For anyone who grew up in the 90s, most likely they’ll be fans of Mariah Carey. The Diva came to KL 10 years ago, and yeah, we were there. She came back yesterday, and hell yeah, we were there too!

To be honest, we were a bit skeptical (and horrified) when we read and saw via YouTube that her performances in Korea and Japan were let downs. We paid good money to see a good performance. (Not the expensive seats, but hey, still money right?) We really hoped that her vocals were not as bad as portrayed by the media. Though we can’t really blame her cuz of her recent separation from Nick Cannon. That will impact anybody. (Seriously, what does she see in him?)

Also, guess what? KL being KL, it was pouring. It has been raining in the evenings for the past 2-3 weeks, but this time, we physically and mentally prepared ourselves for the rain. Wear old clothes – check, wear slippers – check, raincoats – check, expect to be soaked – check! Mariah Carey went on stage 9.15pm, and we were already sitting in the rain and mud for 45 minutes!

The concert started with MC singing her standard opening staple, ‘Fantasy’. Her vocals were surprisingly soft, which we blamed on the lousy sound system. But she got better and the performances got better too as the concert progressed. (Lambat panas kot?) There were about 15 songs, among them Touch My Body, Emotions, Shake It Off (no, not the Taylor Swift version), My All,  I’ll Be There, Hero, and the classic Always Be My Baby. Was hoping to hear Almost Home from the Oz soundtrack, but it was not part of list.

By the way, Mariah actually changed costumes this time! In 2004, we remembered she wore only blue jeans and a tank top to comply with Ministry of Information strict dress code guidelines. This time she wore a bit more revealing attires. Still classy, but there were cleavage and legs for the first half of her show. It won’t be Mariah without a little skin, eh? All in all, there were about 5 costume changes. Nothing too revealing. It’s not a Lady Gaga/Miley Cyrus concert after all.

Then came the anticipated song: My All. Will she screw up her vocals? To be honest, it was way better than in Korea. (She definitely put it more practice hours) But I think My All is a personal song for her, and what with she’s going through in her personal life must made it more difficult to sing it. Still it was a good performance.

One part of the concert made it all worthwhile: the duet between Mariah and Trey Lorenz singing “I’ll Be There”. It was so cool seeing them re-enact the MTV Unplugged performance from 1992. That performance alone was worth the price of the ticket. The audience was singing along too, which made it fun.

Our usual beef with Malaysian concerts is the audience. People in our section simply don’t want to have fun, stand up and sing along.  If you want to sit, just stay home and watch Channel V lah! It got better after 10pm where people upfront in the expensive seats section started to stand up and sing along. (As if suddenly they remembered they’re at a concert). There were fans who rushed up to the stage, and one dude actually cried on camera as he begged to be hugged by Mariah. (In the end, Mariah said she’ll give us ‘musical hugs’. Haha)

Mariah left us with an encore, singing Always Be My Baby. By that time, Belacan Girl and I was standing on our chairs singing horribly along and dancing in the rain like no one was watching. It was great!

And in all, it was a good experience. We were wet and soaked to the bone. But it was worth it.

We leave you with MC singing “Hero”. Enjoys!

 P.S: For official pictures from the concert organizers, click here.