us and told us we weren't allowed to but we begged her just for one so, for some reason, she told us to move up a couple of steps and it would be okay. I really don't know the whole ordeal but if any other recent concert goers can inform me, it would be greatly appreciated.

***** - I'm glad I'm not the only one to hear how awesome she sounded & looked. Don't believe everything you hear, people. Mariah is still on top.

dnr - Creepy is actually a good way to put it.

lucky bastard

LMAO, got it Brian...they are making it sound "top secret" or something...lol, you "*****..."

LOL, I forgot his name.

MD has Pictures & Audio from the same night.

Mariah Daily is seriously THE place to go for lambs. That site is heaven.

I'm glad you had a great time. My friend Vinny got to meet Mariah, she signed his poster, talked with him for 10 minutes and took a picture. So I guess Mariah isn't the diva-bitch I thought but she is still a diva. 500 dollars for a concert is ridiculous but as long as you get ur money's worth then go for it. She's pissin me off with not singin Butterfly, ugh.