EDMONTON - Seeing Mariah Carey's big show last night got me thinking about divas and their spectacular diva concerts.

No man can compare to the sheer scale of grandiosity and display of ego that is a diva working her trade - usually on a magnificent stage drawn from childhood fantasies of the ultimate Barbie Dream Tour.

Countless spectacular diva events from Madonna to Beyonce to Gwen Stefani to Tina Turner and back through the ages attest to that. Trends may change, but the full-blown diva spectacle remains a powerful draw. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more fabulous.

A respectable crowd of 12,500 turned up to witness the celebration of herself that is the Mariah Carey experience - the lights, the sounds, the dancers (great dancers), the costumes, the excitement! The closest comparison would have to be the farewell tour put on by Cher.

Consider the following:

WIGS:

Mariah: None needed.

Cher: Each more gravity-defying than the last.

HOTNESS:

Mariah: Plenty. Not many divas would perform in nothing but a cape, black bikini and high heels.

Cher: She was, once.

KNOWN BY ONE NAME:

Cher: Yes.

Mariah: Sort of.

GENERAL FABULOUSNESS:

Cher: Absolutely.

Mariah: Off the scale.

THE VOICE:

Cher: Braying donkey.

Mariah: Five-octave freak of nature as pure as the sweat of angels.

Other than that, they're exactly the same - divas through and through.

After an opening set from rapper Busta Rhymes - whose coarse yet charming ways threw the headliner into even sharper, more fabulous relief - this show was all about Mariah. The songs came second.

It opened with a film where she talked about herself, comparing her life to a roller-coaster and offering wisdom like "eventually you have to face your fears." No you don't, but let's move on.

The stage was as fabulous as we expected it to be: old-fashioned theatre curtains, sweeping ramps down the sides, the whole thing shaped like a giant "M" and the giant video screens, which, when not showing Mariah herself, would show a cartoon of Mariah or some other Mariah-related image.

And don't forget the rising platform where Mariah made her grand entrance. Divas must always enter the stage on a rising platform of some sort. Preferably shrouded in fog and dazzling colour. In this case, it was a number called It's Like That. She sang a few notes, shouted "whassup, Edmonton?" - not for the last time - and started to really sing as glittery dancers writhed around her.

The latest diva spectacle was underway.

Mariah hit the "Star Search" moment early, unleashing a barrage of high notes so sweet they brought tears to the eyes of the toughest security man. Those pipes really went into overdrive in the love ballads - the high diving act we had all come to see. Songs like Heartbreaker and My Own featured notes so high they could only be heard by dogs, others that shattered every piece of glass in the arena. Yes, I exaggerate, but the point is made: Mariah can sing.

By the time the giant lighted "MIMI" was lowered - Mimi is Mariah's nickname, as made clear on her comeback album, The Emancipation of Mimi - I was wondering whether any substance could get past all this diva dazzle. There were times when potential soul was lost in a sea of glitter and blithering talent demanding to be shown off. She ruined the ending of one ballad by pausing for cheers after flurries upon flurries of notes, all rendered meaningless, undone by her own ego. How ironic.

But do divas ever create meaningful music that is remembered after they're gone? Sometimes. For now, the diva spectacle seems to be the most important thing for Mariah.

BONUS DIVA ITEM: On Mariah's orders, security was hassling fans about the "no cameras" rule, despite the fact that every person here seemed to have a camera in their cellphone - none of which were capable of taking a good picture from 50 feet away in a darkened arena. Geez.