Gowri Kanagarajah
After more than 2 hours of singing, clapping and basking in the feel-good vibes of Mr A-Z, the audience was ready to exalt and proclaim to Jason Mraz: I’m yours.
Regaling the audience with stories about human encounters and environmental efforts in which must be his 5th time in Singapore – a record for an international artiste we think – Jason Mraz’s gig at the Star Theater felt like an old friend back for a reunion of sorts.
Multi-instrumental all-female group Raining Jane was the opening act for the night’s acoustic session and rightfully so. Jason Mraz is known as the epitome of positivity and happiness, and Raining Jane parried his energy with their own.
Mai Bloomfield (vocals, guitar, cello), Chaska Potter (vocals, guitar), Mona Tavakoli (vocals, drums, percussion) and Becky Gebhardt (bass, guitar, sitar) wowed us with the mastery of the different instruments they effortlessly switched between during the concert. Even performing their own rendition of “Love is a Battlefield”, they got rid of Pat Benatar’s girlpower-fuelled defiance and turned it into a languorous soul number.
Backed by the Janes, Mraz kicked off past 8:30 pm with “Long Drive” off his latest album, Yes! We were quick to pick up his knack for rearranging the songs to fit the evening’s chill, easy-going vibe, and were pleasantly surprised at their reinterpretation of “Lucky”, Mraz’s hit duet with Colbie Caillat.
Imagine our amazement when they segued into the P.M Dawn hit, “Set Adrift Memory Bliss of You”. They even performed a slinky, James Bond-esque rendition of the Eurthymics’ “Sweet Dreams”.
Mraz proved to be a walking ProTools Studio, experimenting with scatting, runs, beatboxing, a little French and even his signature opera-esque voice during “Mr. Curiosity”. We weren’t expecting that at all, as it felt like another person had joined him on stage, but no, it was just Mraz and his piano.
The wordsmith was full of wisecracks (“Don’t think of it as an intermission, but think of it as an ‘inner mission’”) and wit (“Inspire literally means to breathe in spirit”). Sometimes he’d sing lines that he presumably made up on the spot (“I’ve no idea what this song is about” / “I can also tell by the looks in your faces that you have doubts”). Talk about subconscious rhyming that made the clueless laugh in spite of their confusion.
“Make it Mine”, which he sang accompanied with his trademark ukulele and guitar, would have sounded better, had it been less stripped-down. The song is about seizing the day, and we were expecting a celebration of sorts. But we understand, given that the evening was billed as an acoustic session.
Mraz also took the time to explain the message behind his songs, which made the evening more personal. “Pay attention to the messaging in the song,” he said, before bringing us to a mellowed version of “Remedy”. “Remedy” was inspired by the tenacity and hope of his childhood friend, Chuck, who was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer.
Special mention has to be given to the versatility of Raining Jane. “Plane”, which was reworked to include a slinky beat and a bass guitar, had bassist Gebhardt switch to a sitar and play it for around 10 beautiful minutes. Percussionist Tavakoli was relentless on the cajon and guitarist Potter equally adept on the glockenspiel.
A standout performance was “Bottom of the Sea”, which was actually Mraz and Raining Jane singing in sync with a video shown on the screen. Mraz explained that “sea” was filmed when he and Tavokoli embarked on an expedition to Antarctica with a group of environmentalists. This song doesn’t have a studio version, and is only performed live.
What a shame, as the video was nothing short of hilarious, showing montages of adorable animals, Mraz’s interactions with them and kayaking home from the expedition with Tavokoli.
Mraz mellowed the night with “93 Million Miles”, where the 37 year old got the audience to close their eyes and really listen to the music, and sing along if they knew the words.
For most of the second half of the night, Mraz and the Janes crowded around the same microphone and pulled off their characteristic harmonies. It was part performance art, part celebration and part collaborative effort.
There was no pretentious hierarchy between the 5. It was like watching a bunch of close friends jamming together for the love of music. And if that’s what Mraz wanted to achieve during his 2-day concert here, he certainly succeeded.
Setlist: RJ
- From Me to You (cover)
- Opposite of Blue (cover)
- Love is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar cover)
Setlist: JM
- Long Drive
- Lucky / Set Adrift Memory Bliss of You
- Sweet Dreams (Eurthymics cover)
- The Dynamo of Volition
- Unfold
- 1000 Things
- It’s Gonna Be A Good Day(Hello, You Beautiful Thing)
- Make It Mine
- Quiet
- The Remedy
- 3 Things
- Back to the Earth
- Mr Curiosity
- Bottom of the Sea (Sail Away)
- Love Someone
- Plane
- 93 Million Miles
- A World With You
- Shine
- I’m Yours
- I Won’t Give Up
Photographs courtesy of Aloysius Lim/Lionel Boon/Lushington Entertainment