Eminem [ tickets ] and 50 Cent [ tickets ] brought their five-hour Anger Management 3 show to Phoenix's Cricket Pavilion Tuesday (7/26), and left in their wake 16,500 fans shell-shocked by the heat, a pummeling of hits and enough pyrotechnics for a July 4 celebration.

Eminem's two-hour set was cohesive, and featured complete renditions of his biggest songs. 50 Cent, however, relied on snippets of hits such as "In Da Club," instead opting to roam the apocalyptic stage--complete with a decapitated Statue of Liberty--with his G-Unit posse. A running storyline throughout 50's set was that he would face a financial penalty for playing past his allotted time, which he used as a crutch to rob the audience of full versions of his hits. Instead, each song ended in an array of fake gunshots, an homage to the story that he was gunned down five years ago.

A gun entered into Eminem's performance as well. In videotaped portions of the show, he was seen penning a suicide note and loading bullets into a pistol. His efforts were stymied by visits from an unsuspecting Proof (of D12 and Eminem's right-hand rapper). At the end of the show, just before the encore "Lose Yourself," the gun went off--unfurling a flag emblazoned with "Bang," a gag similar to the artwork that accompanied the deluxe edition of his latest CD, "Encore."

It was apropos that Eminem, clad in a dark suit and red tie, kicked off his set on a confessionary note with "Evil Deeds," which begins "Lord please forgive me for what I do/For I know not what I've done." The martyr-like lyrics set the tone for the performance, and the stage could have doubled as a confessional.

Eminem fessed up that the idea of rekindling a romance with Mariah Carey made him puke, leading into the "Encore" song "Puke." The accompanying skit featured a Carey sound-alike making suggestive comments though the venue's speakers. Eminem told "Carey" that he was trying to work things out at home, adding fuel to tabloid rumors that he and his ex-wife Kim are patching things up for the sake of their children.

Carey was a running gag throughout the two-hour show. During "Ass Like That," Em included the rap, "Mariah Carey/I don't want to see an ass like that."

Speaking of tabloids, Eminem took on the rag sheets and reports of his rumored imminent retirement.

"How many people in the crowd tonight read the tabloids?" he said, evoking boos from the audience. "Nobody reads the tabloids? I don't read that s---. I want to find out what's going on in the world." He skimmed through a number of magazines, reading off headlines about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline.

He then showed the audience a copy of the Weekly World News, the cover of which said the moon was going to explode in six months, and used it as an opportunity to show his moon and pass gas. "They's wrong. The moon just exploded just now."

Eminem said if he were to retire, he would ditch the names Slim Shady, Eminem and Marshall Mathers and instead opt for Rainman, which lead to the song of the same name.

The second half of Em's performance was heavy, with a sucker punch of "Toy Soldiers" (with a dramatic bulls-eye on a video screen at the back of the stage), "Cleaning Out My Closet" and "Mockingbird." During "Stan," he stepped back and allowed the audience to sing the Dido samples. After "Mockingbird," he acknowledged his band members who were involved in a recent bus accident. He introduced DJ Alchemist, who is on the mend from cracked ribs and bruised lungs suffered in the accident.

"He flipped around like a mother------, but he came out here the next day and performed for everyone. People could have died on that bus," Eminem said, adding: "I said, 'When you all are done and you're not in pain anymore, pass that Vicodin my way.'"

Eminem's set struck the perfect balance of light and dark moods. The Carey skit--along with an "apology" to Michael Jackson during which he tossed baby dolls in to the audience--lifted the spirits of the audience, while dramatic songs like the powerful "Mosh," with its anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war lyrics, encouraged fans to stick their middle fingers out to a man dressed as President George W. Bush, who returned the gesture.

Perhaps 50 Cent could have played his songs in their entirety and Eminem could have provided more hits if the side-project showcases were sliced. Numbers by Shady Records artists Obie Trice and Stat Quo ran long and seemed tired. D12's interlude, however, was a necessity and provided more comic relief.