On Thursday, March 1, 2012, New York natives Mariah Carey and Diddy took the stage at New York City’s Gotham Hall as part of Caesars Entertainment’s “Plot Your Escape” concert event, hosted my Spice Girl Melanie B.
Diddy hyped up the crowd with a quick run through some of his hits including “I Need A Girl”, “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems”, and his ode to the Notorious B.I.G. “I’ll Be Missing U”. He even gave a shout out to Big Ang of VH1′s “Mob Wives” and incorporated a mini dance break in his set, composed of a medley of songs by Rihanna, LMFAO, and the Rapture.
Quickly after, Mariah Carey took the stage, accompanied by a full band and background singers. Wearing a one-shoulder Chanel mermaid gown, she often chatted up the crowd, ranting about almost being late, raved about her twin babies (this was Mariah’s first performance since giving birth in April of 2011), and even had her “glam team” come on stage as she changed shoes and had a hair and make-up touch up. She performed a mini-set of hits including a revamped version of “Shake It Off”, “Touch My Body”, and “I’ll Be There”, a cover of the Jackson 5′s hit, which she sings as a duet with Trey Lorenz. After singing “We Belong Together”, thanking the crowd and leaving the stage, Mariah reappeared like a true diva (and I mean that in a good way) to serenade the audience with an encore performance of “Hero”.
In addition to New York City, simultaneous concerts were held where Gavin DeGraw and Mary J. Blige performed in New Orleans, Sara Bareilles and Maroon 5 in Chicago, and Lil Wayne and Cee-Lo Green in Los Angeles. Billed as ‘Plot Your Escape: Four Concerts. Countless Celebrities. 1 Epic Night’, the four-city concert series was in promotion of Caesar’s Casino’s “Escape to Total Rewards” loyalty program.
(photo: Tyrell Brown)
-Carl Ayers (@ECCA1980 on twitter)
