Friday, January 09, 2004 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NIGHT BEAT: Carey, Twain fans have plenty to say about concerts

Just checking the feedback on my concert reviews again. Let's see ... hmm, it's all about Mariah Carey and Shania Twain. They both sang Dec. 20 -- Carey at the Aladdin Theatre, Twain at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

I wrote in a Dec. 22 review that Carey put on a "B" show, but I didn't get to hear much of it, because two fans screeched constantly, right next to me, and in high pitches that were way more frequent than I hear at other concerts.

Scores of Carey fans were loud like this. I just happened to be behind two of them.

Among the voice mail I got was a message from a gentleman who was too familiar with my complaint: "Those two women were down at a Primm concert that I went to with my wife. We don't go to concerts anymore because of these two. ... They sat behind us three rows back. We almost died. ... Why doesn't the management throw them the hell out? Give them their money back, and get them out of there. ... How do their vocal chords stand what they do for the entire show without let-up?"

My favorite e-mail complaint was from "Pete," who writes that I may quote his email, as long as I don't "misuse" his comments or take them out of context, so I have edited them just to fit the Review-Journal's grammar styles. He lives in the United Kingdom, he writes, and has been a Carey fan-club member for 13 years:

" ... and was disgusted to read your piece on my way home from Las Vegas. Firstly, you were surely at the concert, sent by your paper to review and report on the Mariah Carey concert, not on the audience. Hardly a mention of the actual concert, you continually refer to two fans in the fourth row who were `Two of Carey's `lambs' ruin concert experience,' with their incessant shrieking. I was not fortunate enough to be that close to the stage, being in row J 106, approximately a dozen rows back. Maybe the fault lies with whoever gave you seats in the fourth row. Surely trying to be fair to everybody, you should have been somewhere near myself, a lot further back than the fourth row. I was the `flashing Santa Hat' if you were very observant, but thought the show was very good. What did you really expect, sitting so close to the stage, and among Mariah's fan club? To the very close Mariah fans, when the concert starts, and Mariah appears, this is liking to an `emotional explosion' which will show in the so-called `shrieking,' etc., that comes with different people showing their emotions in different ways.

May I suggest that firstly before you go to another concert, you should go to someone who can tell you about such emotional experiences, and then you will understand what you are walking into. Regards, Pete."

As for Twain, two e-mailers, Leigh-Ann Gerow and Nancy Ross, saw the country star, whom I missed because she sang the same night as Carey.

Before the Twain show, I had quoted a Texas concert reviewer who complained that Twain put on a Vegas-y show. But Gerow and Ross said the concert didn't end up all that glitzy, further proving that you can't really always go by the subjectivity of critics, such as myself. Gerow wrote on their behalf:

"I honestly have to say that because of the little `pre-review' from Houston promising `Vegas glitz,' I initially found the concert a bit disappointing. There was no glitz. There wasn't really any glam. It was one of the most sparse large concerts I've ever seen -- nothing like the recent concert by the Dixie Chicks at the MGM Grand, for example. It didn't even have the production values of a Gloria Estefan concert, circa 1996.

"For the first half of the show, she wore a UNLV football jersey, just to give you an idea of the tone. I was close enough to the stage to notice she really was in need of a haircut. It was all so informal -- it was like you just dropped in at Shania's house on a Sunday afternoon and she decided to give an impromptu two-hour concert. The only `glitz' was in the form of fireworks, which blasted upwards from the corners of the stage at the end of most songs, and they were mostly unnecessary and seemed out of place ...

"That being said, once I got over the missing glitz, I thought the concert was one of the most fascinating things I'd ever seen ... Shania was extremely interactive with the crowd, acknowledging almost every individual sign held up by fans, and inviting many of the sign-bearers up onstage. She signed autographs at the edge of the stage during practically every song ... I've never seen a performer do that. She seemed very comfortable interacting with people, and very approachable, which I'm sure is both a blessing and a curse.

"Most importantly, she sounded great, although her voice was a bit weak for the last two or three songs, and she did sing for more than two hours. I don't think she missed a single album track. For $85 bucks, it was a great bargain."