Mariah: #1 to Infinity was a concert residency by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It began on May 6, 2015 and concluded on July 18, 2017. The show featured all eighteen of Carey's US number-one hits in chronological order.
Background[]
Carey announced the residency during her interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The announcement follows reports that Canadian singer Celine Dion would not be returning to the venue who postponed her shows so that she could continue to take care of her ill husband. Later that spring 2015 Celine announced that she will return to Caesars Palace on August 27, 2015. Speaking of the residency, Carey said "I'm going to do my first ever residency in Vegas at Caesars. This is a special event for me. And again, I have to hope that the fans will enjoy this cause I'm gonna be performing, which was kind of inspired by my album #1's, and this is now the updated version with eighteen of them. Hopefully other people will enjoy this. I've never done this before." Tickets went on sale January 15, 2015.
Concert synopsis[]
The show begins with an extended version of the "Vision of Love" intro that plays as the curtain opens. Carey, standing on the center platform, is brought to the center of the stage by the mechanism behind the platform. Rocking a wig reminiscent of the debut-Emotions eras hairstyle and a long black gown, Carey then leaves the center platform, interacts with the audience and performs "Love Takes Time". The lights go out and the band starts playing a new version of "Someday" sampling TLC's "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg". The song starts, the lights come back on and the dancers bring several colored doors on stage. Carey, as soon as the first verse starts, walks through one of the doors singing the song, only to walk off stage during the dance break after the bridge. Carey then comes back to finish the song and introduce "I Don't Wanna Cry", the only song she performs alone on stage, as a set of sheer Austrian curtains that change colors drops, separating her from the band. The lights go out and Carey walks off stage. "Big Jim" Wright, Carey's musical director, plays a familiar melody on the piano as she walks back on stage and starts singing the "Emotions" intro, segueing into the full song. For the performance of "I'll Be There", Carey calls Trey Lorenz on stage and they perform the song together. The arrangement features pre-recorded vocals from Michael Jackson towards the end, paired with pictures of young Carey and Jackson on the big screen. The performance ends with a picture of Carey and Jackson hugging at the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert. During Carey's first costume change, the band plays an abridged version of the C&C remix of "Anytime You Need a Friend". On the screen, pictures of Carey with famous people such as Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle and Oprah, intertwined with clips from several music videos and other miscellaneous footage, are displayed.
The second act of the concert starts with "Dreamlover". The screen displays a gas station in the middle of the desert (dubbed "Mimi's Drive In") with several references to the lyrics of the song. Carey arrives on stage wearing a glittery mini-dress with a knee-length white skirt riding a pink third generation Ford Thunderbird, is aided by the dancers out of the car and the song's instrumental changes (The Emotions' "Blind Alley" sample turns into "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume and vocal samples from The Notorious B.I.G. are heard throughout the second half of the song). Eventually, a dancer wearing a tuxedo is brought out of the trunk and carries Carey to the center platform, where a windy grating blows her skirt, recreating Marilyn Monroe's iconic scene from The Seven Year Itch. The lights go out, Carey introduces "Hero" and performs it standing on the platform with a mic stand as the lights come back on, revealing Carey lacking the white skirt from the previous number. Carey walks off stage ad-libbing over the "Hero Reprise" outro and the lights go out once again.
The third act starts with Carey off stage humming the first few notes of the "Fantasy" remix a cappella, followed by O.D.B.'s verse. The song starts and dancers on bicycles with balloons arrive on stage as a Mariah Carey-themed amusement park is displayed on the screen in the background. Carey performs the song and later interacts with the audience, leading her to call Trey Lorenz and Daniel Moore II to the stage to perform "One Sweet Day". For the performance of "Always Be My Baby", Carey walks through the audience with the help of a dancer and several security guards. As Carey is backstage doing a costume change, the band plays a mellow melody while the background singers step to the center of the stage and perform a medley of "Always Be My Baby" and "Butterfly".
During the fourth act of the show, Carey appears on stage to sing "Honey" donning a black swimsuit with gold details and riding a jet ski, alluding to the song's official music video. She's eventually helped by the dancers out of the jet ski and performs the song standing up. Towards the end of the number, Carey goes back to the jet ski and is taken off stage.
The next song, "My All", is preceded by a ballet performance accompanied by an instrumental Spanish guitar interlude that, as it goes on, gradually features more instruments such as bass, synth strings and percussion. When the song starts, Carey comes back wearing a salmon pink dress with silver glittery details and sings the song. On the screen behind her a body of water with a lighthouse in the distance is displayed, all in black and white. After the song, she leaves the stage and the band starts playing a soul-infused instrumental version of the next number, "Heartbreaker", paired with red movie theater walls displayed on the upstage wing-shaped screens. Carey is then brought back on stage and the screen is divided in thirds: the edges display the outside of a movie theater with a sign for the movie "Mariah & Bianca in Heartbreaker", while the center part of the screen shows several renderings of Carey's signature animated character. Carey sings the first verse over the remix instrumental, featuring pre-recorded verses from Da Brat and Missy Elliott. Similar to previous performances of the song, the song is interrupted by record scratch sound effects after first chorus and the beat changes into the album version. Several movie theater seats are brought on stage and Carey sings the rest of the song over the original beat, until she's taken backstage by a dancer for a costume change when Jay-Z's verse starts. During the costume change, the music stops and the dancers sit on the seats and look at the screen, where the fight scene from the music video is being shown like a movie. After this, the song restarts and Carey appears again, this time wearing a pink custom Azzedine Alaïa ruffled frock with an elaborate Elizabethan collar, to sing the ending whistle notes.
The last act of the main show starts with Carey sitting at the piano next to "Big Jim" Wright to sing a piano version of "Thank God I Found You", followed by a medley of "We Belong Together" (performed in full) and "Don't Forget About Us" (abridged). For these songs, several chandeliers are lowered from the ceiling and blue digital curtains are shown on the screen. After the medley, Carey leaves the stage and the introductory scene from the "Touch My Body" music video is shown to the audience. When the song starts, Carey, on a bed, is rolled back on stage by the dancers. During the song, a random audience member or celebrity in attendance is brought on stage and is given a lap dance by the backup dancers while Carey sings. After the song, the ending bit of the music video is shown and the band starts playing an instrumental version of "Touch My Body" as Carey leaves the stage. Trey Lorenz introduces the band, singers and dancers.
For the encore, Carey comes back to sing "Infinity" wearing the silver gown from the song's music video. The official lyric video acts as the background video for the song. After the high note, confetti starts dropping from the ceiling, Carey thanks everybody and the curtains close.
Critical response[]
Robin Leach from the Las Vegas Sun praised the opening performance, writing the singer "is the highest-pitched contemporary pop singer of the decade."
Set list[]
- "Vision of Love"
- "Love Takes Time"
- "Someday" (With elements from "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" by TLC)
- "I Don't Wanna Cry"
- "Emotions" (With intro)
- "I'll Be There" (With Trey Lorenz)
- "Anytime You Need a Friend" (C+C Club Mix, interlude)
- "Dreamlover" (With elements from "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G.)
- "Hero" (With extended outro)
- "Fantasy" (Bad Boy Fantasy)
- "One Sweet Day" (With Daniel Moore II & Trey Lorenz)
- "Always Be My Baby"
- "Always Be My Baby / Butterfly" (Performed by background singers)
- "Honey" (With elements from the "Bad Boy Remix")
- Guitar Interlude
- "My All"
- "Heartbreaker" (With elements from the remix)
- "Thank God I Found You" (Piano snippet)
- "We Belong Together" / "Don't Forget About Us"
- "Touch My Body" (Followed by band introductions)
- "Infinity"