Mariah Carey’s Christmas tour transforms Wells Fargo into a winter wonderland

The release of a holiday-themed album is most often a sure sign of a career on the decline, a cynical cash-in that indicates creative bankruptcy or contractual obligations.

Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas proved the rare exception — only her fourth album, it dropped in 1994 while the pop star was still in the midst of her initial chart-topping run. And of course, it unleashed that bane of seasonal department store employees, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” cementing Carey as the unlikely successor to Yuletide icons like Andy Williams or Bing Crosby.

Mariah Season arrived in Philly for the album’s 30th anniversary on Tuesday as the diva and her “Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time” tour transformed the Wells Fargo Center into a winter wonderland for a 90-minute set mostly dedicated to holly jolly songs of the season.

The evening was framed as a storybook holiday, as the singer’s daughter, Monroe Cannon, narrated an excerpt from Carey’s 2022 children’s book, The Christmas Princess, and a host of dancers in all-white wooden soldier garb marched to a remixed recording of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.”

Carey descended on to the stage on a giant snowflake throne — naturally — wearing a dazzling, contour-hugging floor-length white gown. Backed by an eight-person choir and her spirited four-piece band, she began the night with a reverent “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” setting the tone for what was often a somber and spiritual celebration.

As the angels-framed video screen behind her displayed landscapes and village scenes fit for a Thomas Kinkade painting, Carey maintained the hushed and frosty vibe through “Joy to the World” (albeit with a dash of Three Dog Night added to the 18th-century carol), “Silent Night,” and “O Holy Night.”

Not until the band kicked into the Darlene Love/Phil Spector perennial, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” did things liven up a bit. Carey took that opportunity to introduce her children, fraternal twins Monroe and Moroccan Cannon, who took over the stage for a cutesy interlude while mom exited for the first of three costume changes.

With Moroccan on drums and Monroe wielding a guitar, the pair engaged in scripted banter with a clutch of young dancers, and played Kidz Bop renditions of The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping” and a “Deck the Halls / Let It Snow” mash-up.

Overall the evening felt like an old-fashioned TV variety show with its mix of the sweet and the tacky, though with a surprisingly muted tone. At its center, the Queen of Christmas comported herself perhaps too regally, pacing the stage slowly while relying on her dancers to supply the energy. Aside from a few platitudes about joy and togetherness, Carey made little effort to connect with the audience, many of them dressed in brightly-colored sweaters, sporting reindeer antler headbands, or wrapped in Christmas lights and tinsel.

Vocally, Carey sounded strong and for the most part seemed to be singing live, with little reliance on recordings and lip-synch. Taking a (welcome) five-song break from the theme to “give ‘em the hits,” she reached her famed whistle register on “Emotions” and soared on “We Belong Together.”

Then came the inevitable.

As the choir ascended to the rafters on a suspended catwalk, Carey reemerged one last time, dismounting from a sleigh in a red sequined bodysuit to end the night with “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” It was almost anticlimactic in its pitch-perfect recreation of the irresistible (or at least un-resistible) hit, just one more chance among many for it to worm its way into our ears over the course of December.

A sea of smartphones eagerly captured every second as confetti snow fell from above.