Daydream World Tour

Daydream World Tour
Tour by Mariah Carey
Associated album Daydream
Start date March 7, 1996 (1996-03-07)
End date June 23, 1996 (1996-06-23)
Legs 2
No. of shows
  • 3 in Asia
  • 4 in Europe
  • 7 Total
Mariah Carey concert chronology

The Daydream World Tour was a concert tour by American recording R&B singer Mariah Carey in support of her platinum hit album Daydream. The tour started on March 7, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan, and ended in London, England on June 23, 1996. Carey performed three shows in Asia during the month of March and four shows in Europe of June 1996.

Background and development

The Daydream World Tour was Carey's second tour (after the U.S. Music Box Tour in 1993), and her first tour to have dates out of the United States. The tour was held in honor of the success of her new album at the time, Daydream; the album had spawned three of Carey's eighteen number-one singles ("Fantasy", "One Sweet Day", and "Always Be My Baby"), became her second album to be certified Diamond in the U.S., shipping 10 million copies there and is one of her most critically acclaimed albums. It was also held to promote the album across Europe and Asia. The tour is her second shortest tour to date, with the shortest being the Music Box Tour.

This tour established Carey's concert-going fan base in Japan; all of her subsequent tours would also visit that country except for the Angel Advocates tour, a regularity unusual for an American artist.

The tickets for her three Tokyo Dome concerts, totaling over 150,000 seats, sold out in under 3 hours, making it the fastest selling show in the Tokyo Dome's history.[1][2]

Stage

The stage set for the tour was perhaps the largest Carey has performed on. It contained three sections: center stage, left flank, and right flank. Center stage contained two platforms where the band and backup singers were situated, a center set of stairs, a curved staircase to the right, a giant screen at the center, a huge chandelier suspended from the ceiling, and a giant cylindrical cage with an elevating platform in the middle for the singer to make her entrance at the start of the show, then moved aside when not needed. The left and right flanks were both the same: they had long runways extending outwards in opposite directions, the walls changed colors throughout the show for ambiance, and at the end were smaller screens so the audience could see Carey performing.

Concert synopsis

The concert began with "Daydream Interlude" (Fantasy Sweet Dub Mix), with Carey being taken down the cage on the elevating platform. She ad libbed the words to the song quietly over the microphone, and the song stopped when she opened the cage's doors, and the lights flicked on and off rapidly as she greeted the audience. The band then started playing "Emotions." The intro to the song was cut in half, and the ending skipped from the last chorus to the famous whistle register notes at the song's end. She then sang her rendition of the Journey classic "Open Arms." The next song she performed was her then-single at the time, "Forever." She moved over to the set of stairs on the right side of center stage and surprised her fans by singing "I Don't Wanna Cry", a move most unexpected, since she has stated that she tries to sing the song as rarely as possible. After her song ended, the band continued playing an instrumental version of the song while Carey was offstage, changing costumes for the next section of the concert.

Music began playing again combining synths and chimes as an extended version of the intro to the lead single of Daydream, "Fantasy." Carey performed the original version of the song, as opposed to singing the Bad Boy Remix of the song as she did during the Butterfly and other later tours. A group of dancers joined Carey during the performance, using the same dance moves seen in the song's music video. She then spoke briefly with the audience, telling them that she wanted them to sing with her during the next song, "Always Be My Baby." The part she taught with them was "Do Do Doop," and told them that it was a competition between each section of the stadium on who could sing it the loudest. She then presented her band members and exited the stage to change outfits yet again while the band performed the Rufus & Chaka Khan hit "Ain't Nobody." The lights dimmed a dark blue and purple color, and on screen appeared stock footage of Boyz II Men from the Fantasy: Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden concert in October 1995. The band began playing "One Sweet Day." Because of schedule conflicts between Carey and Boyz II Men, the group was unable to tour with her, so during the song at all the concerts, Boyz II Men's parts from the album cut were played over the speakers and footage of them appeared on the center screen, while Carey continued to sing live.

After the song was over, the curtains fell, and Carey sang her "favorite song from the new album," "Underneath the Stars," followed by her rendition of the Badfinger song "Without You." She was then accompanied by the Chapel of Hope Choir in singing "Make It Happen." After the lights went down at the end of the song, she left the stage for yet another costume change. The lights suddenly flickered on, and a R&B/dance instrumental played, while a dancer appeared and started brakedancing. He was then joined by a group of other dancers, followed by Carey, who began singing a cover of The SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me." She then sang "Dreamlover", and then left the stage for one final costume change.

A familiar synth intro started playing, and Carey began singing her first single, "Vision of Love" as she appeared at the top of the winding staircase. She continued singing as she slowly made her way down the stairs. Once the song was over, she sang her signature song, "Hero." The last song of the show, "Anytime You Need a Friend", she dedicated to the audience. She was accompanied once again by the Chapel of Hope choir, and started off with the album version. She then surprised the audience by transitioning into the more upbeat C&C Remix version of the song, and she exited the stage via the spiraling staircase, while the choir, band, and dancers continued the song, thus ending the concert. During the Tokyo Dome concerts, following the performance of "Anytime You Need a Friend," Carey returned to the stage for one last encore by performing her biggest Japanese hit, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" for her fans. Footage of the home video version of the music video played, while she wore the red dress and go-go boots from the black-and-white 1960s music video. She exited the stage through the elevator cage, ending the concert with one last kiss to her fans over the microphone.

Broadcasts and recordings

The performance of "Forever" at the Tokyo Dome is the official music video for that song. The video took footage from the performance, and is intercut with black-and-white footage of Carey exploring Japan that was handpicked by the singer.

Carey announced during the Ahoy Rotterdam concert that the performance of "Underneath the Stars" was going to be the official music video for the song, but that video never came to fruition.

The performances from "Fantasy", "Always Be My Baby", "Underneath the Stars," "Make It Happen", "Dreamlover", "Hero", and "Anytime You Need a Friend" from the Tokyo Dome concert were used in the 1996 Fox special Mariah Carey: New York to Tokyo.

Set list

Shows

List of concerts, showing date, city, country, and venue
Date City Country Venue
Asia
March 7, 1996 Tokyo Japan Tokyo Dome
March 10, 1996
March 14, 1996
Europe
June 14, 1996 Frankfurt Germany Festhalle
June 17, 1996 Rotterdam Netherlands Ahoy Rotterdam
June 20, 1996 Paris France Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
June 23, 1996 London United Kingdom Wembley

References

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