THE TICKETS
Back in late January/early February, Mariah’s “Rainbow” European Tour Dates were announced. Then the Asian tour dates were announced. I figured Mariah wouldn’t come to USA because she would be so busy but soon after, Mariah’s American and Canadian Tour Dates were announced! I live in North Carolina so I read the list to find the closest venue. When I saw “Philips Arena---Atlanta, Georgia” I freaked! I never saw Mariah and Georgia was basically a straight drive from North Carolina!! I looked at the date the tickets would go on sale and I knew I would get them! One day I visited the “Mariah Carey Fan Club Members Only Webpage” and saw that they would be offering tickets in the first 20 rows for a 25% off price. To get them, you had to fax off the info required on a certain day at a certain time, so that’s what I did. About a week later, I found out that I got tickets!!!!! Soon after, my tickets arrived by Fed Ex and I found out they were in Section 2, Row 13. SECTION 2 WAS CENTER STAGE! I just knew they were great seats!
THE WAY TO GEORGIA
On April 1, 2000, I woke up at 3:00 a.m. to leave for Georgia. After about 2 hours of driving we stopped at a restaurant to grab something to eat. I wasn’t feeling to good, but I got something anyway. But before I left, I vomited all the food up (like you really wanted to hear that) but that wasn’t going to stop me from seeing Mariah! After that we drove 8 more hours. After 10 hours of driving, I was finally in Georgia!!!! I took us about 1 hour before we could find parking though! We went to the hotel where we had reservations and went up to get ready for the concert.
THE CONCERT
At around 6:00 p.m. we arrived at the Philips Arena were we met some really nice fans. We talked a little while and then around 6:30 p.m. some man come out and said that NO CAMERAS will be allowed in!! Everyone started to freak and handed in their cameras. I thought for a minute and figured I could probably sneak in the camera but them they announced anyone who was caught with a camera would be booted out the concert. So, I handed in my camera, reluctantly, only because I didn’t want to get kicked out over pictures. I was upset for a while but I got over it. About 6:35 p.m. doors opened and I took my tickets out and handed them in. I got the stubs back and I was off, but first I would get some Mariah Merchandise!!! Everyone was pushing and shoving to get this merchandise! It was hell trying to get it! Tour Books sold out I think!! Here’s what I got:
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE A
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE B
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE C
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE D
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE E
MARIAH T-SHIRT STYLE F
MARIAH KEYCHAIN
MARIAH FLASHLIGHT
MARIAH TOURBOOK
MARIAH “CHOPS” STUFFED ANIMAL LAMB
MARIAH POSTER STYLE A
MARIAH POSTER STYLE B
MARIAH TATTOO SHEET
Plus I got a few items for pen pals. After I bought all this stuff, they did not have bags to put them in! They told me I had to walk around with all this stuff! I was like “No No Honey”!!! So I went to the food place and asked if I could buy a trash bag to put everything in and they gave me one for free! THANKS!! After I loaded everything in the bag, I was off the find my seat! When I got there, I was in shock at how close my seats were!!!! I just sat a little while and then I heard people yelling, so I looked around to see what the commotion was and guess who was in the audience?? USHER!! People were running up to his seat asking for autographs and he got up out of his seat and signed a few but soon people were like walking over top of him, so I guess he went behind the stage. After sitting and waiting about an hour and a half, Da Brat came out and sang a few songs. Then DJ Nabs did a little thing and then Brat came back out to do a song and then left. After that, they played Luis Miguel Music. A few people took pictures of Brat but security took one person away.
MARIAH
Around 9:00 p.m. the Mariah/Bianca introduction was played on the screens. Then they went blank and we heard rain and thunder. Then thunder and rain appeared on the big screen. Then there was a picture of the rain clearing up and a rainbow and sunshine appeared and a woman, who most thought was Mariah appeared. (You could only see the out-line of her body.) She waved and went back down and as she was going down, Mariah came up from the stage and “Emotions” started to play. I almost had a heart attack. I could see her so very well! She was only a few feet away! She said some thing like “What’s Up G.A.?” or something like that. She did “Emotions” perfectly and hit all the high notes without strain! She was wearing a silver top and her famous jeans. She more beautiful, more pretty, more gorgeous, more sexy than ANY picture of the pictures I have EVER seen of her!! Someone made the comment that she didn’t have to sing, she could be a model! And when Joan Rivers Said Mariah was fat, I know she was speaking out of jealousy because Mariah is NOT FAT AT ALL! She is very skinny and in shape you could see her muscles (well, at least I could). People were taking a million pics of Mariah with their cameras and I felt sad that I didn’t sneak it in because security didn’t really care if they were taking pictures! They even let people come closer than their seats to take pictures! After “Emotions”, Mariah told us that she had food poisoning from eating bad seafood. She then sipped on some Gatorade and told us that she was going to do a song from the "Butterfly" album and it was called “My All”. She did “My All” and then she sang “Always Be My Baby” and the audience did the “shoo-da-doo-dum’s” She sang both of those songs flawless!! After those, it was off for a clothes change. During that, they showed Don King talking about Mariah and Bianca. Soon, the “Heartbreaker” remix played and Bianca’s supporters came on stage and people booed. Then, Mariah started to sing but no one knew where she was. Then we found her in the audience! She came down from the audience and onto the stage. Da Brat also came on to do her part. Then Bainca and Mariah had a little fight. Bianca bit Mariah’s ear off and the fight paused a while and then it resumed. After a few swings, Mariah knocked Bianca down in a single punch. After Mariah won, she finished singing “Heartbreaker” but she did the Album Version this time. After that, another change was done and Mariah came out to in a lovely long pink dress to sing “Dreamlover” but first the “Beauty Pageant” contestants were announced and instead of Mariah being “Miss. Understood”, Mariah was “Miss. Treat” (like mistreat) Mariah and the other contestants, which were her dancers, did a little dance which was really cool. After singing a lovely rendition of “Dreamlover”, Mariah was awarded the crown and she was given two bouquets of flowers by the judges. Then the other contestants were very mad that Mariah won. They were mad at Mariah and the judges. “X-Girlfriend” started playing and cages came down form the ceiling. The other contestants locked the judges up in the cages and then tore up Mariah’s flowers. They, along with Mariah sang “X-Girlfriend”. Shortly, a “Miss. Ter” came out and started singing “X-Girlfriend” too and let me tell you, it wasn’t good singing. That “Miss” was actually a “Mister”. (Hence, “Miss. Ter”) and Mariah ripped of his wig! It was actually Mariah’s make-up person, named Kris and while he was out there, he “touched” Mariah up! HE! HE! After that, Mariah was sweating and I was so close I could see the sweat on her! She sipped on some Gatorade to cool her off. She called up some people on stage. She took a basket full of “Chops” Lambs and kissed them. She then gave one to every fan on stage and threw a few in the audience!! Also, she threw some roses out into the audience that were all over the stage after the fight in the beauty pageant. Before she threw them she was on her knees picking them up and was like "is there a broom anywhere because the stage is a total mess" so a guy came on the stage and started sweeping and she was like "do you want me to do that for you?" After that ordeal, Mariah sang her version of “Against All Odds” and the crowd was amazed! During the performance there was a glitch in the big screen and a guy climbed up on top to fix it. After “Against All Odds” was over, Trey Lorenz came down from where he was singing back up to do “Thank God I Found You”. The album version started and then the remix began. After that, Mariah and Trey talked a little about where Trey was from (“Home Of The Fish Sandwich”, Florence, South Carolina.) Mariah said the reason it was “Home Of The Fish Sandwich” was because they were the first one’s to but fish on bread! Then Mariah said Trey had a new album coming out soon and he was going to sing a song from it. He sang “Make You Happy”. After he sang that, he went back up to where he was to begin with. Then everything was dark. The “Fantasy” remix began to play and O.D.B. appeared on screen and did his short rap. Then Mariah appeared with others and did the chair dance and she was singing “Fantasy”. (And she wasn’t lip syncing people!!!) During “Fantasy”, Mariah wore texas styled jeans and a tank top. Next, Mariah left stage and her back up singer, Melonie, introduced the whole Mariah band through a song! It was really cool! MC came back on and did “Crybaby” the stage was set up like a house. There was a bed, a table, a stereo, a refrigerator, etc. Mariah was wearing a tank top that said “Crybaby” and shorts with lambs on then and a sleeping robe. Snoop Dogg did his part through the screen. Mariah was on the bed for most of the time. Then, Mariah took the blanket from the bed and did “Close My Eyes”. (Which is one of my all time favorite Mariah songs!!!) She sat on the stage wrapped up in the blanket and on the big screen it showed rare pictures and video when she was a child, most that I have never seen! After that wonderful song was over, it was a clothes change time again and Melonie introduced Mariah’s dancers. After that ordeal was over, the beginning of “Petals” played and rain appeared on the big screen. When Mariah came out, she was wearing a long lavender tube dress with shawl. She sat in the chair and did “Petals”. She tried to hide her tears as best as she could, and did pretty well. But after “Petals” was over, the lights went black and everything was dark, but only for a little while. . When Mariah appeared again, we could she had cried lots. She was crying lots and her make-up was running. They were real tears, unlike the critics think. Mariah was still crying when the “Mariah’s Theme” intro came on. But Mariah whipped her eyes and carried on to sing “Can’t Take That Away”. With both of those songs sung back to back, and being very close to me, I got very emotional. But I was okay. Then Mariah left the stage and the “Honey” intro played. Then Mariah came out in her sailor outfit and said “do you like the ensemble?” Then sang “Honey” and did the dance to it along with her dancers!!! She looked very happy! After the “Honey” was over, she said “Good Night” and her and her dances did a bow together! A few people thought that was the end of the show and left, but I knew better! There was going to an encore! She came out wearing a light blue mini-dress and sang a blow out rendition of “Vision Of Love” and the crowd gave her a standing ovation!!! After that, Mariah did “Rainbow” and headed into “Hero” when “Hero” started, many, many people were crying, and so I gave in! I started crying too! “Hero” had been a very personal and helpful song with me for a long time now, so, I just had to! Mariah came down in the audience and I almost touched her!!!!!!!! Can you believe it?? After “Hero” was over, small little silver papers fell and Mariah said good night and wished us well and sang a little bit of “Butterfly”. Mariah was so curdious to her fans and the way she acted and spoke told you she was a very nice person. Mariah spoke to everyone during every song! Mariah’s show was so heavenly, inspirational, fun, sensational, and everything else that can be described to fit “excellent”! Thank You Mariah for fulfilling my most sought of and desired dream. You gave the show of a lifetime and I returned home with a whole other layer of respect and admiration for you. I can't thank you enough! All I have to say is “Thank God I Found You”!!!
SONGLIST
-Emotions
-My All
-Always Be My Baby
-Heartbreaker
-Dreamlover
-X-Girlfriend
-Against All Odds
-Thank God I Found You
-Fantasy
-Crybaby
-Close My Eyes
-Petals
-Can’t Take That Away
-Honey
-Vision Of Love
-Rainbow
-Hero
-Butterfly
AFTER THE CONCERT
After the conert, I go to pick up my camera which is at section 11 and I'm coming from section 1. Everyone is pushing and it's like the worst thing in the world. Especially when you're walking around with a huge trash bag full of items. You have to protect those, too, so someone won't steal them! (Cuz trust me, people do steal things)So I pick up my camera and head for the nearest exit. (I decided since my hotel was so very close to the Arena, just to walk back--no problem, I thought!) So I go out this exit and I walk down this long tunnel thing and I'm thinking...."okay?". So when It end there is like 90 flights of stairs so I go down all those stairs and I end up where It says "DO NOT ENTER" and it's the back of the Philips Arena! Where Mariah originally entered! It's pouring down raining and I'm being soaked with water and I'm trying to protect Mariah merchandise. I can see Mariah's limousine and there at motercycles around, too. Plus the press and media are standing a few feet away, I guess they were waiting for Mariah to come out to take pictures! I started to get worried because I couln't see anything around this place and I wasn't supossed to be there! So I go back up the stairs and the tunnel. (When I get back to my hotel, finally, I regret this becuase I thought I should have stayed and waited for Mariah to come out. (DUMB ME! I COULD KICK MYSELF FOR THIS!!!) So anyway, I finally get back into the Philips Arena and like, everyone is gone. I am completely wet but fourtunetly, my merchandise is okay....which is what I was really concerned about. So I find the entrace where I fist came in and go out there! I'm now outside and it's still raining. I know where I am know and I walk back to the hotel....in the rain. I was concerned that I would run into a drunken person who wanted to bother me and I would have to knock him out....thank god this didn't happen though! My perseption of Atlanta was slightly different then it turned out to be. By the time I got to the hotel, it was like 1:00 a.m. or something like that. I took out the items I had bought to make sure they were okay and then put them back up. I couln't sleep so I went to sleep about 5:00 a.m. (and remember folks....I woke up at 3:00 a.m. the previous morning...this was OVER 24 hours without sleep...and I wasn't sleepy!) Then we had to get up about 6:00 a.m. to move our car from the parking lot. We had to be back home before Monday to pick up our normal schedules! So, It's now Sunday and early in the morning. We eat breakfast and check out. We thought we'd see a few things in Atlanta before we had to leave. I mean although the Philips Arena, Mariah, and our hotel were quite enough.....why not see a few things, ya know?? So, I go to the "TOWER Records" store. I find some import CD's that I don't have and some import magazines!!! (GOD! I wish we had a great Music store like that in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina!) Then I go to "Joe Muggs" magazine store for the local newspapers to see if there is anything in them about the concert. There is one, so I buy it. Now, It is time to head off back to North Carolina if I want to make it in time! So, another 10 hours back and I'm back at home. When I came home, I unpacked and all that good stuff. As soon as I was back home, I missed Atlanta so much......I think I will move there some day! That's what I long for.........a big city. But anyway, I will NEVER forget that magical night and I will remember it for eternity!
Email: MariahWorldNews@hotmail.com
|
THE TICKETS