Hello Mrazonites. I just got back to Boston from the Life is Good festival in Canton, MA (which should have been called the Life is Dusty festival based on the five pounds of dirt I brought back on my clothes and shoes).
My friends and I started the afternoon with OK GO on the second stage. I didn’t know much about them, other than that they were the treadmill guys, but they put on a really energetic show and completely won me over. I’m downloading their stuff on iTunes right now.
After that there was some time to kill, and since we didn’t know that Mraz was hanging out in the kids tent, we walked around until it was time for Guster.
I’ve seen Guster perform once before, in the Tower Records that used to be on Newbury Street. I thought of them as a college band, mostly because I was in college when I saw them 12 or so years ago, so it’s great to see that they’re still making music, and the local crowd clealy adores them. I always love “The Airport Song”.
It was very chilly and a few drops of rain fell, but in the end the weather held out for us and nobody on stage had to worry about being electrocuted.
And speaking of the people on stage, where was Toca? I think the last time I saw Jason without Toca was the Curbside Prophets tour. Maybe he’s still on summer vacation. It’s just a little strange to see Jason play without any of his original band of merrymakers.
Here’s a quick rundown of Mraz’ set:
1. Dynamo of Volition
2. NEW SONG – “Freedom”, written after Hurricane Katrina by Luc & the Lovingtons. Jason said that he performs it to honor the people of New Orleans.
3. Make It Mine
4. Anything You Want/Love Love Love (That’s what I’ve been calling this one and no one has corrected me so far)
5. Coyotes
– Small break while Jason eats cantaloupe and throws it into the audience where a guy catches it in his mouth. –
6. NEW SONG – Mother’s Out There (I think this is what Jason called it. It’s a song he wrote with Brett Dennen, who performed earlier in the day.)
7. Live High
8. NEW SONG – Life is Good (Again, I’m guessing at a title here. It could also be “The Thank You Song” based on the lyrics. It was beautiful, and every geek can relate.)
9. NEW SONG – I want to call this one “Gene Wilder” because Jason sings about him and the glass elevator, but it might also be “Going Up”.
10. Remedy (the reggae version he performed during the WSWDWST tour)
11. San Disco Reggaefornia (with dancers Joe the cantaloupe-catching guy and Katie from the audience)
12. Butterfly
Encore:
13. Lucky (with the ladies in the audience singing Colbie’s part and Jason singing the last verse in Spanish)
14. I’m Yours
15. All You Need is Love (yes, the Beatles song, but with more of a disco vibe) with some of the earlier acts joining him on stage
All in all a fun but dirty, dirty day. I don’t think I’m a festival girl. I think I’m a reserved seat girl. Still, it’s been at least a year since I saw Mraz, I think, so it was great to have a chance to see him live this year, and to get so much new material. For that, I am grateful.
Life is good,
Lisa