The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour was a 2006 concert tour of arenas by American pop/R&B singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was one of a few tours in her then-sixteen year career and was named after a fan's "Carey-centric" diary of the same name. The bus tour started in late July and ended in October, with two stops in Africa, twenty-five stops in the United States, seven in Canada, and seven in Asia.

History

her previous tour, three years prior, Carey started this tour 16 months after the release of her latest album, the successful The Emancipation of Mimi. She had initially not wanted to tour, dreading the long travel times and not needing one to promote Mimi. But after requests from fans to appear in concert, she decided to do so to celebrate one of the best times in her career.

Similar to the past tour, Carey gave her fans the chance to submit their ideas for set lists and for the title of the tour. Her long-time musical partner and American Idol judge Randy Jackson joined her tour as the musical director, although he did not often appear at shows due to concurrent Idol auditions.

During the tour, Carey revamped her image as a performer, performing remixes of her songs, dancing along a bit with her dancers, having guests onstage, and going into the middle of each arena onto a checkerboard B-stage to perform "Fantasy," "Always Be My Baby" and "Don't Forget About Us." (The B stage had become an increasing popular way for large-venue performers to get closer to their audience ever since U2 introduced it on their 1992 Zoo TV Tour.) The main stage was a two-level affair, with the band situated on the lower level, backed by strands of glittering material, and a staircase between the two. Carey's "MC" logo was present in several places. Once again, Carey invited her long-time friend and back-up singer Trey Lorenz to sing "I'll Be There" and "One Sweet Day" with her and perform several songs on his own during one of her costume changes. Except for an occasional guest appearance, raps on her songs were the pre-recorded originals, with the rapper shown on the video screens.

During breaks in the tour, Carey reportedly was continuing to write and develop concept ideas, and possibly record, for a new album. At her August 15 show in Montreal, Carey reportedly had a wardrobe malfunction. She was singing on the B-stage and suddenly, in her own words, "the twins" almost came out of her top.

Throughout the tour, there were some canceled dates due to poor ticket sales, including one such show that was canceled for Hong Kong. In regards to the Hong Kong incident, tour manager Benny Medina stated 8,000 tickets had been sold and blamed the cancellation on the promoter's failure to pay Carey the money that was due to her. "If there were only 10 people in this venue, and this particular promoter ... had fulfilled his contractual obligations, we would be there. Mariah Carey loves her fans in Southeast Asia," Medina said. "He has defaulted several times, right up into the last 48 hours. Literally we tried to hang in there with this guy." The promoter, however, stated the show had to be canceled as 4,000 tickets were actually sold, and "unreasonable demands" were being made by Carey.

Opening acts

Sean Paul or Busta Rhymes were the main opening acts for the show. Sean Paul did most of the first shows with a set that lasted approxiamtely 40 minutes. Busta Rhymes opened most of the latter half of the shows with his sidekick Spliff Star. R&B singer Ne-Yo opened the show in San Diego, while rapper Chingy opened the show in Anaheim. The show at Mohegan Sun and Tokyo's Nippon Budokan had no opening act at all.

Set list

1. "Rollercoaster" (video introduction)
2. "It's Like That"
3. "Heartbreaker Remix/Heartbreaker"
4. "Dreamlover" (The Notorious B.I.G. "Juicy" Remix)
5. "My All/My All Club Remix" (cut at the show in Uncasville and first show in Saitama)
6. "Shake It Off"
7. DJ Clue break - old school cuts
8. "Vision of Love"
9. "Fly Like a Bird" (cut at shows in Uncasville, Tokyo, Nagoya, first show in Saitama and Osaka)
10. "I'll Be There" (with Trey Lorenz)
11. Trey Lorenz break - "Never Too Much," "A House Is Not a Home," "Crazy"
12. "Fantasy" (Remix)
13. "Don't Forget About Us"
14. "Always Be My Baby"
15. "Honey"
16. DJ Clue break - current hip hop and club cuts
17. "I Wish You Knew" (snippet)
18. "Can't Let Go" (snippet)
19. "Thank God I Found You" (Make It Last Remix) (with Trey Lorenz) (snippet) (cut at some shows)
20. "One Sweet Day" (snippet) (fuller version sung with Mario in East Rutherford and full version sung with Boyz II Men in Anaheim)
21. "Hero"
22. "Make It Happen" (cut after second Toronto show but sung in Anaheim)
23. "We Belong Together"
24. "Fly Away "
25. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (Japan only)

Other songs performed at individual shows included "Stay the Night" (performed instead of "Vision of Love" at first 4 shows, and in Verona, Ucasville, Tokyo, Nagoya and first show in Saitama), "Breakdown" (performed in Tunisia and Miami), and snippets of "I Know What You Want," "Can't Let Go," "Melt Away" (Detroit), "Close My Eyes", "My Saving Grace," "Joyride" (Tampa), "Love Takes Time" and "Your Girl" (first verse and chorus performed at a few U.S. shows on second stage). The setlist was often tweaked, sometimes changing snippets to a full treatment, cutting out Spike Lee's video skits (which were completely cut after the first few shows), or even foregoing construction of the B-stage (most of the time in the smaller casino venues and at the Jones Beach show). Even once she sang incomplete some songs that were on full length elsewhere on the tour, such as "Make It Happen," and in some cities she omitted the encore and directly performed "We Belong Together" and the close of the main set. At certain shows, DJ Suss One appeared as the DJ instead of DJ Clue.

Tour dates

Of note is that Carey never schedules shows in two consecutive nights, as she "actually [has] to have a full day and a half off between shows, whereas most touring artists do it every night," and she spends her down time preserving her voice by not talking and "sitting in a humidified room, sleeping."

Also of note Carey performed a show at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on July 29, 2006 as part of the Pepsi Smash concert series. These tickets were not available to the public. Only winners selected through an online contest. The show featured the same stage setting but a shortened setlist with some different costumes.

Date	City	Country	Venue
Africa
July 22, 2006	Tunis	Tunisia	Stade El Menzah
July 24, 2006
North America
August 5, 2006	Miami	United States	American Airlines Arena
August 7, 2006	Tampa		St. Pete Times Forum
August 9, 2006	Atlanta		Philips Arena
August 11, 2006	Philadelphia		Wachovia Center
August 13, 2006	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre
August 15, 2006	Montreal		Bell Centre
August 17, 2006	Atlantic City	United States	Trump Taj
August 19, 2006
August 21, 2006	Boston		TD Garden
August 23, 2006	New York		Madison Square Garden
August 25, 2006	Uncasville		Mohegan Sun Arena
August 27, 2006	East Rutherford		Continental Airlines Arena
August 29, 2006	Toronto	Canada	Air Canada Centre
September 1, 2006	Albany	United States	Pepsi Arena
September 3, 2006	Wantagh		Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
September 5, 2006	Verona		Turning Stone Resort & Casino
September 7, 2006	Washington, D.C.		Verizon Center
September 9, 2006	Detroit		The Palace of Auburn Hills
September 11, 2006	Chicago		United Center
September 14, 2006	Houston		Toyota Center
September 16, 2006	Dallas		American Airlines Center
September 19, 2006	Winnipeg	Canada	MTS Centre
September 21, 2006	Edmonton		Rexall Place
September 23, 2006	Vancouver		General Motors Place
September 25, 2006	Calgary		Pengrowth Saddledome
September 27, 2006	Sacramento	United States	ARCO Arena
September 30, 2006	Las Vegas		MGM Grand Garden Arena
October 2, 2006	Oakland		Oracle Arena
October 4, 2006	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
October 6, 2006	Los Angeles		Staples Center
October 8, 2006	Anaheim		Honda Center
October 10, 2006	Phoenix		US Airways Center
Asia
October 16, 2006	Tokyo	Japan	Nippon Budokan
October 18, 2006	Nagoya		Nagoya Rainbow Hall
October 20, 2006	Tokyo		Saitama Super Arena
October 21, 2006
October 24, 2006	Osaka		Osaka-jō Hall
October 25, 2006

Box office score data

Venue	City	Tickets sold / Available	Gross sales
American Airlines Arena	Miami	13,156 / 13,156 (100%)	$1,074,620
St. Pete Times Forum	Tampa	13,354 / 13,542 (99%)	$714,455
Philips Arena	Atlanta	11,226 / 13,288 (84%)	$660,595
Wachovia Center	Philadelphia	15,160 / 15,160 (100%)	$1,516,136
Air Canada Centre	Toronto	27,064 / 27,064 (100%)	$2,039,161
Bell Centre	Montreal	13,200 / 14,161 (93%)	$1,046,560
TD Garden	Boston	11,993 / 14,922 (80%)	$1,034,794
Madison Square Garden	New York	13,930 / 13,930 (100%)	$1,300,400
Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford	12,697 / 13,525 (94%)	$1,076,790
Pepsi Arena	Albany	6,519 / 6,519 (100%)	$4,511,211
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater	Wantagh	11,725 / 13,855 (85%)	$654,534
Verizon Center	Washington	12,121 / 14,199 (85%)	$839,643
The Palace of Auburn Hills	Auburn Hills	12,804 / 12,804 (100%)	$894,399
United Center	Chicago	12,958 / 13,930 (93%)	$919,268
Toyota Center	Houston	11,252 / 11,830 (95%)	$828,293
American Airlines Center	Dallas	10,521 / 11,494 (91%)	$806,096
MTS Centre	Winnipeg	8,915 / 9,557 (93%)	$611,223
Rexall Place	Edmonton	12,013 / 12,578 (95%)	$880,306
General Motors Place	Vancouver	14,189 / 14,652 (97%)	$1,223,100
Pengrowth Saddledome	Calgary	11,984 / 11,984 (100%)	$815,242
ARCO Center	Sacramento	12,353 / 12,510 (99%)	$938,106
MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas	13,730 / 13,730 (100%)	$1,844,530
Oakland Arena	Oakland	12,510 / 13,585 (92%)	$960,369
San Diego Sports Arena	San Diego	9,480 / 10,000 (95%)	$765,431
Staples Center	Los Angeles	12,844 / 13,882 (92%)	$1,230,397
Honda Center	Anaheim	11,475 / 12,024 (95%)	$918,283
US Airways Arena	Phoenix	12,049 / 13,136 (92%)	$880,739

Note: Shows in Hershey, Denver, and Seattle were originally scheduled, but cancelled due to low ticket sales. A planned second Madison Square Garden date was also scrapped. At least thirteen shows on the North American tour sold out, while dates were added in Canada. Canada offered her fast ticket sales and a favorable financial conditions. The final show in Hong Kong was cancelled due to conflicts with the concert promotor, 8,000 tickets were sold for the show.

Critical reception

Reviews of the tour were mixed. Most critics celebrated Carey's transformation from a pop star to a full-fledged hip hop artist. They also praised her vocal performances saying that was the main attraction of the spectacle.

Other critics commented on the short length of the show, especially given that she was offstage for several breaks while undergoing costume changes, while others felt Carey was trying too hard to make the public like her, especially in terms of the "rollercoaster" metaphor she used to begin the show.

Recordings

According to Carey's musical director Randy Jackson, the show at Honda Center in Anaheim on October 8, 2006 was intended as the basis for a concert filming and subsequent DVD release.Indeed, Carey held a pre-concert taping there, in order to include fans, regulate the lighting, and review other technical aspects in preparation for the night's actual concert recording.

The resulting DVD, called The Adventures of Mimi, was released over a year later, beginning in Europe on November 19, 2007, with releases in other regions of the world coming over the following two weeks.

Personnel

Production staff

Executives

• Manager: Mariah Carey & Benny Medina
• Co-Manager: Mark Sudack
• Tour Executive: Michael Richardson
• Handprint Entertainment: Melissa Ruderman
• Maroon Entertainment: Gina Rainville

Show

• Tour Manager: Teri Lynn
• Show Director: Barry Lather
• Musical Director: Randy Jackson
• Choreography: Rich & Tone
• Choreographers: Rachel McIntosh, Eddie Morales, Anthony Talauega, Richmond Talauega, AJ Jones
• Lighting/Set Design: Justin Collie/Art Fag
• Sound Design: Mike McKnight
• Sound Engineer: Howard Page
• Video Director: Chris Keating

• Vignettes: Directed By Spike Lee
• Frefall Intro: Bill Boatman & Michael Shores

• Security: Darrel Clark
• Security: Rob Payne
• Make-Up Design: Paul Starr
• Hair: Lew Ablahani
• Costume Designer: June Ambrose
• Dressmaker: Nile Cmylo
• Personal Assistant/ LAC LMT: Lisa Ripi
• Personal Trainer: Patricia Gay

On-stage performers

Band

• Keyboards: Eric Daniels
• Keyboards: Lamonte Neuble
• Drums: Jerohn Garnett
• Bass/Keyboards: James Butler
• Background, duet, and featured vocals: Trey Lorenz
• Background vocals: MaryAnn Tatum
• Background vocals: Sherry Tatum

Dancers

• Rachel McIntosh
• Eddie Morales
• Earl Wright
• Joshuah Michael
• Michelle Brooke
• Bryan Tanaka
• Russel Wright

Special guest appearances

• Da Brat - Atlanta, New York City, Wantagh, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles
• Jermaine Dupri - Atlanta, Las Vegas
• Sean Combs - New York City
• Jadakiss - New York City
• Styles P - New York City
• Jay-Z - New York City
• Choir and pastor from True Worship Church in East New York - New York City, East Rutherford, Wantagh
• Mario - East Rutherford
• Jack (Carey's Jack Russell Terrier) - Wantagh
• Mike Jones - Houston
• Boyz II Men - Anaheim
• Chris Brown - Los Angeles

References

1. MSN Mariah Carey takes on Madonna with new tour
2. Asbury Park Press, AP story by Nekesa Mumbi Moody, August 11, 2006.
3. "Mariah Carey's Hong Kong Show Canceled" The Washington Post
4. Newsday What's wrong with Mariah Carey?
5. Billboard.com Mariah Looking To Tour For Musical Inspiration
6. Hong Kong Mariah Carey concert canceled over poor response, 'unreasonable' demands - iht,arts,celebrity news,Hong Kong Mariah Carey - Arts & Leisure - International Herald Tribune
7. The Detroit News Mariah was on fire in her 1st Metro show
8. The Connecticut Post Mariah Carey concert disappointing
9. Mass Live Mariah Carey performance brief
10. Palm Beach Post Mariah Carey concert review