All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity

Mariah Carey released her fourteenth studio album, titled Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse, on May 27, 2014.[1] It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 album chart with opening week sales of 58,000 copies in the United States, and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[1][2] Carey embarked on her eighth concert tour called The Elusive Chanteuse Show in October and November later that year, whereby she performed concerts throughout East Asia, South East Asia and Australasia.[1][2] During the Australasian leg, Carey announced that she would take up residency at the Beacon Theatre in the New York City borough of Manhattan to be performed annually in December, as a twentieth anniversary celebration of the release of her first Christmas album, Merry Christmas, in 1994, as well as her second Christmas album, Merry Christmas II You (2010).[3][4] Carey said in an announcement "I can't imagine being anywhere more special than live on stage, in my hometown, celebrating with my fans during the Christmas season, my most treasured time of the year, I can't wait!"[3]

Jim Farber of the New York Daily News stated that while Carey "seemed nervous and out-of-breath," the show had "a strange allure."[5] Steven J. Horowitz from Billboard praised the singer's first performance at the venue, writing: "Carey accomplished what she came to do: spread Christmas cheer."[6] Jon Caramanica from The New York Times who also reviewed the first show wrote the singer felt "utterly at ease" and commended her engagement with the audience.[7]

Following the announcement of the residency in October 2014, tickets for shows on December 15, 16, 18 and 20 went on pre-sale on November 3 for Citigroup cardholders, while general release followed a week later on November 10.[3] Additional dates for December 21 and 22 were later released.[8] Billboard later announced that the six dates generated a 100% attendance, with Carey playing to a total of 16,196 people and the shows grossing $1,563,173 in total.[9]

In October 2015, a new string of dates were announced once again at the Beacon Theatre with tickets available on October 17 via Ticketmaster.[10]

• KnowleDJ (from December 1-18, 2018)

1. "Sugar Plum Fairy Introlude" (Ballet introduction)
2. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing / Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)"
3. "Charlie Brown Christmas"
4. "Fantasy" (Teaser)
5. "Oh Santa!"
6. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
7. Santa Medley: "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" / "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" / "Jingle Bells" (Performed by children) [Interlude]
8. "Jesus Oh What a Wonderful Child" (Performed by Trey Lorenz and choir) [Interlude]
9. "Silent Night" (With choir)
10. "Joy to the World" (With choir)
11. Band Introductions
12. "When Christmas Comes"
13. "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) / Housetop Celebration"
14. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (Performed by children) [Interlude]
15. "Carol of the Bells" (With elements from "Sing We Now of Christmas", performed by background dancers) [Interlude]
16. "Christmas Time Is in the Air Again"
17. "O Holy Night"
18. "Emotions"
19. "We Belong Together"
20. "Hero"
21. "Hero Reprise"
22. "All I Want for Christmas Is You"
23. "All I Want for Christmas Is You Reprise" (Outro)

Notes:

• "Emotions" was not performed on the first night, in Stavanger, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, Nottingham, Leeds, on the second London show, Amsterdam and Brussels.
• "We Belong Together" was not performed on the first and second nights.
• John Legend joined Carey during the performance of "When Christmas Comes" on the sixteenth night.^[13]
• "Christmas Time Is in the Air Again" was replaced by a cover of Nat King Cole's song "The Christmas Song" on the seventeenth night. R. Kelly joined Carey on stage.^[14]
• Jussie Smollett joined Carey during the performance of "Christmas Time Is in the Air Again" on the twenty-third night.
• "The Star" was added to the setlist on the twenty-fourth night.
• "Que je t'aime" was performed on the first Paris show.
• A snippet of "Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)" was performed on the third Las Vegas show and in Brussels.
• The "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" interlude was replaced by a "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" piano solo in 2018 and 2019.
• "The Distance" was performed in all the dates in Europe in 2018.
• A snippet of "One Child" was performed in Leeds.
• A snippet of "Caution" was performed in Brussels.
• A snippet of "Jesus Born On This Day" was performed in Madrid.
• The "Santa Medley" interlude was replaced by a performance of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Mariah's children in 2019.
• "We Belong Together" was replaced by "Always Be My Baby" on the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth Las Vegas shows and during the eighth North American leg (except in New York City).
• "The Star" was not performed in December 2019.
• "This Christmas" was performed by the background singers in December 2019.

Grosses have been reported for the 51 of the 56 shows that occurred between December 2014 and December 2019. The total attendance for those shows was 208,081 people and the total gross was $22,090,619.[11]