Las Vegas Weekly

September 12, 2009 · 8:59 PM

Mariah in no particular hurry during measured performance at Pearl Concert Theater

By John Katsilometes

Mariah Carey at The Pearl in the Palms.

Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna/www.erikkabikphoto.com

Few stars can be so comfortable in their fame that they take a mid-show break for a makeover while still onstage. But Mariah Carey, as pretty and delicate as fine crystal, took a few moments during her show last night at the Palms’ Pearl Concert Theater to recline on a white couch while two man servants touched up her makeup, teased her hair and provided her with a glass of bubbly.

“You like the hair?” she asked. Yes. We like the hair.

The scene didn’t feel at all out of place, either, during Carey’s coolly measured performance. I didn’t think it possible for a recording artist to perform a full 90-minute show without breaking a sweat, but Carey seemed to manage that, maintaining a glossy, picture-perfect appearance throughout. The real heat came from the crowd, which stood and shouted such messages as, “We love you, M.C.!” and “You’re beautiful, Mariah!” A few people near me appeared positively spellbound by Mimi, who still has that amazing, piercing voice.

As a result, Carey has appeal that stretches across seemingly every demographic (especially, it seems, gay men). It’s being reported by my man URL -- Ubiquitous Robin Leach -- that the hotel might be ready to sign Carey for an extended residency at The Pearl. Given her evenly paced performance, if that were to occur, there would be scant concern about artist burnout. As a sample, perhaps, of what’s to come, she’s back tonight to conclude her weekend in Vegas (tickets are still available, at this writing, at the Palms Web site).

Additional notes from last night’s show, assembled numerically.

61. Minutes after 8 p.m., the show’s scheduled start time, that Carey was carefully lowered to the stage on a big swing to start the show.

4. Members of Carey’s backing band.

3. Members of Carey’s backing band who played keyboards (including the bassist).

2. Aerialists performing with a cube above the stage during “Angels Cry,” a new song from her latest release, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel.”

3. Songs before Carey’s first wardrobe change.

32. Number of wheels onstage for “Best of Me,” as four backup dancers sashayed across the stage wearing roller skates.

1. Song performed by special guest Tre Lorenz, Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.”

4. Age, in years, of the little girl in the row in front of me, held by her mother, who knew all the words to “We Belong Together.”

2. Times the little girl has seen Mariah Carey in concert (she was taken to a show at age 1).

More from the field

Writing this from the Cashman Center cafeteria during Nevada Recovery Celebration. Yesterday, my friend and NRC Chairwoman Lynn Tynan fell while taking a phone call for a radio interview and sprained her knee. She’s in a motorized scooter now, buzzing all over the center, but earlier made a too-hard left turn and tumbled over. She’s dressed in a yellow top and matching lei, and when she tipped over, she kind of looked like a pineapple upside-down cake (we’re free to joke, because she’s fine, though a few of us asked if we should perform a field sobriety test on her). The event continues into the afternoon and evening. At 1 p.m., Las Vegas singer-songwriter Shawn Eiferman is up, followed by Sarah Todora at 4:15 and ace Elvis impressionist Steve Connolly at 6 p.m. … Next door to NRC, a dog show featuring dozens of pit bulls is being held. We should combine these events and really get the party going. … Enjoyed a 40-minute conversation with Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen earlier (which will be the material for a blog tomorrow), in advance of the band’s production of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at the L.V. Hilton. One snippet: Cheap Trick wanted John Lennon, who at the time was doing nothing musically, to record their first album in 1976. The message never made it to Lennon until 1980, when Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos met Lennon to record “I’m Losing You.” “We tell John this, and he says, ‘I would love to have done that.’ We wanted to kill our manager, of course. It was one of those what-if, never-happened things.” … The new Firefly at Plaza is an interesting fit. It’s a challenge to get hip locals to hit the Plaza for any reason, yet most of the clientele so far are Las Vegans who are either Firefly or downtown devotees. You’ll not see lunch served under the glass dome until late in the fall at the earliest because of the heat. But the food remains outstanding, and anyone who remembers that spot as the old Center Stage Restaurant will like the new open look. … During media night on Thursday, “Chopper” Tom Hawley of KVBC Channel 3 regaled me of the old days at the Plaza, when that space was a swimming pool.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.

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