Jason Mraz Page

Below is an unedited review of Monday night’s Jason Mraz concert at the Paramount Theatre scheduled to be printed in Wednesday’s edition of the P-I.

Music review Jason Mraz When: Monday night Where: Paramount Theatre

By Travis Hay Special to the P-I

Jason Mraz started the second night of his two-night stint at the Paramount Theatre Monday by telling the sold-out crowd he didn’t know what songs to play because he sang all his hits the previous night.

So instead of delivering a set filled with the typical radio singles and VH1 pop songs Mraz dug deep into his songbook and performed two hours of material he said he rarely plays live nowadays. That meant songs like “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)” “Curbside Prophet” and “Geek In The Pink” were replaced by the likes of “Life Is Wonderful,” “Sleep All Day” and others. The show was dubbed “a special acoustic performance” and Mraz was accompanied by drums, bass, piano, an occasional horn section and percussion provided by his longtime friend Toca Rivera. For most of the night Mraz was all business, barely taking the time to share stories and chitchat with the crowd like he has done during past shows here. Perhaps that was because of the acoustic nature of the show or his decision to play a rarities-laden set.

The combination of the acoustic instrumentation and the general overall vibe of Mraz’s music made for a pretty mellow concert. That same combination also allowed Mraz’s vocals to take center stage and like his past concerts at the Paramount, the acoustics of the venue let Mraz really showcase his voice. He later gave the show a much needed shot of energy by ending the main set with “The Dynamo of Volition.”

The biggest response from the crowd came during “I’m Yours,” which was the second-to-last song in the encore. It was the rarity of the set in that it was an actual radio single scattered among deeper album cuts. Keeping with the theme of playing material rarely heard live, the night ended with Mraz on stage by himself singing “The Boy’s Gone.”

Irish singer Lisa Hannigan opened the show with a 30-minute set that came to a close with a powerful cover of Iron & Wine’s “Free Until They Cut Me Down.” She also accompanied Mraz on a duet of “Lucky” during his set filling the song’s Colbie Caillat role. Hannigan has an impressive and promising set of pipes that come close to being a cross between Tori Amos and Bjork.

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