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Jason Mraz, Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY, 10/10/08 Print E-mail
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Written by Christine DiPaulo   
Wednesday, 15 October 2008

mraz

Radio City Music Hall, perhaps the most opulent of New York City’s performance spaces, served as the setting for an electrifying performance by Jason Mraz. Coming onstage after a screen displayed a Google Earth-esque background and an enormous message prompted the audience to "Sing, Dance, Steal the Show" (a play on the title of Mraz's most recent album, We Sing, We Dance, We Break Stuff ) the singer/songwriter appeared as a Gap-attired, lonely world traveler playing the kind of music only a hippie could make.

After beginning his set with "Wake-up Everyone," Mraz lead the audience in an extended jam version of his breakthrough single "The Remedy." While it can be a risky proposition for a performer to break out his best-known song so early in the set, Mraz's navigation proved inspired. Halfway through the rendition, Mraz instructed the girls in the audience to sing the chorus and the boys to sing the chorus from Oasis' "WonderWall" for an astonishing live mash-up. 

From there Mraz lead his band, complete with horn section, through an instrumental song called"Music to Watch Girls By,” a slice of funk straight out of those old Elvis-in-Hawaii movies.
 
Later in the set Mraz,was joined onstage by a choir and had such strong command over the sold-out crowd that one could hear a pin drop, if only for a minute. It wasn't long before Mraz and the choir stumbled into the truly unexpected territory of the gospel standard "O Happy Day." The non-secular selection had less to do with any message or agenda than it did with maintaining the exuberant groove which gripped the theater. 

Before ending his set with an inspired and lush cover of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds,” Mraz urged the crowd, "Don't let your mind stop you from having a good time." After a brief break, Mraz returned to the stage for a triumphant four-song encore.

Comments
Don't let your mind stop you from havin
Written by AvidFAN on 2008-10-20 12:20:53
That's awesome! I knew this guy was pretty cool, but O Happy Day AND Three Little Birds?! So rad!

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Last Updated ( Monday, 20 October 2008 )
 
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