Set list: Jason Mraz

Went to see Jason Mraz tonight. I have to say, this was, surprisingly, one of the best shows I've ever seen. The audience was great. Mraz and his band were awesome. Mraz set a very fun, engaging atmosphere and came off as incredibly personable and likable, as well as quirky enough to do his songs justice. I can tell I've truly had a great time, when, despite the absence of perhaps my favourite Mraz song ("Wordplay"), I was not disappointed at all. Truly great show.

The opening act was Lisa Hannigan. I missed all but her last song, but she seemed to be quite good. She later joined Mraz on stage to do the female part of "Lucky," and she did that quite well too. I didn't see enough of her to truly judge, but my brief impressions were positive.

Also, to the pair of young-ish girls (probably high school age) next to me who caught one of the photographs tossed at the end, kudos to you. Rather than being some of the annoying fangirls I've encountered at other shows, you were enthusiastic and having fun without being rude or detracting from the concert experience. That's rare. Thanks for actually contributing positively to my own experience. (And yes, Jason Mraz is better than Edward Cullen.)

Mraz's set:
1. Make It Mine
2. The Remedy (a cool reworked version that I'm sure is all over Youtube and included a bit of Oasis's "Wonderwall" at the end)
3. If It Kills me (with a very amusing ukulele and spoken word intro)
4. Mary Jane (the Rick James song)
5. Daddy Sang Bass (even though this wasn't a unique performance for Nashville, we applauded it as if it was.)
6. Who Needs Shelter
7. Bella Luna
8. A Beautiful Mess
9. Live High
10. The Dynamo of Volition
11. I'm Yours
12. Three Little Birds (mainly the chorus repeated for audience interaction)
--encore--
13. A medley of You and I Both and Sleeping to Dream
14. Lucky (with Lisa Hannigan)
15. Build Me Up, Buttercup
16. No Stopping Us complete with extended sax, scatting, band introduction, a Copacabana send-up to introduce one of the band members... yeah. Good times.
17. Butterfly

Song of the Day: "Wordplay"

ARTIST: Jason Mraz
TITLE: "Wordplay"
YEAR: 2006

Partially inspired by the fact that I'll be seeing him in concert, and partially because it's a personal favorite, I've been revisiting Jason Mraz's "Wordplay" lately. I wish this had managed to catch on the way "The Remedy" and "I'm Yours" did. I like both of those songs, but I think I prefer this one by a little bit. Anyway, it's a nice breezy tune with clever Mrazian lyrics that exemplifies his style.

Hear it here. The song is available on his album Mr. A-Z.

Song of the Day: "I'm Yours"

ARTIST: Jason Mraz
TITLE: "I'm Yours"
YEAR: 2008

Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" is a breezy single that incorporates his characteristic wordplay into a sort of impressionistic song that never fails to satisfy me. Partially it's because I can relate to the images, whether through experience or ideals. Partially it's because it's just a well-constructed song. It's one that I've found myself getting more and more into, and it's definitely worth hearing as a good example of recent music.

The song can be heard here. It is available on Mraz's album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.