Music Box Tour
Encyclopedia
The Music Box Tour was a 1993 concert tour by American R&B singer Mariah Carey
.
) and she had become a big star with two top-selling albums and five number one singles before she ever gave a significant performance before a live audience. That had come in 1992 on the MTV Unplugged
television program, which got a good reception. Then in July 1993, she had given a concert before a largely private audience in Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York
, which was used to make a NBC
television special and later the Here Is Mariah Carey
video release. Thus in late 1993, she decided to conduct a short United States tour to promote her album Music Box, which had been released two months previously. This meant, however, that she would be starting at the top of the venue scale, playing her first real concerts in arenas, rather than working her way up from smaller venues as is more customary.
Thus, Carey's opening concert at the Miami Arena
before 15,000 people drew national media attention. Carey later related that "I was OK until I had to walk up this ramp on to the stage and I heard this deafening scream and it was kinda like everything in my life, this whole incredible whirlwind I'd been going through, it had all been leading up to that insane moment and there I was.... And then they killed me. Not the audience - they knew it was my first show, they were very supportive. I got really bad reviews, though. Well, there were a lot of critics out to get me: this girl's sold all these albums, she's never toured, let's get her. So they did. I turned on the TV in bed that night and the CNN guy was saying, 'The reviews are in and it's bad news for Mariah Carey.' It really hurt me a lot."
In reaction, Carey said that she used her anger to improve her next performance at the Worcester's Centrum Centre
, and got "rave reviews" as a result. Indeed, The Boston Globe
called it "a spectacular performance [which] bowled over the crowd with a confidence that grew before their very eyes," after Carey "shook off her nervousness at the start." Further, her highest-visibility performance in the tour closer at Madison Square Garden
in New York
got a very positive review from Jon Pareles
of The New York Times
, although The Bergen Record
gave mixed notices to the sold-out show. But overall the impression was, especially framed by the opening night, that most critics gave negative reviews to the Music Box Tour.
In response, Carey said, "As soon as you have a big success, a lot of people don't like that. There's nothing I can do about it. All I can do is make music I believe in."
Carey would avoid North America on her next two tours, the 1996 Daydream World Tour
and the 1998 Butterfly World Tour
, and would not tour the continental United States again until seven years later during the 2000 Rainbow World Tour
.
The tickets for Worcester concert, totaling at over 11,500 seats, sold out in under 80 minute.
The show featured Carey's main collaborator at the time Walter Afanasieff
on keyboards along with a band. A gospel
choir appeared on a few numbers, a practice that Carey would revive on some future tours. Dancers were present on stage, but Carey did not dance with them, an avoidance she would maintain until doing a little bit of dancing in her 1996 Daydream World Tour
. Unlike her future tours, however, Carey kept costume changes to a minimum, with at most one before an encore.
The shows' set list was focused on her hits, with occasional non-singles from her studio albums mixed in. The one new song she introduced was her rendition of The SOS Band
's 1983 R&B hit "Just Be Good to Me
", which she introduced as "one of my favorite 'old school' songs."Music Box TourMusic Box Tour
1performed on the final show
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
.
History
This was Carey's first tour. She had not done a lot of public singing in her early years in the music industry (partly due to stage frightStage fright
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially . In the context of public speaking, this fear is termed glossophobia, one of the most common...
) and she had become a big star with two top-selling albums and five number one singles before she ever gave a significant performance before a live audience. That had come in 1992 on the MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
television program, which got a good reception. Then in July 1993, she had given a concert before a largely private audience in Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
, which was used to make a NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television special and later the Here Is Mariah Carey
Here Is Mariah Carey
Here Is Mariah Carey, also known simply as Mariah Carey or Mariah's Thanksgiving NBC Special, was Mariah Carey's third DVD/video release. It presents Carey performing live at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York on July 18, 1993...
video release. Thus in late 1993, she decided to conduct a short United States tour to promote her album Music Box, which had been released two months previously. This meant, however, that she would be starting at the top of the venue scale, playing her first real concerts in arenas, rather than working her way up from smaller venues as is more customary.
Thus, Carey's opening concert at the Miami Arena
Miami Arena
The Miami Arena was an indoor arena in Miami, Florida.-History:Completed in 1988, at a cost of $52.5 million, its opening took business away from the Hollywood Sportatorium and eventually led to its demise...
before 15,000 people drew national media attention. Carey later related that "I was OK until I had to walk up this ramp on to the stage and I heard this deafening scream and it was kinda like everything in my life, this whole incredible whirlwind I'd been going through, it had all been leading up to that insane moment and there I was.... And then they killed me. Not the audience - they knew it was my first show, they were very supportive. I got really bad reviews, though. Well, there were a lot of critics out to get me: this girl's sold all these albums, she's never toured, let's get her. So they did. I turned on the TV in bed that night and the CNN guy was saying, 'The reviews are in and it's bad news for Mariah Carey.' It really hurt me a lot."
In reaction, Carey said that she used her anger to improve her next performance at the Worcester's Centrum Centre
DCU Center
The DCU Center is an indoor arena and convention center complex, located in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts....
, and got "rave reviews" as a result. Indeed, The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called it "a spectacular performance [which] bowled over the crowd with a confidence that grew before their very eyes," after Carey "shook off her nervousness at the start." Further, her highest-visibility performance in the tour closer at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
got a very positive review from Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, although The Bergen Record
The Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
gave mixed notices to the sold-out show. But overall the impression was, especially framed by the opening night, that most critics gave negative reviews to the Music Box Tour.
In response, Carey said, "As soon as you have a big success, a lot of people don't like that. There's nothing I can do about it. All I can do is make music I believe in."
Carey would avoid North America on her next two tours, the 1996 Daydream World Tour
Daydream World Tour
The Daydream World Tour is a series of concerts by American R&B singer Mariah Carey. The tour took place during early to mid-1996, and kicked-off at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, and ended at London, England's Wembley Arena.-History:...
and the 1998 Butterfly World Tour
Butterfly World Tour
Butterfly World Tour is the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. The tour promoted Carey's album at the time, Butterfly , and included songs from several of her previous albums. The tour visited Asia, Australia and the United States, with rehearsals taking place in...
, and would not tour the continental United States again until seven years later during the 2000 Rainbow World Tour
Rainbow World Tour
The Rainbow World Tour was a worldwide arena concert tour in the year 2000 by American R&B artist Mariah Carey.-History:Carey had released her ninth album Rainbow in November 1999 and decided to go on tour to promote it. Unlike her previous outing, the Butterfly World Tour, marked Carey's first...
.
The tickets for Worcester concert, totaling at over 11,500 seats, sold out in under 80 minute.
The show
The performers took the stage to the recorded music of "They Call the Wind Maria" from the musical Paint Your Wagon.The show featured Carey's main collaborator at the time Walter Afanasieff
Walter Afanasieff
Walter Afanasieff is a multiple Grammy-award-winning record producer and songwriter. He is best known for his long association with Mariah Carey, for whom he was producer and co-writer for several years, beginning in 1990...
on keyboards along with a band. A gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
choir appeared on a few numbers, a practice that Carey would revive on some future tours. Dancers were present on stage, but Carey did not dance with them, an avoidance she would maintain until doing a little bit of dancing in her 1996 Daydream World Tour
Daydream World Tour
The Daydream World Tour is a series of concerts by American R&B singer Mariah Carey. The tour took place during early to mid-1996, and kicked-off at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, and ended at London, England's Wembley Arena.-History:...
. Unlike her future tours, however, Carey kept costume changes to a minimum, with at most one before an encore.
The shows' set list was focused on her hits, with occasional non-singles from her studio albums mixed in. The one new song she introduced was her rendition of The SOS Band
The SOS Band
The SOS Band is an American musical ensemble, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. Originally known as Santa Monica, the 'SOS' initialism in the band's name stands for Sounds of Success.-History:...
's 1983 R&B hit "Just Be Good to Me
Just Be Good to Me
"Just Be Good to Me" is a 1983 single by The SOS Band, written and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The single reached number two on the U.S. R&B chart, number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the dance chart that year...
", which she introduced as "one of my favorite 'old school' songs."Music Box TourMusic Box Tour
Set list
- "Emotions"
- "Love Takes TimeLove Takes Time"Love Takes Time" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Walter Afanasieff for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey . It was released as the album's second single in the third quarter of 1990...
" - "Now That I Know"
- "Without You"
- "Dreamlover"
- "SomedaySomeday (Mariah Carey song)"Someday" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Ben Margulies, and produced by Ric Wake for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey . It was released as the album's third single in 1990 and is a jackswing-influenced track. Though it topped the U.S. charts, it was not a huge success elsewhere...
" - "I Don't Wanna CryI Don't Wanna Cry"I Don't Wanna Cry" is a song written by Mariah Carey and Narada Michael Walden, and produced by Walden for Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey . The ballad was released as the album's fourth single in the second quarter of 1991. It became another U.S. number 1 single for Carey...
" - "Vanishing"
- "Make It Happen"
- "HeroHero (Mariah Carey song)"Hero" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on October 19, 1993 by Columbia Records as the second single from Carey's third studio album, Music Box . Originally intended for Gloria Estefan, the song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff...
" - "All in Your Mind"
- "Just Be Good to MeJust Be Good to Me"Just Be Good to Me" is a 1983 single by The SOS Band, written and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The single reached number two on the U.S. R&B chart, number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number three on the dance chart that year...
" - "Anytime You Need a FriendAnytime You Need a Friend"Anytime You Need a Friend" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, for her third studio album, Music Box . It was released on May 31, 1994 through Columbia Records, as the fourth and final single from the album. The...
" - "I'll Be There"
- "Vision of LoveVision of Love"Vision of Love" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It served as Carey's debut single, the first from her self-titled debut album. Written by Carey and Ben Margulies, "Vision of Love" was released on May 15, 1990 by Columbia Records. After being featured on Carey's demo tape for...
" - "Emotions Reprise"
- "Santa Claus Is Comin' to TownSanta Claus Is Coming to Town"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
" 1
1performed on the final show
Tour dates
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 3, 1993 | Miami | United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Miami Arena Miami Arena The Miami Arena was an indoor arena in Miami, Florida.-History:Completed in 1988, at a cost of $52.5 million, its opening took business away from the Hollywood Sportatorium and eventually led to its demise... |
| November 9, 1993 | Worcester Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston.... |
Worcester's Centrum Centre DCU Center The DCU Center is an indoor arena and convention center complex, located in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts.... |
|
| November 17, 1993 | Rosemont Rosemont, Illinois Rosemont is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States located immediately northwest of Chicago. The village was incorporated in 1956, though it had been settled long before that... |
Rosemont Horizon Allstate Arena Allstate Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in Rosemont, Illinois.It is home to the Chicago Rush, of the Arena Football League, DePaul University's men's basketball team, the Chicago Wolves, of the AHL, and the Chicago Sky, of the WNBA.It is located near the intersection of Mannheim Road and... |
|
| November 23, 1993 | Los Angeles Los Ángeles Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants... |
Universal Amphitheatre Gibson Amphitheatre The Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats... |
|
| December 2, 1993 | Philadelphia | The Spectrum Wachovia Spectrum The Spectrum, formerly known as the CoreStates Spectrum , First Union Spectrum , and Wachovia Spectrum was an indoor arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania... |
|
| December 10, 1993 | New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the... |