Review: Jason Mraz at the Ironstone Ampitheater, Murphys, August 28, 2009

One of these things is not like the others. One of these things is too cool to belong. Ok, two things. Chris Isaak is still hot.

The Ironstone Amphitheater is in Murphys, CA, not too far from Yosemite. I grew up in the Bay Area, lived here most of my life, and had never heard of Murphys until this show came up. The drive was long and curvy, but worth it, as the venue was really cozy and beautiful.

This is probably the oldest crowd I’ve ever seen at a Jason Mraz concert. My guess is that a lot of locals get season’s tickets for the Ironstone and just see everyone who performs there, even if they don’t know who they are (there aren’t a whole lot of other music venues in the area, if you’re looking for live entertainment).

The Ironstone is also hosting Chris Isaak, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the next few weeks, so you get the idea that this isn’t going to be like the crazy, energetic crowd that Jason gets at San Diego State, for example.

First up for the evening was Trevor Jackson, age 13. He did a quick tribute to Michael Jackson. Not bad, but I wouldn’t ask Simon Cowell for his opinion just yet.

Next up, Bushwalla! Not to perform, but to MC, and to let us know that the crowd reeked of sexy energy. It’s always good to see him, but I would have been happier if he’d belted out a few tunes before introducing Raphael Saadiq.

This is where I admit that I’d never heard of Raphael Saadiq before. I had no idea what to expect, and even after he was done, I still had trouble figuring him out. He started out his set with a doo wop vibe, him and his whole band in suits and ties and choreographed 60s dance moves.

But then the set got funkier, the jacket and tie came off, and at one point I thought they were going to dive into some metal, with headbanging and everything. Then he ended sounding like Smokey Robinson and Usher’s hybrid clone.

Overall, he was impressive and I enjoyed him. You can get a taste of Raphael with this clip of him at Outside Lands this weekend.

Ha! I just saw this on YouTube: “Raphael Saadiq rose to prominence in the late ’80’s/early ’90’s as the lead vocalist and bass player in r&b group TONY! TONI! TONE!” I didn’t know that. That’s awesome! I wonder if he ever performs “It Never Rains In Southern California”.

Bushwalla came out to introduce his best friend, the guy he met in New York 15 years ago, Jason Mraz. And clean-shaven, Paul McCartney-esque Jason did this:

1. Make it Mine – At the end of this, Jason welcomed us to “two hours from anywhere” and thanked those of us who made the commute. It really was out in the sticks.
2. Love Love Love / Anything You Want (or whatever it’s called)
3. Coyotes - Yes! I’ve never heard this live before and it was incredible, a real highlight of the evening.
4. Who Needs Shelter – I love when Jason gets old school. The only downside is that it made me want to hear “Galaxy” and “Running” and other older songs that he doesn’t do much anymore.
5. Love for a Child
6. Remedy – An updated, reggae version. Makes sense that after performing a song for so many years you do something different with it to keep it fresh.
7. Summer Breeze
8. Live High
9. Not So Usual
10. Dynamo of Volition
11. Beautiful Mess
12. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds

Encore

13. Musical interlude from the Superband (dubbed Frog Jumping Jubilee tonight, in honor of the surrounding Calaveras County – read your Mark Twain), including a little “Charlie’s Angels” theme song
14. Fall Through Glass – With Bushwalla. Woo hoo! I just wish he’d hung out and done “Acoustic Rhymer” or another song too.
15. All Night Long
16. Butterfly

Jason Mraz at the Pearl, Las Vegas, May 9, 2009: Concert Review

It was incredible. Just, incredible. *Hint, hint*

Got to the Pearl a little after 11:00 last night. It’s a really nice venue, not too big, so every seat in the house has a good view, from what I could tell. They even have drink holders/foot rests, which I appreciated.

The Pearl Theater

The show started promptly at midnight, but not in a way I expected. When the lights dimmed and someone came out to do introductions, it wasn’t Jason. It was Bushwalla. Woo hoo! I was really hoping he’d launch into “Psycho Killer”, but no such luck.

Instead, he started to talk about the man coming to the stage, how he was voted most entertaining college of the year (“stop, switch that around”) and his mother voted him most attractive man in the world two years in a row or something, just general goofy stuff, but that didn’t sound anything like James Morrison. But he wasn’t introducing James Morrison.

He was introducing Justin Kredible.

Ha! Already we had a good idea that this show was going to be a little different. At least, I haven’t heard that these two have been traveling with Jason for this past tour, so I’m guessing it was a “Hey, you should come hang out in Vegas with me” thing.

Justin levitated the Music, Magic, Makepeace table and did his balloon sword swallowing, and then we finally got us some James Morrison.

All you need to know about James Morrison is that he’s phenomenal, and his act provides a crazy juxtaposition with Jason’s. Jason shares the stage. He can make even a large crowd feel like they’re hanging out in his living room. He doesn’t need to control the room, he just sort of musically cuddles with it.

James Morrison though could have a big sign behind him screaming, “I’m a fucking rock star, bitch!” I mean, he comes across very likable and charming, but he gives off an insane amount of energy, prowling back and forth, dropping to his knees, never letting up for a second, thrashing and flinging attitude (and a good amount of sweat) all over the room.

Last year, talking about Bushwalla I said:
“Bushwalla took over the stage. I don’t just mean he took his turn, I mean he took the stage over his knee and he owned that bitch.”

And that’s James Morrison too.  Just sit back and let him do what he wants with you. Here’s his set list:

1. The Only Night
2. Under the Influence
3. You Give Me Something
4. Broken Strings, with Beverly Brown (I think)
5. If You Don’t Wanna Love Me
6. Precious Love
7. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You -> Uptight (This one got going so fast and so intense I thought he might explode. Phenomenal.)
8. Wonderful World

James left the stage around 12:45, but I really didn’t want him to stop playing. It was my first time seeing him live and he absolutely left me wanting more. At least we have YouTube.

About half an hour later, Bushwalla and Justin Kredible came back out to do a little more magic (the bowling ball trick) and introduce Jason. Again I was hoping for some Bushwalla tunes, maybe “Creatures in the Yard” or “Acoustic Rhymer”, but no joy. Instead, it went like this:

1. Fun, Fun Fun/I Want to Thank You (? – Anyone have a better title for this?) – First time I’ve heard this live. A really good, energetic way to kick off a show.
2. No Doubling Back – I love to hear the oldies that none of the new “I’m Yours” fans know.
3. Remedy -> Geek in the Pink
4. Anything You Want? Love, Love, Love?- Ashamed to say I don’t know the name of this one. It was sort of a reggae thing, but I have no idea if it’s a cover or one of his own. Please don’t think less of me.
5. Live High, with three of the ladies from Voices of Prayze in San Diego – More special guests!
6. Details in the Fabric- This is the song I was most looking forward to, since James Morrison was there to do his part, but it was a little disappointing, probably more for Jason than anyone else. At the beginning of the song he did a little rhyming about traveling around and getting messages from people while he’s on the road. Then he held up a walkie talkie. Knowing that Bushwalla was also in the house, it was safe to assume that he was on the other end, doing the answering machine message.

Unfortunately, the walkies didn’t want to talkie, so the very cool, mellow intro was broken up by feedback and silence and technical difficulties. Bushwalla came out on the stage after a while and got a few words in, but when Jason launched into the song he seemed a little annoyed? Thrown off? Disappointed? James did come out for his bit, but it was like the momentum was all off, so it was good, but not as stellar as I imagined it. (Again, at least we still have the YouTube versions.)

I was hoping James would have stayed out to do another song or two with Jason, but that was it for him.
7. Unfold - With an extra long Dave Matthews-style jam in the middle so each musician could have the spotlight for a bit.
8. Beautiful Mess
9. Lucky - Jason started strumming this one, then said what a very lucky man he was… and Colbie Caillat walked out. I’m not a huge fan, but it was very, very cool to see them perform together. She’s very tall.
10. Make It Mine
11. Dynamo of Volition
12. I’m Yours – No sing along or “Three Little Birds” here. Just ended the song in the normal place.
Musical Intermission as Jason left the stage for a few minutes and the rest of the band kept playing a Miami Sound Machine sort of tune.
13. Plane - Finally! Jason and Toca played this one the way I first heard it: intimate, stripped down, almost haunting. I never really got the Mr. A-Z version with the sweeping orchestra behind it. This song made the whole show for me.
14. All Night Long - So good. An oldie, but still a lot of fun, played with the same kind of fun and joy we got on the last tour with “Build Me Up Buttercup”.
15. Fall Through Glass - Thank you! You can’t show us a Bushwalla in Act 1 and not have him go off in Act 3. They even did the freeze frame at the end, although wihtout J Kreds and the Polaroids.
16. Butterfly - Made even better by having Bushwalla and Tricia, Jason’s Joyologist, (at least I think it was her) hoola hooped through the whole song. Their stamina was very impressive. I could see Justin at the side of stage dancing his ass off as well.

Show finished around 3:00 a.m. and I finally got a cab around 3:45. And now I’m at the airport with just three hours of sleep for the night and ready for some lunch.

I’ll remember where the love was found,
Lisa

Review: Mraz at the Florida Theater, Jacksonville, December 2, 2008

Here’s the set list. More details to come tomorrow.

Please note: The role of Ian Sheridan was being played by Bruce Hughes tonight. First we lose Adam King, now this. At least Toca isn’t going anywhere, right?

1. Make it Mine
2. Remedy -> Wonderwall
3. If It Kills Me (minus the usual funny intro)
4. Who Needs Shelter
5. Life is Wonderful
6. A Beautiful Mess
7. Winter Wonderland (Yay for holiday surprises!)
8. Live High
9. Dynamo of Volition
10. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds
Encore
11. Lucky (with Anya Marina)
12. Unfold
14. No Stopping Us -> Invisible Gum bit
15. Butterfly

Some notes:

• Eric Hinojosa looks really good in a suit. More men should wear suits.

• Jason looks really good barefoot. Maybe more men should go barefoot in suits.

• Anya Marina was ok, but she was no Lisa Hannigan. Mraz never shared a mic with LH during “Lucky”, which made it seem like a very distant duet, but it was pretty. With Mraz and Anya sharing a mic it just felt crowded, and her voice is too little girl for me. I don’t know if I’ve seen him do a duet that I loved since he toured with Tristan Prettyman, but we don’t need to dig up old history.

• I can’t believe he did “Unfold”. Talk about a flashback. The most vivid memory I have of that song is from a Boston show in 2003. (I think. I’ll have to check on that.) That was back when the shows didn’t seem as planned, when there was more improvisation. I appreciate the time traveling experience, and it was a perfect lead-in to “No Stopping Us”.

• Those older songs are making me think of other things I haven’t heard him play in ages. I should make up my own Mraz Dream Set List – then we can all compare wish lists.

• This was one of the rowdiest, craziest crowds I’ve seen at a Mraz show. Not crazy about him, but just crazy and loud in general. For example, does anyone know what was up with the wild girl in the front row of the balcony who had to be subdued by five guards and carried away? It was high drama, but I was glad it didn’t end with her jumping over the side, which she seemed close to doing.

This was my last show for 2008, and the end of my personal Friends and Family Tour. Read up on the other shows I hit this year for more set lists and saucy details. I’ll do an overall tour recap in a day or two when I’m back home.

• Review: Mraz at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA, April 4, 2008
• Review: Mraz at the Fillmore, San Francisco, CA, April 5, 2008
• Review: Mraz at the Boston Orpheum, October 17, 2008
• Review: Mraz at San Diego State, October 31, 2008
• Review: Mraz at the L.A. Greek Theatre, November 1, 2008
• Review: Mraz at the Berkeley Greek Theater, November 2, 2008
• Review: Mraz at the Paramount Theater, Seattle, November 9, 2008

Review: Mraz at the Paramount Theater, Seattle, November 9, 2008

Last week I said that Jason Mraz does not control the weather. Apparently, I do.

When I got to Seattle Friday night it was drizzly, but every time my friend, Canadian Chris, and I went out to do something this weekend, it dried up. I guess it’s just the California sunshine I brought with me.

Tonight’s show was full of smiles (I think Jason is still riding an Obama high), happy thoughts and high energy. Here’s the set list:

1. Make it Mine
2. Remedy -> Wonderwall
3. Only Human
4. Music to Watch Girls By
5. If It Kills Me
6. Mary Jane (Rick James cover)
7. Bella Luna
8. A Beautiful Mess
9. Live High (with local choir – Jason introduced them but all I heard was “Tabernacle”. Did anyone else catch who they were?)
10. Oh Happy Day (with local choir)
11. Dynamo of Volition
12. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds (with local choir)
Encore
13. Lucky (with Phoenix from the audience)
14. Build Me Up Buttercup
15. No Stopping Us -> Invisible Gum bit -> Copacabana/Toca Rivera
16. Butterfly
17. Song for a Friend (with local choir)

• Lisa Hannigan wasn’t feeling very well, so although she finished her own set, she didn’t join Jason for “Lucky”. Instead, Jason said he went outside the theater before the show and found a girl sitting at the front of the line who happened to have a really good voice. Her name was Phoenix and although she looked nervous, she did really well. Congrats on your big break! (Unless you are already locally famous and I’m the only one who didn’t know who you were because I’m not from these here parts.)

• Why are there so many old people sitting in the first few rows? They sit or stand still through most of the show while the young people who came to dance and have a good time are sitting way behind them.

• Do any of the other ladies out there rewrite/sing over that one line in “If It Kills Me” to go, “We get along, much better… than you and your wife do”? Anyone? Just curious.

• Seattle has to be the most well-behaved crowd I’ve seen so far. Maybe that’s related to the previous point – that this crowd seemed to skew older than most others. It was nice though. When Jason got to the quiet parts of “If It Kills Me” and “Song for a Friend”, I was cringing, waiting for some drunk to start screaming, but it stayed quiet. We all got to enjoy this perfect moment of calm and let Jason relax and do his thing.

• I still really miss Bushwalla.

• There were some technical difficulties with the screen that was showing the pictures people were emailing in. Eventually the whole screen was covered in black squares that should have been pictures. Canadian Chris said there was a geeky explaination for it, but that it was too difficult to explain (for me, not for him). I didn’t really care enough to press him for more details, but am relieved to know that there are people in the world like him that understand that stuff.

• At the very end of the show, after the house lights came on, they rolled credits. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. Interesting note: Toca was listed as “Noel Toca Rivera”. For real? Did we know that already?

Next stop on my Mraz Togetherness Tour ‘08: Jacksonville, FL.

Don’t let your mind keep you from having a good time,
Lisa

Review: Mraz at the Berkeley Greek Theater, November 2, 2008

Here’s the set list. I just flew back from LA and will add more details after a good night of sleep.

1. Make it Mine
2. Remedy -> Wonderwall
3. If It Kills Me
4. Mary Jane (Rick James cover)
5. Life is Wonderful
6. A Beautiful Mess
7. Live High
8. Only Human
9. Dynamo of Volition
10. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds
Encore
11. 1000 Things
12. Lucky (with Lisa Hannagan)
13. Build Me Up Buttercup
14. No Stopping Us -> Invisible Gum bit -> Copacabana/Toca Rivera
15. Butterfly

Update 11/4/08: Ok, I’m ready to type some more.

This was the third and final stop in my Mraz California Trifecta. His energy was still high and even though I was hearing some songs and banter and bits for the third time in three days, they still felt fresh. The intro to “If It Kills Me” made me laugh again, the choreography to “Dynamo” turned the Greek into a big party, and once again, although the skies looked ready to dump on us, Jason kept the wet away by saying his crowds never get rained on.

(Note: I do not really believe that Jason Mraz controls the weather, so please don’t write in with the real, scientific reasons behind precipitation. )

Other stuff that happened:

• For the first time, I made it to the venue in time to see Two Spot Gobi. They have a fun sound and remind me of a college party band. Considering how young they look, it’s possible they were a college party band not that long ago. The singer has a sexy, gritty voice, and between songs he thanked everyone for being “a wicked audience”. I love English boys, their accents, their trainers, their accents, their slang, and their accents.

• During Lisa Hannigan’s set, Mraz came out and stood on the side of the stage, singing along, practicing some dance moves and chatting with the stage crew. Considering how many times he’s been able to see her perform, I think it was nice that he seemed to really enjoy watching her.

• Lisa Hannigan did a cover of “The Lady Is a Tramp”. I’m not sure if I liked it. It was different. I do like her tambourine on a stick.

• Mraz described “If It Kills Me” as “oo-ku-lay-lay light rock” then went into some “oo-ku-lay-lay funk” with “Mary Jane”.

• Could anybody else use his voice to duel with a saxaphone and not miss a note? Except for maybe that guy who makes all the funny sounds in the Police Academy movies, but he wouldn’t sound nearly as jazzy and musical doing it.

• From where I was standing, close to the stage but off to the side, I had a pretty good view of what Jason can see from the stage. And when thousands of people are putting their hands in the air for you, all dancing and moving together, it looks pretty damn cool, so I can see why he does that every night.

• As annoyed as I get at pushy, noisy, inconsiderate people  who chatter through a show, when thousands of people are singing “Every little thing’s gonna be alright” I can’t help but like the human race a little more, and feel a little better about us as a whole.

• Jason made a quick request each night for people to vote no on Prop 8, and while every crowd responded enthusiastically, Berkeley went the craziest by far.

So, who’s going to be in Seattle?

Review: Mraz at the LA Greek Theatre, November 1, 2008

1. Make it Mine
2. Remedy -> Wonderwall
3. Clockwatching
4. Peg (Steely Dan cover)
5. If It Kills Me
6. Only Human
7. Bella Luna
8. A Beautiful Mess
9. Live High (with special guests, Voices of Prayze)
10 Oh Happy Day (with Voices of Prayze)
11. Dynamo of Volition
12. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds
Encore
13. Lucky (with Lisa Hannigan)
14. No Stopping Us -> Invisible Gum bit -> Copacabana/Toca Rivera
15. Butterfly
16. Song for a Friend (with Voices of Prayze)

• After the first song, Jason welcomed the “Freaks of the Greek” and took the risk of jinxing us by talking about the weather. It had poured in LA just a few hours earlier and the sky still looked ready to attack. A few drops fell during the first song, but Jason said that whenever they played a rainy festival in Europe this summer, the sun came out during their set. He said it was because they invited the kind of people who bring the sunshine with them, and that our “collective awesomeness” would keep the rain away. Sure enough, we stayed rain-free for the rest of the show.

• Mraz looks and sounds incredibly polished this time around. Not that he doesn’t always put on a stellar show, but where the Music, Magic, Makepeace tour felt more like a bunch of friends just hanging out and doing whatever, this show feels a little more rehearsed. So it was great to see a goof, even if it was a small one: Jason dedicated a song to the moon, “wherever she is tonight”, indicating they were about to play “Bella Luna”, then stopped and said something like, “I’ve just been informed by my superband that we’re doing something else. That’s why they’re so super.”

• I think this is one of the largest crowds I’ve ever been part of for a Mraz show, and he mentioned that people have told him they wish he could go back to playing small clubs. His reply: “Stop telling people. I didn’t do this, you guys did.” Yeah, I’m guilty of that. I love to get new Mraz recruits. It does bite me in the ass though when I can’t get good seats to a show without Craigslist, which I haven’t resorted to yet, but might have to soon.

• Why do the lighting people think flashing the bright lights directly into the crowd at five second intervals is a good idea? Are they trying to cause seizures? Temporary blindness? Squint wrinkles?

• The band’s name for the night: $20 Milkshake. I had a chocolate milkshake for lunch. Coincidence? Yeah.

• The night before I was happy that Jason ended with “Butterfly”. The encore built up to a fun crescendo, with people dancing and singing and having a good time. It was an appropriate send-off for people who were headed to the Halloween parties and dances that sounded like they were going on all over the SDSU campus. In Boston, he built up the same kind of party mood, but then ended with “A Beautiful Mess”, which was pretty, but, you know, kind of a mood killer. This time, he said he had five more minutes to play and then launched into “Song for a Friend”. This could have been a downer, but because he had Voices of Praise backing him up, it turned into a really powerful, electric ending.

• After the show, I was waiting for my friend, Anne, to get a shirt and saw a group of guys standing around the merch booth, looking like they were waiting for someone. They were cute, had perfect English accents, and turned out to be Two Spot Gobi. Had I made it to a show early enough to see them, I would have known that, but I didn’t. They chatted with a bunch of fans and sounded like very normal, polite, goofy guys. Lisa Hannigan was also around, signing autographs and taking photos with people. And walking out of the venue, I saw a Makepeace brother. At least, I’m 98% sure it was. I didn’t stop to ask him.

It’s you I love,
Lisa

Review: Mraz at San Diego State, October 31, 2008

Here’s the set list. I just flew back to SF and will add more details after a good night of sleep.

1. Make it Mine
2. Clockwatching
3. Peg (Steely Dan cover)
4. Music to Watch Girls By
5. If It Kills Me
6. Mary Jane (Rick James cover)
7. Remedy -> Wonderwall
8. Only Human
9. A Beautiful Mess
10. Bella Luna
11. Live High (with special guests, Voices of Prayze)
12. Oh Happy Day (with Voices of Prayze)
13. Dynamo of Volition
14. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds
Encore
15. Lucky (with Lisa Hannagan)
16. Build Me Up Buttercup
17. No Stopping Us -> Invisible Gum bit -> Copacabana/Toca Rivera
18. Butterfly

Update 11/3/08: Ok, I’m ready to try and make sense of the notes I scribbled in the dark during the show.

• Halloween show! Many people in the crowd were in costume, including one very tall man in a huge Donald Duck costume. I was a little disappointed that Jason didn’t show up in something wild, but he did comment on the costumes he saw, noting that people took advantage of the holiday to dress as anything naughty: naughty maid, naughty UPS driver, naughty meter reader, whatever.

• Lisa Hannigan and her entire band did dress up as spiders, and she was adorable, waving all her arms around in a spidery way. I only got there in time to catch her last two songs, but she sounded as adorable as she looked with her Irish Bjork sound.

• What’s with the Xbox commercials?

• Love the pre-show, get-the-crowd-hyped-up, intro film of Mraz doing karaoke (Take On Me, Young Folk, Stand By Me, Bust a Move, In Bloom, Release Me). The pre-show stuff gets better every year, from the weird helicopter noises he had around 2003 to the time-lapse video of him standing on a street corner around 2004 (?), to the magic and mayhem he had earlier this year. Which reminds me…

• I miss Bushwalla.

• Having the nine women of the Voices of Prayze join him was a very cool treat. They’re based in San Diego and only did two shows with him that I know of (this one and LA the next night), and they added a sort of ecstatic, joyful mood to the songs they did. I imagine this is what the congregation in Jason’s mind sounds like all the time. It’s nice to get to share it with him.

• Clockwatching. Hell yeah.

• Ian Sheridan took off his pants. I’d like to just leave it at that, but you probably want more details. It was when the band came back for the encore. They were all wearing huge sombreros (is there any other kind?), and a few had bolero jackets as well. Ian had the hat and the jacket, and his tidy whities. That was it. It was either very brave of him, or the result of a Halloween bet. Good thing it was a warm evening.

What did I forget? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Buttercup, don’t break my heart,
Lisa

Review: Mraz at the Boston Orpheum, October 17, 2008

I just got back from my quickie trip to Boston where I was catching up with friends, visiting my favorite sites and, of course, seeing Mraz. This was my first show of the fall tour, which I am now calling “More Planter, Less Banter 2008″. More on that later.

First, here’s the set list, for those of you who are curious:

1. Make it Mine
2. Common Pleasure
3. Music to Watch Girls By (I think Jason and Toca are channeling Jan & Dean, and maybe a few of the Beach Boys)
4. If It Kills Me
5. Life is Wonderful
6. Details in the Fabric
7. Unfold
8. Live High
9. Only Human
10. Dynamo of Volition
11. I’m Yours -> Three Little Birds
Encore
12. Lucky (with Lisa Hannagan)
13. The Remedy (mashed up with “Wonderwall”)
14. No Stopping Us (mashed up with a bit about his invisible gum, then a takeoff of “Copacabana”)
15. Butterfly
16. A Beautiful Mess

Some notes on the evening:

• Jason sounded wonderful. I was a little afraid that by this point in the tour he might be getting worn out, but there was no problem at all with his energy level. He looks great, all glowing and healthy, and now I’m thinking maybe the raw food diet is worth a try. Chocolate, is raw, right? And Ben & Jerry’s?

• It just felt good. The whole show. It’s hard to describe exactly, and to save you from reading all 300+ entries on this blog to figure it out, I’ll take you back to where it all began and see if that helps.A couple of years ago, my friend, Chris, and I went to the Saratoga show that wound up as the second half of Selections for Friends. After the show we were basking in the Mraz afterglow, comparing it to other Mraz shows and shows by other artists, and what we came up with is that Mraz doesn’t just put on a concert, he creates a gathering, a movement, a sort of soulful revival that pulls in every person in every seat and makes them part of the joy and happiness and love that’s coming out of him.Yes, I do know just how cheesy that sounds. But I can’t think of any other way to say it.Don’t think that I’m naturally one of those perky people who goes around talking about my feelings. My friends are all snarky, clever people who live firmly in reality. I don’t think any of them consider themselves to be overly spiritual or touchy-feely, but when we’re at a Mraz show, suddenly we’re all a little softer and cuddlier.We get how connected we are to everyone else in the room, including the jerks behind us who had to hoot and yodel every time there was a quiet lull just to hear the sounds of their own voices. I hate those guys. No amount of Mraz love will make me stop wanting to punch them in the nose. Can I love people in general but still hate the really obnoxious ones?*Deep breath… Practicing kindness… And moving on…*We get a look at the bigger picture. We stop worrying about silly things. We feel like everything really will be fine. We come out feeling like we had our souls scrubbed clean and shiny and happy. It’s really very addictive, that kind of hope and optimism tinged with humor and sex and dancing and all the things that other people say you should feel guilty about, but which are actually very liberating.

• I appreciated hearing the older songs. I know a large chunk of the audience would have been happy if he’d played “I’m Yours” 12 times in a row just like they do on their pink iPods, but many of us were happy to hear “Common Pleasure” and “Unfold” for the first time in ages.

Mraz is for Lovers

• During the show, there was a marriage proposal in the audience. Not to Jason, but involving a real couple. I don’t know if he knew about it ahead of time, but Jason was quick to celebrate with the newly fiancée-d, had us sing to them and wish them well. It was a pretty sharing moment.

• The Difference Between Jason Mraz and Other Acts: Other acts start a song with, “I wrote this song for a friend of mine.” Jason starts with a story, or a question, or with something that sounds like casual chatting but then turns into an “ah ha!” moment. It’s all part of the ride that gets us from our separate seats into the collective hive mind. (I blame the use of “hive mind” on a co-worker who was talking about some sci-fi stuff earlier. I don’t usually talk geek. Except when I do.)

• Does anything feel better than hearing hundreds of voices chanting “Every little thing’s gonna be alright”? As we all sang, I could feel the weight of the last eight years start to lift off of our collective shoulders. Change is only a few days away.

• If Jason ever gives up singing, it’s good to know he can get into choreography. Good God, get ‘em up way high…

Next stop on my tour: Halloween show in San Diego. See you there!

Heck is for the people not believing in gosh,
Lisa