American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey has undergone fourteen tours, five residencies, along with numerous one-off concerts and televised performances. Carey did not do a significant amount of public performing in her early years in the music industry, partially due to stage fright. Despite this she still made appearances and performed at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards and on Saturday Night Live. One of her first significant performances was at MTV Unplugged, which received positive reception as Carey silenced critics saying her vocals were studio-made. From 1993 to 2000, Carey toured for her albums: Music Box, Daydream, Butterfly and Rainbow.
In 2001, Carey did not tour for the soundtrack to her film Glitter due to being hospitalized for "extreme exhaustion". Her first performance after her 'breakdown' was a performance of "Hero" at America: A Tribute to Heroes. After the release of her ninth studio album Charmbracelet, Carey embarked another tour which targeted "arenas that typically house between 10,000 and 20,000 fans." She eventually toured for The Emancipation of Mimi, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse and Caution. She failed to tour for her eleventh studio album, E=MC², due to being pregnant at the time. She cancelled the tour but suffered a miscarriage two months later. Outside of promoting her albums, Carey has undergone an Australian Tour in 2013 to promote her single, "Triumphant (Get 'Em)". In 2016, she went on The Sweet Sweet Fantasy World Tour in Europe which was featured heavily in her reality show, Mariah's World. During the summer of the following year, Carey went on a joint tour with Lionel Richie. To kick off promotion for Caution, Carey embarked on an tour through Asia with the intent to also tour Oceania but was later cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.
Among tours, Carey has had and performed at five concert residencies. This included Live at the Pearl which was a four-evening promotional concert residency in 2009. Her first residency began in 2014 and was entitled All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity. The residency began on December 15, 2014, and continued through to December 15, 2019, after completing eight legs and fifty-six shows. In 2015, to support the release of her compilation album #1 to Infinity, Carey embarked on her second concert residency. The show featured all eighteen of Carey's US number-one singles at the time in chronological order. Carey's fourth residency, The Butterfly Returns, began in 2018 and continued until 2020. In 2022, Carey performed a four-day special concert, Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas To All! at Scotiabank Arena and Madison Square Garden from December 9 to 16.
Throughout her career, Carey has many notable live performances. At the 1990 NBA Finals, Carey performed "America the Beautiful" in which Rolling Stone writer, Brittany Spanos, stated the players were struck "with awe by the incredible talent of a burgeoning young star". In 2002, Carey performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl XXXVI which was called a "stunning rendition" by Billboard. She also performed "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston at the 71st Academy Awards which also went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song the same evening. Despite being called a "show stopper" and "the 1990s pop phenomenon", Carey's New Year's Eve performance in Times Square, New York City on December 31, 2016, received backlash after an "audio track malfunction" according to CNN. A year later in 2017, Carey took to the stage and "redeemed" herself according to Billboard, ABC and CNN with her performance being called "triumphant" and "far superior to her [previous] effort". In 2021 on Valentine's Day, Carey performed a remix of her song "We Belong Together" which NME called "a sultry Valentine's Day gift" and called Carey the "undisputed Queen of Holidays".
Concert tours Title Date Associated album(s) Continent(s) Shows –December 10, 1993 Music Box North America 7 Pareles, Jon. The New York Times, "Venturing Outside the Studio, Mariah Carey Proves Her Mettle", December 13, 1993. Retrieved November 18, 2006. Daydream World Tour –June 23, 1996 Daydream AsiaEurope 7 Mariah Carey revisited Butterfly World Tour –February 21, 1998 Butterfly AsiaOceaniaNorth America 11 Rainbow World Tour –April 18, 2000 Rainbow EuropeAsiaNorth America 19 Charmbracelet World Tour –February 26, 2004 Charmbracelet AsiaNorth AmericaEurope 69 The Adventures of Mimi –October 25, 2006 The Emancipation of Mimi AfricaNorth AmericaAsia 40 Angels Advocate Tour –February 27, 2010 Memoirs of anImperfect Angel North America 23 Australian Tour 2013January 1, 2013 – January 5, 2013 noneOceania3 The Elusive Chanteuse Show –November 16, 2014 Me. I Am Mariah...The Elusive Chanteuse AsiaOceania 20 The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour –November 26, 2016 none EuropeAfricaNorth America 31 Pollstar 2016 Mid Year Special Features All the Hits Tour(with Lionel Richie) –September 5, 2017 North America 22 Mariah Carey: Live in Concert –November 9, 2018 Asia 12 Caution World Tour –August 31, 2019 Caution North AmericaEurope 35 General sources for the tour:
Merry Christmas to All! –December 16, 2022 Merry ChristmasMerry Christmas II You North America 4 Merry Christmas One and All! –December 17, 2023 North America 16 Mariah Carey's Christmas Time –December 17, 2024 North America 18
Concert residencies Title Date Associated album(s) Continent(s) Shows Live at the Pearl –October 10, 2009 Memoirs of anImperfect Angel North America 4 All I Want for Christmas Is You:A Night of Joy and Festivity –December 15, 2019 Merry ChristmasMerry Christmas II You North AmericaEurope 56 #1 to Infinity –July 18, 2017 #1 to Infinity North America 50 The Butterfly Returns –February 29, 2020 none North America 25 The Celebration of Mimi –November 2, 2025 The Emancipation of Mimi North AmericaAsia South America 24
Televised performances
Only performances in which dates are known are listed below.
Mariah Carey era (1990–91) Air date Network Program Location Performed song(s) June 1, 1990 Syndicated The Arsenio Hall Show Hollywood "Vision of Love" June 5, 1990 CBS 1990 NBA Finals Auburn Hills "America the Beautiful" July 3, 1990 Veronica Countdown Amsterdam "Love Takes Time" · "Vision of Love" July 20, 1990 ABC Good Morning America New York City "Vision of Love" August 8, 1990 BBC One Wogan London "Vision of Love" September 5, 1990 TROS Pop Formule Hilversum "Love Takes Time" September 10, 1990 Syndicated The Arsenio Hall Show Hollywood "Vision of Love" · "Love Takes Time" October 5, 1990 Syndicated It's Showtime at the Apollo New York City "Vision of Love" · "Love Takes Time" October 27, 1990 NBC Saturday Night Live New York City "Vision of Love" · "Vanishing" November 10, 1990 SVT Kulan Stockholm "Vision of Love" · "Love Takes Time" November 11, 1990 DFF Elf 99 Berlin "Vision of Love" November 20, 1990 NBC The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Burbank "Vision of Love" · "Love Takes Time" November 21, 1990 ITV Des O'Connor Tonight London "Love Takes Time" January 28, 1991 ABC 18th Annual American Music Awards New York City "Someday" February 9, 1991 TF1 Avis de recherche Paris "Vision of Love" February 10, 1991 Antenne 2 Le monde est à vous Paris "Vision of Love" February 20, 1991 CBS 33rd Annual Grammy Awards New York City "Vision of Love"
Emotions era (1991–92) Air date Network Program Location Performed song(s) September 5, 1991 MTV 1991 MTV Video Music Awards Universal City "Emotions" September 23, 1991 Syndicated The Arsenio Hall Show Hollywood "Emotions" · "Can't Let Go" October 14, 1991 BBC One Wogan London "Emotions" · "Vision of Love" October 20, 1991 SVT Söndagsöppet Stockholm "Emotions" · "Can't Let Go" October 24, 1991 BBC One Top of the Pops London "Emotions" November 16, 1991 NBC Saturday Night Live New York City "Can't Let Go" · "If It's Over" December 23, 1991 ABC Good Morning America New York City "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" January 23, 1992 BBC One Top of the Pops "Can't Let Go" January 24, 1992 ITV Des O'Connor Tonight London February 14, 1992 Syndicated The Oprah Winfrey Show Chicago "Vision of Love" · "If It's Over" February 15, 1992 Syndicated Soul Train Hollywood "Emotions" · "Can't Let Go" February 25, 1992 CBS 34th Annual Grammy Awards New York City "If It's Over" March 16, 1992 MTV MTV Unplugged New York City "Emotions" · "If It's Over" · "Someday" · "Vision of Love" · "Make It Happen" · "I'll Be There" (featuring Trey Lorenz) · "Can't Let Go" April 27, 1992 BBC1 Wogan London "Make It Happen" June 25, 1992 BBC One Top of the Pops London "I'll Be There" (featuring Trey Lorenz)
Music Box era (1993–94) Air date Network Program Location Performed song(s) August 26, 1993 BBC One Top of the Pops London "Dreamlover" September 9, 1993 Syndicated The Arsenio Hall Show Hollywood "Dreamlover" · "Hero" September 26, 1993 SVT Söndagsöppet Stockholm "Dreamlover" · "Hero" September 29, 1993 AVRO Grand Gala du Disc Utrecht "Dreamlover" · "Hero" September 30, 1993 Antenne 2 Le monde est à vous Paris "Dreamlover" October 10, 1993 TV Asahi Music Station Tokyo "Dreamlover" November 22, 1993 NBC The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Burbank "Hero" November 25, 1993 NBC Here Is Mariah Carey Schenectady "Emotions" · "Hero" · "Someday" · "Without You" · "Make It Happen" · "Dreamlover" · "Love Takes Time" · "Anytime You Need a Friend" · "Vision of Love" · "I'll Be There" (with Trey Lorenz) January 9, 1994 Fuji TV Music Fair Tokyo "Dreamlover" · "Without You" February 3, 1994 BBC One Top of the Pops London "Without You" February 5, 1994 Das Erste Verstehen Sie Spaß? Offenburg "Hero" February 7, 1994 RTL 4 Ron's Jong Geluk Show Hilversum "Without You" February 9, 1994 ITV Des O'Connor Tonight London "Without You" February 10, 1994 TF1 Sacrée Soirée Paris "Hero" May 19, 1994 CBS Late Show with David Letterman New York City "Anytime You Need a Friend" May 30, 1994 TV Asahi Music Station "Anytime You Need a Friend" June 2, 1994 BBC One Top of the Pops London "Anytime You Need a Friend" June 3, 1994 Antena 3 Gran Gala de las Cincos Estaciones Madrid "Hero" · "Without You" June 4, 1994 Das Erste Flitterabend Duisburg "Without You" June 11, 1994 Nine Network Hey Hey It's Saturday "Anytime You Need a Friend" · "Hero" September 15, 1994 BBC One Top of the Pops London "Endless Love" (with Luther Vandross) September 17, 1994 ZDF Wetten, dass..? Cologne "Anytime You Need a Friend" · "Endless Love" (with Luther Vandross) December 10, 1994 Telefe Fer Play "Joy to the World" December 25, 1994 BBC One Top of the Pops Xmas "Without You"
Daydream era (1995–96)