Tonight I went out with one of my favorite girls for a dual celebration - her 24th birthday and my new job. We toasted over a fantastic dinner at Eastern Standard and then headed to the Agganis Arena at BU for the Hooligans in Wondaland tour.
We arrived at the arena at 8:45pm. According to our tickets, the show was supposed to start at 8:00pm. We took our seats and looked out at the empty stage in front of us. Around 9:00pm Janelle Monae took the stage. You may recognize Monae from her performance on the Grammy Awards back in February:
Monae's performance was awful. First of all, she had an eleven piece band behind her that was drowning out her vocals. Though she has a superb voice (showcased when she sang the ballad "Smile") her performances were overly conceptual and rivaled Lady GaGa in the freak factor. I really wanted to enjoy it, but sadly, I couldn't wait for it to be over.
At 10:00pm Monae finally left the stage and there was about a fifteen minute break while the crew switched up the set to make way for the main attraction, Bruno Mars. I downloaded Mars' entire album a few months ago and I absolutely love it! It's perfect driving music, especially on a sunny day with the windows down.
When Mars came out the entire arena exploded! People were going crazy and I must admit, he is incredibly handsome. I was swooning from the very first second! Our seats were in the second to last row of the arena, so pardon the long distance photos. My camera is pretty fabulous, but even it can't miraculously move me to the front row.
Mars sang so many of my favorite songs: Runaway Baby, Marry You and Somewhere in Brooklyn. He also sang two of the songs he collaborated on: Nothin on You and Billionaire. My swoon-o-meter went off the charts when he and his band did one number in the style of a barbershop quartet. Holy amazing.
Here are some shots of Mars singing Billionaire:
Serenading the ladies with the song Our First Time:
His current radio single, the Lazy Song:
The reggae tune, Liquor Store Blues:
The crowd went totally nuts when Mars sang Grenade! He did a Spanish style intro the song that was amazing:
Every single person in the arena sang along to Just the Way You Are:
After two or three minutes off stage, Mars and crew returned for an encore and sang the ballad Talking to the Moon. How gorgeous is the image on the screen?
Though Janelle Monae was a total bust (and gave me a headache), Bruno Mars was sensational! He has a silky, sexy voice that just melts you into a puddle. He has great stage presence, hot dance moves, serious guitar chops and to top it all off, he talks to the audience. The way he spoke to the crowd reminded me of the way Jason Mraz talks during his shows. They both treat their fans like they are close friends. They crack jokes, ask the audience questions and best of all, they are humble.
If you have the opportunity to score tickets to the Hooligans in Wondaland tour, hop on it!
