Guys, please be nice. This is my first review ever. Also, I had to copy paste it.
Jason Mraz is known for his witty lyrics, fast paced singing and great live performances. When it was announced that Mraz would be coming to the Fillmore on Miami Beach on Friday, December 5, fans rushed to buy tickets. Mraz’s new album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things was released in May of 2008 and has been a hit since.
Singer, songwriter, and opener, Anya Marina was on stage with her acoustic guitar for no more than half an hour. She has had songs featured on the television show Grey’s Anatomy, and surely sang in a style that would appeal to the Mraz crowd, yet the audience didn’t seem to mind that she spent so little time on stage.
After a long wait, a video started playing above the stage. It was of Mr. A-Z (the name of Mraz’s second album and a play on his last name) doing karaoke with what seemed to be his band. In the middle of his rendition of “Mercy” by Duffy, Mraz realized he was alone and rushed out of his dressing room. Seconds later, barefoot and in the simple attire of jeans, a white long sleeved t-shirt and his newest trademark hat, he appeared on stage.
Part of Mraz’s reputation for great performances comes from his ability to get the crowd going by talking and laughing with them, and by playing up beat songs that are sure to keep you from sitting down. If that is what he is known for, than one can only guess as to who was up on stage that night. Audience members found themselves sitting down when he failed to play songs that were upbeat and energetic.
“I was a little shocked by his set list,” said senior and long time Jason Mraz fan, Brittany Bruce. “I was expecting different songs and was surprised when he played such mellow songs”
He did a few things right, though. He did get the audience excited by taking pictures of himself and the band on a Polaroid camera and throwing them into the crowd. “Play nice” is what he said when he watched a dozen audience members struggle to obtain the picture of him.
When he played “The Remedy” (off his first album, Waiting for my Rocket to Come), he infused it with “Wonderwall” by Oasis, and he and his band even played “Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations.
Mraz’s song “Live High” got a lot of cheers, especially when pictures of President Elect Barack Obama appeared on the stage’s background, while he sang the lyrics: “I try to picture the man to always have an open hand/See him as a giving tree, see him as matter/Matter of fact, he’s not a beast/No, not the devil either, always a good deed doer/ Well, it’s laughter that we’re makin’ after all.”
Playing the first single “I’m Yours” off his new album surely didn’t hurt to get the crowd excited either.
After less than three hours of total concert time, Mraz and his band left the stage for the final time. The crowd shuffled out, the venders selling Jason Mraz t-shirts made plenty of money, and every audience member (even the fathers, husbands, and boyfriends that were dragged to the show) left contently to get to their car where they could listen to the songs they wish Mraz has played.
