Whether or not Carey's vocal stylings are your particular cup of tea, there's simply no denying the at times overpowering majesty of her instrument, whether waxing soft on "Hero" or pumping it full-blast on "It's Like That." After some diminishing sales, a well-publicized nervous breakdown, and a not exactly Oscar worthy film debut, Mariah has sought over the past few years to establish some street-cred with her collaborations with several rappers, some of whom appear via taped segments on this concert DVD. In fact, the first 20 minutes or so of the concert is given over to the "new, hip hop" Mariah, with lots of loops, bass and pseudo-gansta dance moves. It's actually kind of funny when Mariah, first appearing in a black bikini and high heels, then dons her first ostensible costume change in this sequence, which amounts to her putting on a long strand of diamonds and some sunglasses.

We get to see something a little less pre-packaged about 20 minutes in, when Mariah appears in a beautiful flowing gown and launches into a sequence of some hits and lesser-known tunes, including the absolutely stunning "Fly Like a Bird," backed by a full gospel choir.

Carey interacts a little with the audience, having one young girl come up on stage for a hug, and also moves to a specially constructed "B stage," set out in the middle of a the cavernous Anaheim Arena, so that she can play to a different part of the audience. Her band and backup singers, as well as the many dancers, are all in fine form, and Carey, though sounding a little smokier than she does on some of her recordings, shows that she is one artist who actually has artistry, including some stratospheric notes that only some species of dog and perhaps the ghost of Minnie Riperton can hear.

The staging of the concert is a bit on the busy side, as is to be expected of a tour of this magnitude, and there's also such omnipresent audience screaming that Mariah herself literally cannot be heard a couple of times, no matter what sound mix is chosen. This tour, as Mimi states in an interview, was all about her "emancipation" as an artist, and there is certainly no freer vocalist working the pop/r&b genre right now than Mariah Carey.

The DVD

Video:
The enhanced 1.78:1 image is extremely sharp, with excellent saturation and consistent black levels, important since a lot of the concert is played in semi-darkness.

Sound:
Standard Dolby, 5.1 and DTS soundtracks are all completely superb. The only problem, as stated above, is the fan noise is so overwhelming it's actually painful after a while.

Extras:
A short backstage extra graces the main concert disc, while a longer documentary (about 30 minutes) culled from some of the same material is the main feature of the second disc. There's also a funny Spike Lee short showing how two-faced people are around Mariah and a karaoke feature where you can sing along to a handful of Mariah's songs, with or without her voice. Disc One also allows you to program up to 11 songs in any order from the concert for your own private playlist.

Final Thoughts:
Mimi most definitely will never be in the bottom three and is in no danger of being sent home any time soon. This is the real deal, Idol-wise, and fans are going to want this DVD in their collections.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet