The Grammy-winning pop star’s Meijer Gardens debut on Wednesday showed off the “half-Michigan” Mraz’s charisma and nothing but good vibes for an approving, sold-out crowd.
Good Vibes Guy: Jason Mraz and his band oozed positive energy on Wednesday. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
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A little background: Last night wasn’t the first time I have seen Jason Mraz, and hopefully, it won’t be the last.
When I first caught the Grammy-winning pop star, it was in San Diego’s legendary Java Joe’s coffee house back in 2001. A friend of mine from graduate school had taken me to see him at the Ocean Beach venue, as her brother had done some art work for Mraz’s first album, which had been recorded live there earlier that year.
Half-Michigander: Jason Mraz has a connection to the Great Lakes State. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
She promised me I’d be blown away by this free-wheeling troubadour.
And despite having the perfect style for a small coffee house crowd, he definitely was not what I expected to see in the tiny venue. He performed much, much bigger than the space was carved out for.
Looking back, I’m still not sure if I was taken more by surprise that night watching him freestyle in a way that only a New Yorker turned West Coast surfer could (while picking out fast snappy riffs on his guitar), or a year later when I was home for Christmas and walked into a record store and saw his debut studio album, “Waiting for My Rocket to Come,” sitting under a sign that said, “Top New U.S. Releases.”
“Wow, they know that guy outside of San Diego!?” I recall saying to myself, somewhat excited.
Of course, many fans attending his debut at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park on Wednesday were well aware that the aforementioned album, similar to two of his four studio releases since, wound up going platinum. So now, of course, “they” know Mraz everywhere.
What a difference 17 years makes: from seeing him in a tiny coffee house with now longtime musical compadre Toca Rivera on percussion, to watching the two perform with a full nine-piece, jumpsuit-styled ensemble in front of 1,900 at Meijer Garden — one of the smaller and more intimate venues Mraz will play this summer as he headlines the Good Vibes Tour with support from singer-songwriter Brett Dennen.
GOOD VIBES AT MEIJER GARDENS
Kicking off the tour this week in Michigan may not have been by accident either, considering his comments as part of a late-set take on the recently released, “Might as Well Dance.” Because he’s married to a Michigan girl (Troy native Christina Carano), Mraz insisted that “makes me half Michigan, right?”
While Carano may have captured Mraz’s heart earlier this decade, it was his admitted first love (singing), his songwriting and his showmanship that touched and brought the crowd together.
Capacity Crowd: Meijer Gardens was jammed with Mraz fans. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
In between impromptu lyrical riffs, choreographed dance moves with his band and a little bit of banter, he took the time between tunes to sign one fan’s ukulele and answered another fan’s request to go off the set list and perform “Quiet” for an area couple who will share their first wedding dance to the song this Friday.
The charismatic Mraz communicated with concert-goers throughout the evening, at one point asking attendees who had come by themselves and then encouraging them to become friends with their neighbors, before delving into another recent release, “Unlonely,” one of three cuts he played off his forthcoming release, “Know.”
From a cover of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” to his own “3 Things,” Mraz kept the vibes high and uplifting all night. And while he didn’t play everything from his way-back machine, he did treat fans to Grammy-winning tracks “Make it Mine” and “Lucky” and perform both Top 10 hits in his repertoire, 2008’s “I’m Yours” and 2012’s “I Won’t Give Up,” along with his first big breakthrough hit, “The Remedy.”
Setting the stage for Mraz, a barefoot, spectacled Dennen played a 45-minute set to open the show, telling stories of his northern California home and pulling deep from within his well and playing tunes from throughout his 15-year career, including singles such as “Comeback Kid,” “Wild Child” and “Sydney.”
Following a Friday night stop in Cleveland, the nearly two-month-long tour will swing back through the Great Lakes state as Mraz and Dennen play Meadow Brook Amphiteatre Saturday night before heading to Toronto and then onward to all reaches of the United States.
Set List: A World With You, Living in the Moment, The Remedy, Lucky, Make it Mine, Unlonely, A Beautiful Mess, I’m Yours, Three Little Birds, 3 Things, Quiet, Long Drive, Love Someone, 93 Million Miles, Unfold, Love is Still the Answer, I Won’t Give Up, Might as Well Dance, Have it All
PHOTO GALLERY: Jason Mraz, Brett Dennen
Photos by Jamie Geysbeek
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC
