Walking into Oracle Arena, I knew what to expect for the Bruno Mars. I saw him July in San Jose when the North American leg of the 24K Magic World Tour kicked off. Months later, I was back to seeing my favorite artist almost close off the tour. The second time around, I was just as excited as the first time. I might sound biased, but Bruno Mars is probably one of the most talented singers of this generation. When I say he puts on a show, he puts on a dang show.
I mean come on, he’s been in the Super Bowl Halftime show twice. Seeing him for a second time has made me appreciate how much time and effort him and his band put in order to put a smile on fans faces.
With that, here is a list of my favorite performances from the concert.
Finesse
Bruno opened the concert with this new jack swing inspired tune. This was a perfect choice to get the crowd pumped up for the rest of the night. Bruno wanted to capture the spirit of the 90s for this album and he does so with this song and performance. In order to capture that 90s aesthetic with a modern twist, Bruno and his band, the Hooligans, wore baseball jerseys with the band’s name on it, baseball hats, shorts, Nike Cortez’s, and lots of gold chains. The choreography for this song had a 90s boy band influence.
Perm
This performance hyped me up so much, I almost lost my voice while vigorously screaming “no it’s not” when he sang it was his birthday. The tour performance of Perm is similar to the one on the BET Awards. The energy Bruno had on stage at the awards show, was the same energy he had on stage at Oracle. He always puts 110% to his performances. You can definitely say that he activated his sexy during this song. During Perm, he traveled to the left side of stage hoping to see the left side of the venue “all the way live.” They failed at being the loudest side. Bruno gave them a second chance and then traveled to the right side of the stage (where I was sitting) to see the right side of the arena “all the way live.” My side won at being the loudest.
Calling All My Lovelies
This might be an underrated song on the album, however, the performance was hilarious. The song is about Bruno trying to call his girl but she isn’t picking up. Frustrated, he sings about how he’s going to call up his side chicks, I mean lovelies, because she isn’t picking up the phone. During this performance he pulls out a gold ’90s block phone (90’s aesthetic album remember?) and proceeds to call the love of his life. She fails to answer so he tries to leave a suave voice mail letting her know that he’s in Oakland. Bruno said in a husky voice, “Remember that one time we vacationed over here? You said you wanted to wanted to go to Jamaica or the Bahamas and i was like nah fuck that we goin’ to Oakland.’ ” He had a groupon, would you blame him? He begged on the phone for her to pick up if not, he vowed to take all the girls in the arena to the club.
That’s What I Like
Personally I think the live performance of TWIL is way better than the studio version. Bruno and his backup singers do an R&B inspired breakdown at the end of the song. He gets the audience to participate by encouraging them to break it down with the band by grinding. “I see you Oakland, ya little freaks.” said Bruno to the crowd. “Fellas, let’s take a knee for the ladies of the building.” The moment Bruno and his bandmates started to harmonize, I could sense so many girls (including me) start to swoon. Every girl felt like Jennifer Lopez at the 2017 Grammys when Bruno performed this.
Versace on the Floor
The most anticipated performance of the night was VOTF. This is Bruno’s most romantic song from the album 24K Magic. The transition from his song Straight Up and Down to Versace on the Floor was well put as he swayed his hips to the next song. He encouraged the crowd to turn on their cell phone lights as everyone sang along. At this concert, he didn’t have the yellow lights come down like at the San Jose concert or his Billboard Music Awards performance. I was so mesmerised with his singing, I didn’t even notice the lights were missing until I went home and compared concert footages. During his dance breakdown, he danced and grinded his way to everyone’s hearts as he was levitating on stage. This was the most powerful moment of the night.
Runaway baby
An oldie but a goodie. It’s the same choreography Bruno has been doing since 2011 but there’s something about it that makes it magical. In the middle of the song Bruno starts dancing while his bandmates start clapping to the beat of the song. The crowd got quieter as Bruno got in the zone. He told the audience if they were going to be quiet, so was the band. During this time, the lights dimmed down while Bruno sang his own rendition of the Isley Brothers’ ‘Shout’, “A little bit softer now. A little bit softer now.” At this point, the brass section, the bass player, and guitar player are on the floor as Bruno dance in silence. The crowd goes wild but Bruno quiets them down as he dances quietly. After a minute of teasing the audience, he sings “A little bit louder now! A little bit louder now” until he has the entire crowd rockin’ with him and he counts to three and does his signature James Brown dance move. Let me tell you, the boy has soul and some fancy footwork.
When I Was Your Man
Bruno asked the audience if he could slow things down with a song that was personal and hard for him to sing on stage. Cue a familiar piano tune and a bunch of aws from the audience. A good portion of the crowd turned on their phone’s flashlight as Bruno sang about the love of his life being with another man. A single spotlight was shed on him as he was alone on stage singing his heart out. It takes guts to perform a song so personal in front of people so I give him props for that. He showed a lot of emotion and pain when he sang “I hope he hold your pretty little hand.” The performance was raw and beautiful.
Gorilla
Bruno replaced ‘Grenade’ for ‘Gorilla’ this time when he returned to The Bay. If you thought things got steamy with ‘Versace on the Floor’, guess again. ‘Gorilla’ brought this feel of intense desire on stage. Due to timing, Bruno didn’t sing the second verse (my favorite) but he did do an amazing job of singing his little heart out. His guitar solo showed so much emotion it felt like I was at a rock concert. As he played his guitar, he rose on a smaller stage and a single spotlight was shining on him. Bruno took his time singing about making love like gorillas and how good it felt. Here and then he would sing about “making love all night over and over and over.” The performance felt so intimate it was as if he was singing to you. I was shook and flustered. I still am.
In my opinion, I think Bruno is one of the top performers in the 2010s. He carries so much creativity in him which show in his songs. Whether it’s a ballad like ‘When I Was Your Man’, a 60s soul inspired song like ‘Runaway Baby’, or an R&B slow jam like ‘Versace on the Floor’, Bruno has proven himself to be one of the top performers this generation. I’m so grateful to have seen him twice this tour and I know that I’ll never forget it. Now, If you’ll excuse me, I have to go cure my post concert depression from him, AGAIN.