Bruno Mars is in the middle of a milestone moment. Not many Grammy-nominated, Super Bowl halftime headliners would spend their time off from a sold-out North American arena tour to christen a new venue in Las Vegas and perform for a relatively small crowd of 3,000 people -- Mars' first of eight shows at the space throughout 2014. Yet the rare opportunity turned into a rich, refreshing spectacle, as Mars stretched his improv chops for an intimate audience that became acquainted with his vocal precision, sense of humor and longtime friends.
Mars had a bit of ground to recover from the get-go: while the concert was listed to begin at 9 p.m., Mars wasn't booked to hit the stage until just after 11 p.m. -- a schedule unknown to ticket holders already irritated from waiting in snaking entry lines. After being appeased with a long set by DJ Supra, fans gladly greeted an energetic Mars riffing on an electric guitar, dressed casually in a black blazer and graphic tee and accompanied by his Hooligans bandmates outfitted in suits and suspenders.
Once the youngest Elvis Presley impersonator, when he was 4 years old, Mars habitually performs with kicks, thrusts and other mannerisms that had female attendees screaming when the King did the same, and effortlessly proves that his retro R&B/pop aesthetic isn’t just for show (which, arguably, artists like Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake have recently adopted), but is an authentic, core musical inspiration.
And between his hits, he delivered the laughs: "I have so much hairspray in this shit right now, you have no idea!" he joked. Later, he said to widespread protest, "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a man so bad, I just wanted to rip my shirt off onstage. But I'm too short and I'm too fat!"
As he performed his top tracks like "Just the Way You Are," "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Treasure," much of the night's set list was borrowed from his Moonshine Jungle Tour, like the reggae jam "Show Me" flushed in red, yellow and green graphics and the feel-good "Marry You" track with dancing lights. Yet for those unfamiliar with his non-radio play, nostalgic covers were served with a twist: his usual mashup of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" and his "Billionaire" breakout with Travis McCoy also featured a chorus of Aloe Blacc's "I Need a Dollar," and a thrust-filled medley of his "Our First Time" track and Ginuwine's "Pony" included R. Kelly's "Ignition" hit. He also blended The Outfield's "Your Love" and Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison" with Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It," Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step" and Janet Jackson's "That's the Way Love Goes," among others.
Many moments spotlighted Mars' stellar vocal precision, including an elongated ending to "Billionaire" that had him belting for minutes through a single chorus. His stripped-down "When I Was Your Man" piano ballad -- or what he called "my serious song for the night" -- wowed the audience, singing along loudly. Mars' harmonizing on "If I Knew" was supported by a noteworthy Philip Lawrence, Hooligans' bandleader and one of Mars' production partners who co-wrote songs for Cee Lo Green andB.o.B., before Mars picked up the mic himself.
The evening's upbeat tracks included Motown-inspired choreography by his eight-piece band, who together exuded a deep history and visible camaraderie that was as entertaining as Mars himself. Often improvising new dance moves and laughing with each other -- Mars asked the audience, "Can we just jam out like we used to? Like we did during out wedding band days?" -- their synergy proved the age-old concert rule that when performers actually let loose and have fun onstage, the audience is having fun watching them as well.
Putting the tight-knit group in an intimate venue made room for crowd-pleasing, off-the-cuff covers. Mars, performing in front of a brand-new triangular digital screen that projected visuals like dancing female silhouettes and moving clouds, shouted to the visual technicians to show him what other stock effects were available. After monarch butterflies, fireworks and other graphic options were displayed a moving waterfall appeared, and Mars spontaneously sang a few bars of the TLC hit. The audience followed his lead, to Mars' surprise, and the band improvised the accompaniment while guitarist Phredley Brown shocked his bandmates by reciting Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' entire "Waterfalls" rap. "That's the best $200,000 I've ever spent!"
Mars shouted in reference to the new display. He enjoyed the improvised cover so much that he asked the audience for a suggestion; after turning down requests for Kelly Clarkson and Sugar Hill Gang, he greenlighted a shout for Michael Jackson, reaching deep into the band's repertoire for a rock-inspired cover of "Billie Jean" that led into "Dirty Diana."
Mars returns to the newly christened stage for New Year's Eve, Feb. 15-16, May 23-24 and Aug. 22-23. While his upcoming shows at The Chelsea probably won't replicate the exact musical spontaneity of opening night, Mars is clearly an artist open to experimenting with his set list, equipped with a band that keeps up with his onstage ideas. The intimate venue broadens the likelihood for such improvisation and humorous moments, all while still keeping the rich set list to nearly 90 minutes.
Set List:
Money Make Her Smile
Treasure
Money (That's What I Want) / Billionaire / I Need a Dollar
Show Me
Our First Time / Pony / Ignition
Marry You
If I Knew / It Will Rain
Runaway Baby
Your Love / Poison / This Is How We Do It / Every Little Step / Let's Talk About Sex / Candy Rain / That's the Way Love Goes
Waterfalls
When I Was Your Man
Billie Jean / Dirty Diana
Just the Way You Are
Encore:
Locked Out of Heaven
http://www.hollywoodrepor...las-667987
Bruno Mars delivers loose, spirited show at Cosmo’s Chelsea theater
By MIKE WEATHERFORD
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Bruno Mars, taking requests?
Sure, but he had a request as well.
“Any song in the world,” he challenged the audience to yell up on his opening night in the new Chelsea theater at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. “I just want to play around. Any song in the world …
“Except for my songs.”
This came after a freewheeling late-night set had the band — through events that seemed to make sense at the time — plunking out an impromptu cover of TLC’s “Waterfalls.” When it came time to deliver the signature midsection rap, Mars coaxed one of his band members up to the mic. He nailed it, to the great delight of the star attraction.
“That’s the best $200 I ever spent!” Mars declared, no doubt voicing the opinion of everyone in the packed house — at least those who knew better than to expect a buttoned-down, structured arena showcase of hits.
Billboard’s Artist of the Year and his irresistible eight-piece band, The Hooligans, announced their intentions from the get-go.
“We aren’t on tour, we haven’t played a show in a long time. This is for us tonight,” Mars announced to a general admission floor that had waited as long as two hours for the show to begin at 11 p.m. Sunday.
This was after the opening blast of Prince’s “Sexy M.F.” set the tone for a very Prince-like 90 minutes, a superjam of R&B classics and roughed-up versions of Mars originals.
A three-piece horn section made Mars’ slicker studio hits such as “Treasure” and “Runaway Baby” sound like old-school funk jams from the ’70s. Six of the eight Hooligans would slide around the stage or lock into formation behind the singer (the poor keyboard player and drummer having to stay seated).
The liveness of it all was quite the contrast to the other big star of the Britney/Bruno weekend, though Britney Spears was in the Mars audience for at least the first half of the show — hopefully taking notes.
At one point, Mars turned his back on the audience to have the tech crew show him all the lighting formations that could be displayed on his translucent, geometric stage design: “Surprise me. Shock me right now. What else you got?”
It was miles away from Spears’ locked-down dance show, but business as usual for the 28-year-old Mars. Even in the sports arenas, he was throwing down his mix of the Barrett Strong oldie “Money” and his Travie McCoy collaboration “Billionaire” at the MGM Grand last August.
This night added a Michael Jackson medley of “Billie Jean” and “Dirty Diana” by way of the intro to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
And this from an entertainer with such mainstream radio appeal, he had young children in the audience of an 11 p.m. show.
For fans perhaps not accustomed to such looseness, Mars obliged them with a sincere piano- and organ-backed rendition of “When I Was Your Man” (“That was my one serious song for the night,” he declared) and straight-ahead versions of “Marry You” and “If I Knew.”
Still, the Super Bowl-bound star seemed to feed on the spirit of the eight-show deal he signed to perform in the relatively cozy new Chelsea. At least two-thirds of about 3,100 fans were standing in front of him, with the others parked in horseshoe rows of theater seats above.
Mars referenced his childhood in a family band, playing covers “every night ’til 1 in the morning.” To prove it, the band proceeded to mash up Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” with “Your Love,” the ’80s hit by The Outfield.
The band is back for a New Year’s Eve show at 11 p.m. today.
Two years ago, Stevie Wonder had some of his Cosmopolitan audience defecting to the outdoor patio to watch the fireworks on the Strip. But if Mars’ Sunday night/Monday morning excursions into Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison,” Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step” and Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” sound like the night’s biggest party to you, then the fireworks may just have to wait until next year.
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