Mariah Carey

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

I am very interested in performers’ having residencies in Las Vegas. I think it seems like it would be great for the performer and is certainly great for people who want to go to see the show. I looked at who was here while we are here, and Mariah Carey seemed the best choice. We weren’t sure if we knew any non-Christmas music of hers (and there was no Christmas music tonight), but we were game just to see what a residency was like.

The show was in the Dolby Live, attached to the Park MGM. It was a very pretty hall with seating for 6400. We were sitting way, way up high in the second from the back row. The tickets were extremely reasonable up there. We went into a “Dolby experience” booth in the lobby to hear with and without Dolby sound. As we walked away, an employee asked us about our experience in the booth, then asked if we would like to be in a lottery for seats close to the stage. I told her thank you, but we weren’t big enough fans to warrant sitting close – someone who really would love it should get the tickets. She seemed quite taken aback and said that was the nicest thing she had ever heard. (I bet it wasn’t, but she was sincere in the moment.)

We knew about 5 songs, and it was better when we knew the songs. Keith was amazed (“Wow”) when she soared into the stratosphere. I said it is her thing – she can sing so high. He continued to be amazed every time she did it. I really did like hearing her do it live.

The projections behind her were like going to the Arte Museum again – pretty amazing stuff. There was a wide-open space in the center of the stage. Her six dancers were definitely talented but rarely danced together – just individual dancing – so it felt like they were a little lost in that big space. After the first 35 minutes, the curtains pulled from the sides about a quarter of the way (enough to hide the band) and one of the back-up singers thanked us for coming. I seriously thought it was over and was really surprised. Huuuuh. You could still see the piano player and he played (beautifully) by himself for 5 minutes, then Mariah came back and the show went on. The curtains did not pull back for another 45 minutes and we did not see the band again until close to the end. I wonder what the band thinks of that.

Two amazingly loud young women were seated in front of us. They sometimes sang and danced in their seats, but mostly they shouted at each other and laughed. The music was so loud it rattled my seat and made my left eardrum buzz, but we could still hear the two girls. We were on the end of the row and the next ten seats were empty. Keith suggested we move down. So better! After one more song, the woman originally two rows ahead of us stood up to dance in aisle (which she did for the whole rest of the show) and the loud girls moved down the row so we could hear them again. Sigh. But funny.

Today is blogversary! Three years ago today we were in the airport, ready to go to Wales. I am surprised, and actually delighted, that we have a three-year record of our times. Yay.