Who: Jason Mraz with B.o.B. and Bruno Mars
When: September 15, 2010
Where: University at Buffalo's Baird Point/ Buffalo, NY
With: Becky
Of Note: holy crap, I am so old
Jason Mraz makes up the third arm of the "cute boys with guitars" genre of music that is a rite of passage for all college girls (John Mayer and Dave Matthews being the other two). The first time I heard 'The Remedy', I thought to myself, "No sir, I will not worry my life away!" I was hooked. I'm even a big fan of the largely critically panned 'Mr A-Z'. The song 'Wordplay' was my ringtone for a long time.
Anyway, Jason Mraz was coming to UB's FallFest and, though I was clearly not a student anymore, I decided I needed to go. After all, tickets were only $20.
It was a gorgeous night in September; there was just a touch of bite in the air and things were just starting to smell crisp, like leaves and apple cider. It was a great night for an outdoor show. When Beck and I got there, there was a huge, massive line which looked awful to stand in. Luckily, that was the student line. Because we had tickets, we went to the much shorter (let's be honest, non-existent) ticket holders line. We staked out a place on the lawn (I got to stand on top of an electrical cord cover, which gave me a crucial two inch viewing advantage) and waited for things to get started.
Leading up to the concert, I had joked that I was going to get kicked out because I was obviously too old to be there. Standing around, waiting for things to get started, I didn't feel too old. I'm not sure if we managed to take up residence in a pocket of grad students or whether I just have a warped self-perception, but I didn't feel like I looked all that much older than the crowd either. The feeling old wouldn't hit until later.
Anyway, the previous week-end, the MTV music awards had aired, which I watched. It featured a cool medley of Nothing On You/Airplanes/something else? and highlighted 'up and comers' as well as 'brilliant collaborations'. It didn't click that I would be seeing two of those performers just three days later.
Bruno Mars was up first. His voice was out of this world. Maybe because I had just seen 'Jersey Boys' and as a result had recently listened to a lot of Four Seasons, but I declared him his generation's Frankie Valli. His tenor was crisp and clear and unwavering without being effected or cloying. With his guitar and fedora, he commanded the stage and captivated the crowd - which given that his first album hadn't yet dropped, was impressive. Man, that voice. It was out of this world.
Next up was B.o.B. He introduced himself as "Bob". I had very low expectations, given that rap isn't really my thing and I didn't think I knew any of his songs. I was wrong. I knew a ton of his stuff! He told us all to, "put (our) wings out" when he played 'Airplanes'. He brought Bruno out for 'Nothing on You' and the crowd went nuts. When he played 'Magic', I could not stop the Jen dance party from happening. He played guitar. He sang and rapped. He danced around. He had great rapport with his band-mates. It was pretty incredible.
Jason Mraz was not great that night. I think he was bored of all his material (which, hey dude - release a new album!) and didn't play many of his singles...or if he did, he stripped them down to the point where they were almost unrecognizable. He played a lot of new songs that I haven't heard since and haven't been released yet (and this is a year and a half later). I remember liking a song that sounded like it should be called 'The Thank You Song', though I can't remember the particulars. The show ended with a cover of the Beatles' 'All You Need is Love'. It was good to see him doing something different, I guess - and I loved his "Bruno Mars and I are hat brothers!" jokes - but I would have preferred him to sound a little bit more like himself. I mean would it have killed him to give us a 'You and I Both' or even a 'Curbside Prophet'? Oh well.
While Jason was playing something that I was trying to get into, I started doing some math. The thought stream went something like this, "I started loving Jason Mraz sophomore year in the dorms. That would have been 2002. That was eight years ago. The youngest people at this concert are college freshmen. That makes them in 13th grade. 13 minus eight equals five. Holy crap. I have wanted to make out with Jason Mraz since these college freshmen were in fifth grade. I am really, really old."
Two weeks later, 'Just The Way You Are (Amazing)' exploded. A week after that, Bruno Mars was arrested for cocaine possession and I was super disappointed because he seemed like, "such a nice young man". The rest of his meteoric rise is well documented, from 'Grenade' to being featured prominently on Glee plus every major singing competition out there. B.o.B. kind of dropped off the map, but I still assert that Bruno Mars is one of his generation's greatest talents.
And Jason Mraz, if you're listening? I still love you. But, you need to release some new music.
When: September 15, 2010
Where: University at Buffalo's Baird Point/ Buffalo, NY
With: Becky
Of Note: holy crap, I am so old
Jason Mraz makes up the third arm of the "cute boys with guitars" genre of music that is a rite of passage for all college girls (John Mayer and Dave Matthews being the other two). The first time I heard 'The Remedy', I thought to myself, "No sir, I will not worry my life away!" I was hooked. I'm even a big fan of the largely critically panned 'Mr A-Z'. The song 'Wordplay' was my ringtone for a long time.
Anyway, Jason Mraz was coming to UB's FallFest and, though I was clearly not a student anymore, I decided I needed to go. After all, tickets were only $20.
It was a gorgeous night in September; there was just a touch of bite in the air and things were just starting to smell crisp, like leaves and apple cider. It was a great night for an outdoor show. When Beck and I got there, there was a huge, massive line which looked awful to stand in. Luckily, that was the student line. Because we had tickets, we went to the much shorter (let's be honest, non-existent) ticket holders line. We staked out a place on the lawn (I got to stand on top of an electrical cord cover, which gave me a crucial two inch viewing advantage) and waited for things to get started.
Leading up to the concert, I had joked that I was going to get kicked out because I was obviously too old to be there. Standing around, waiting for things to get started, I didn't feel too old. I'm not sure if we managed to take up residence in a pocket of grad students or whether I just have a warped self-perception, but I didn't feel like I looked all that much older than the crowd either. The feeling old wouldn't hit until later.
Anyway, the previous week-end, the MTV music awards had aired, which I watched. It featured a cool medley of Nothing On You/Airplanes/something else? and highlighted 'up and comers' as well as 'brilliant collaborations'. It didn't click that I would be seeing two of those performers just three days later.
Bruno Mars was up first. His voice was out of this world. Maybe because I had just seen 'Jersey Boys' and as a result had recently listened to a lot of Four Seasons, but I declared him his generation's Frankie Valli. His tenor was crisp and clear and unwavering without being effected or cloying. With his guitar and fedora, he commanded the stage and captivated the crowd - which given that his first album hadn't yet dropped, was impressive. Man, that voice. It was out of this world.
Next up was B.o.B. He introduced himself as "Bob". I had very low expectations, given that rap isn't really my thing and I didn't think I knew any of his songs. I was wrong. I knew a ton of his stuff! He told us all to, "put (our) wings out" when he played 'Airplanes'. He brought Bruno out for 'Nothing on You' and the crowd went nuts. When he played 'Magic', I could not stop the Jen dance party from happening. He played guitar. He sang and rapped. He danced around. He had great rapport with his band-mates. It was pretty incredible.
Jason Mraz was not great that night. I think he was bored of all his material (which, hey dude - release a new album!) and didn't play many of his singles...or if he did, he stripped them down to the point where they were almost unrecognizable. He played a lot of new songs that I haven't heard since and haven't been released yet (and this is a year and a half later). I remember liking a song that sounded like it should be called 'The Thank You Song', though I can't remember the particulars. The show ended with a cover of the Beatles' 'All You Need is Love'. It was good to see him doing something different, I guess - and I loved his "Bruno Mars and I are hat brothers!" jokes - but I would have preferred him to sound a little bit more like himself. I mean would it have killed him to give us a 'You and I Both' or even a 'Curbside Prophet'? Oh well.
While Jason was playing something that I was trying to get into, I started doing some math. The thought stream went something like this, "I started loving Jason Mraz sophomore year in the dorms. That would have been 2002. That was eight years ago. The youngest people at this concert are college freshmen. That makes them in 13th grade. 13 minus eight equals five. Holy crap. I have wanted to make out with Jason Mraz since these college freshmen were in fifth grade. I am really, really old."
Two weeks later, 'Just The Way You Are (Amazing)' exploded. A week after that, Bruno Mars was arrested for cocaine possession and I was super disappointed because he seemed like, "such a nice young man". The rest of his meteoric rise is well documented, from 'Grenade' to being featured prominently on Glee plus every major singing competition out there. B.o.B. kind of dropped off the map, but I still assert that Bruno Mars is one of his generation's greatest talents.
And Jason Mraz, if you're listening? I still love you. But, you need to release some new music.
Ah! Full disclosure, I wrote this last week. Yesterday, Jason released a new single! I'm like magic!
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