Edited 10/23/05
(Scroll down or click here to see my expanded review of the show.)



Hey- I’m doing a lazy thing and just re-posting what I wrote on the forum. But I am waiting for more time (and a little more inspiration) to write a fuller review. I know at some point I will have a rush of ideas and will want to share them with you. Also, I’m posting this now because I don’t like how it seems like I haven’t blogged this month! (I have, you just have to scroll down to the NY Film Fest reviews which were updated in October.)

So, here is a very brief review of the Jason Mraz show I attended last week:



I went but I want to spend more than a few minutes writing my review. I had decent seats but I couldn’t quite make out if he wore his “TPISMYGF” shirt again at the show. Btw, I finally heard TP – Tristan Prettyman – on One Tree Hill or one of those WB shows. She sounded good – nice voice, interesting song. I think she made that t-shirt for her honey. Of course Jason Mraz was great. He’s enormously personable, funny, talented and adorable. More to come…



I’ll add one more thing here: the opener was Raul Midon who opened up for JM last time I saw him. And I just saw Raul Midon when I went to the Joan Armatrading show. So this dude is working steadily. I still hold with my initial impression that he is talented technically but his songwriting skills are still in development. My favorite performance of his was the on-stage duet with Jason Mraz. I think it was the title track, State of Mind.





Added: 10/23/05Expanded review of the Jason Mraz concert at Avery Fisher Hall, NYC on 10/16/05 :



I see that Jason Mraz sang on Raul Midon’s song Keep On Hoping so it would make more sense that what I saw at the show was a performance of this song. I looked up the lyrics to see if it jogged my memory. I thought at one point during Jason Mraz’ part, he pointed at his shirt – like maybe during the “One day you’ll find love” line. But I could be making this up. Like I said earlier, I was close to the stage but not that close. Orchestra section but towards the back. We were on the aisle. It was very comfortable.

I might seriously be buggin but I don’t remember Jason M ever singing his single Wordplay. Isn’t that completely unbelievable? I must’ve spaced out during it. He did sing Geek in the Pink. He did a nice raucous rendition of The Remedy – a song that made him but also one he seemed to tired of performing when I saw him last year. It was great. He seemed energized and it got the whole house rockin. He sang that R. Kelly-esque song Plane which was better in person. I’ve also grown to like it more. It’s not fair that I initially compared it to uh…you know… that R. Kelly Trapped In the Closet opus which is fascinating in the oddest way but not exactly good. Plane is a good song. I like Bella Luna for it’s sentimentality. I love that line about how “I’m just a singer, you’re the world” or however it goes. It’s just as good as that part in The Remedy…”When I fall in love I take my time; There’s no need to hurry when I’m making up my mind.”

I think he opened with Clockwatching. He came on stage alone and I was thinking, where is that band of his? And sure enough, the curtain came up mid-way and there was his band. He still performed some songs on his own but I appreciated the fuller sound. It was cool to experience his music differently from the last time I saw him when it was just him on stage. People went nuts when he did his little opera number during Mr. Curiosity. So funny. He could single-handedly bring opera into style for the TRL generation. Maybe if he were in um…my mind is blanking…Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme, maybe it wouldn’t have flopped. Personally, I saw it and dug it though it was Moulin Rouge all over again or rather, Moulin Rouge was La Boheme. (And Rent is also La Boheme…whatever, you get my meaning…I could also include a segment about opera as used in Bugs Bunny cartoons which is just fantastic. But let me return to Jason Mraz.)



So yes, he got a kick out of his operatic antics as did the audience. And it was fun in that concert-going way when he sang Curbside Prophet prefacing it with, this song is about how it all started for me right out back, meaning behind Lincoln Center. It was cool to think of him in NYC on the cusp of success.

ya see it started way back in nyc
when i stole my first rhyme from the m.i.c.
at a west end avenue at 63
the beginning of a leap year, february, ’96
when a guitar picked up in the mix
i committed to the licks like a nickel back of tricks
well look at me now
look at you now
look at us now, now, now, now



So I don’t think I have anything else to say except I did not get a tee shirt this time. They were cute enough but I just felt like if I thought I had the funds for a $20 t-shirt, I would do better by donating it to a charitable cause. So it was, as a good friend and fellow PCA would say, a case of determining between “I want” and “I need.” But this is not to say that I don’t think people get something out of getting these shirts. I certainly do. And, Jason Mraz is good about involving his fans in charitable causes. So it all evens out in the wash.

Final thoughts on the show…I went to the first of 2 nights in NYC, so I’d be curious to know how the second show went. Oh, I was thinking about how his genuineness was apparent. He still talked and played to the audience like there were only 25 of us, not 2500. Very intimate and down to earth. It was like, here I am and here you are so let the good times roll.

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