Music Box Tour

Music Box Tour
General information
Associated album	Music Box
Start date	November 3, 1993
End date	December 10, 1993
Legs	1
Shows	6 in North America
Opening acts	The Story (Worcester) Trey Lorenz (Philadelphia) Theory (Chicago)
Tours Chronology
Music Box Tour
Daydream World Tour

Music Box Tour was a 1993 concert tour by Mariah Carey in support of her third studio album, Music Box. The tour served as Mariah's first headlining tour, visiting six cities in the United States. The tour began on November 3, 1993 in Miami, Florida, and ended on December 10, 1993 in New York City.

Background

Mariah had not done a lot of public singing in her early years in the music industry (partly due to stage fright) and she had become a big star with two top-selling albums and five number one singles before she ever gave a significant performance before a live audience. That had come in 1992 on the MTV Unplugged television program, which got a good reception. Then in July 1993, she had given a concert before a largely private audience in Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York, which was used to make an NBC television special and later the Here Is Mariah Carey video release.

In late 1993, she decided to conduct a short United States tour to promote her album Music Box, which had been released in August of 1993. This meant, however, that she would be starting at the top of the venue scale, playing her first real concerts in arenas, rather than working her way up from smaller venues as is more customary.

Carey avoided North America on her next two tours, the 1996 Daydream World Tour and the 1998 Butterfly World Tour, and did not tour the United States again until seven years later during the 2000 Rainbow World Tour.

Preparation

To prepare for the show, Mariah rehearsed at a University of Massachusetts facility. She had be rehearsing there since October 23, 1993 and a dress rehearsal show was held on Friday, October 29, 1993 at the Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Analysis & Reviews

Opening night for the concert was held at the Miami Arena in Miami Florida on November 3, 1993 In Chris Nickson's book titled "Mariah Carey Revisited" he described the venue:

“	MIAMI ARENA IS a huge concrete hall, not exactly the best place to hear music of any kind. The size and construction of the building obliterates any kind of subtlety. For the first night of Mariah’s tour, it was almost like an enemy, designed to undermine the sound in squalls of feedback and thumping bass notes. For Mariah, it had to be something of an ordeal, a trial by fire.	”
– Chris Nickson

Nickson also stated that not all of the 16,000 seats of the arena were sold and only around 10,000 young adults who brought their young children showed up. Critics who reviewed the concert stated that "Carey seemed to shrink during between-song patter. Opening night jitters led her to repeat ‘Thank you’ and ‘I’m so happy to be here’ more often than seemed natural.” The stage set for the tour was described as looking “oddly like an industrial church” by Sandra Schulman in Billboard. But it was used largely as a backdrop, despite the platforms that were there. The main effect was the lighting, pinpointing the performers and also shining and sweeping into the crowd.

“	Singing, Mariah appeared quite at ease, grinning, relishing each song, and in excellent, strong voice. The times she did use her upper register brought the audience to its feet, cheering—the vocal gymnastics were evidently one of the things they’d come fo	”
– Chris Nickson in his review of the Music Box Tour

In his later comments about the Miami show, Nickson talked about Mariah's thoughts on the critic's review:

“

“Well, there were a lot of critics out to get me,” Mariah said later, when the tour was well behind her. “‘This girl’s sold all these albums, she’s never toured, let’s get her.’ So they did. I turned on the TV in bed that night and the CNN guy was saying, ‘The reviews are in and it’s bad news for Mariah Carey.’ It really hurt me a lot.” The backlash had hit once again

”

The second night of the tour was a week later in on November 9 at The Centrum in Worcester, Massachusetts, near Boston. According to reports, 11,046 people were were in attendance and the folk-duo "The Story" served as the opening act. In his review of the show, Chris Nickson states:

“	Whatever jitters she’d felt in Miami had been exorcised; if she’d seemed in good voice there, in New England she’d never sung better. The material was the same as the last show, but seemed fresh, as if the performers were a hungry young group, still scratching around and looking for its big break, rather than seasoned, precise professionals.	”
– Chris Nickson thoughts on Night 2 of the Music Box Tour

A critic from the Boston Globe who was "skeptic before the show" praised Mariah's performance. He stated that it was “a spectacular performance … [which] bowled over the crowd with a confidence that grew before their very eyes.” The third night of the tour was on November 17, 1993 at the Rosemount Horizon in Chicago Illinois. According to reports, 9,438 people were in attendance and the group "Theory" served as the opening act. Chris Nickson discussed this date in his book:

“	Once again, Mariah managed to find that kick of energy, that spark to ignite the evening and make it into something very memorable for those in attendance. None of the practicalities had changed since Miami. There were still the costume changes, the gospel choir, the dancers. But New England had effected a change in everyone. The music now had an edge. The dance tunes bounced more and got everyone moving. The ballads were sadder, more desperate. And yet again, the critics were convinced that Mariah was more than a pop-chart confection.	”
– Chris Nickson's thoughts on Night 3 of the Music Box Tour

The fourth date of the concert was on November 23, 1993 in Los Angeles. The concert was held at the Universal Amphitheater. The fifth night of the tour was held at the Spectrum Stadium in Philadelphia on December 2, 1993. According to reports, about 12,000 people attended the concert. Chris Nickson talked about this night in his book:

“	Once more, Mariah charmed them with her naturalness, amazed them with her voice and her songs, and kept the real world at bay for a while. She created a cocoon, a little place for everybody in the hall, a spun shell of notes. Magic.	”
– Chris Nickson comments on Night 5 of the Tour

The final night of the tour was on December 10, 1993 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to reports, 96% of the building's capacity or 15,050 out of 15,627 tickets were sold. According to Chris Nickson, Mariah had a lot to prove as she was performing in her home state and in front of the biggest crowd of the tour.

in his review of the show critic John Pareles from the New York Times noted "Beyond any doubt, Ms. Carey’s voice is no studio concoction … . [R]ock concerts aren’t known for precise intonation, she sang with startling exact pitch.” His description of the show as “triumphant” was a high accolade from such a respected newspaper, which wasn’t prone to giving such praise lightly.

During the concert, Mariah announced that profits from “Hero” would be donated to a fund set up to help the victims of the Long Island Rail Road shooting that had happened a few days prior to the concert. She also dedicated her performance of the song to those victims.

The final performance of the concert would be Mariah's first performance of the song "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." Mariah has talked about this performance:

Mariah on December 10, 1993 performing "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" at Madison Square Garden

“	“I was going to sing ‘Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.’ I had a red dress, a sort of Jessica Rabbit dress. And I had five people backstage, and they couldn’t zip it up. The band was vamping the intro. Four times. The crowd was yelling. And I’m behind a tiny little curtain with five people going, ‘You guys better get that up! Right now! Do it, you guys!’ And though it’s not totally my personality, I be- came, like, the world’s biggest bitch. Meanwhile [fake] snow was falling and the band is vamping and the crowd is screaming and finally they say, ‘You better go right now, Mariah!’ So I said, ‘I hate all of you,’ and I ran out. I’m out there singing, waving my arms and everything, in this sexy, low-cut dress and I made it through.”	”
– Mariah Carey on her first performance of Santa Claus is Coming to Town

The Concert

The performers took the stage to the recorded music of "They Call the Wind Mariah" from the musical "Paint Your Wagon."

The show featured Mariah's main songwriting partner and producer at the time Walter Afanasieff on keyboards along with a band. A gospel choir appeared on a few numbers, a practice that Mariah would revive on some future tours.

Dancers were present on stage, but she did not dance with them, an avoidance that she would maintain until doing a little bit of dancing in her 1996 Daydream World Tour. However, unlike her future tours, Mariah kept costume changes to a minimum, with at most one before an encore.

The show was about 80 minutes long.

The shows' set list was focused on her hits, with occasional non-singles from her studio albums mixed in. The only cover songs she performed were Just Be Good to Me and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Outfits

The band and backing singers were all in black, as was Mariah herself, even through all the costume changes, which had her wearing a leather jacket, then a bodysuit, and finally a gown with a glittering necklace that she put on for the encore.

Footage

Before 2021, the only snippet from the tour was of Carey singing "Hero" at Madison Square Garden. In May of 2021, a YouTube channel uploaded two performances of Carey singing "Dreamlover," "Make it Happen," and "Emotions" at the final stop of the tour.

EXTREMELY RARE FOOTAGE - FULL Performance - Hero - Music Box Tour - Mariah Carey 1993

MARIA CAREY---- DREAMLOVER----LIVE---NYC,NY---12-10-93

MARIA CAREY--MAKE IT HAPPEN--LIVE--NYC,NY--12-10-93

MARIAH CAREY--EMOTIONS--LIVE--MSG,NYC--12-10-93

On August 29, 2021 the channel uploaded the full footage of the concert.

MARIAH CAREY.. LIVE.. MSG, NY... 12-10-93... MUSIC BOX TOUR

In 2020, Entertainment Tonight posted exclusive footage from the tour. A clip from the video included Mariah backstage at her Madison Square Garden Show.

The following are full concert audio from the tour:

Mariah Carey The Music Box Tour Live in Worcester (2)

Mariah Carey The Music Box Tour Live in Los Angeles (4)

Set list

1. "They Call The Wind Mariah" (Intro)
2. "Emotions"
3. "Love Takes Time"
4. "Now That I Know"
5. "Without You"
6. "Dreamlover"
7. "Someday"
8. "I Don't Wanna Cry"
9. "Vanishing"
10. "Make It Happen"
11. "Hero"
12. "All in Your Mind"
13. "Just Be Good to Me"
14. "I'll Be There"
15. "Vision of Love"
16. "Anytime You Need a Friend"
17. "Emotions" (Outro)
18. "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (Performed on the final show)

Opening Acts

• The Story (Night 2)
• Trey Lorenz (Night 5)
• Theory (Night 3)

Gallery

A more complete gallery with pictures of Music Box Tour can be found here.

Tourbook

A more complete gallery with pages from Music Box Tour Tourbook can be found here.

Tour dates

North America
Date	City	Country	Venue
November 3, 1993	Miami	United States	Miami Arena
November 9, 1993	Worcester	United States	Worcester Centrum
November 17, 1993	Chicago	United States	Rosemont Horizon
November 23, 1993	Los Angeles	United States	Universal Amphitheatre
December 2, 1993	Philadelphia	United States	Wachovia Spectrum|The Spectrum
December 10, 1993	New York	United States	Madison Square Garden

Personnel

Performers

• Mariah Carey
• Trey Lorenz (opening act in Philadelphia)
• Theory (opening act in Chicago)
• The Story (opening act in Worcester)

Background singers

• Kelly Price
• Melonie Daniels

Trivia

• Mariah appeared to be sick numerous times during this tour
• This was Mariah's first tour
• This tour only had 1 leg
• This tour is one of Mariah's shortest tours