Bruno Mars: Moonshine Jungle Tour 2013

Last week, Dave surprised me with Bruno Mars tickets!!

When the Moonshine Jungle Tour was announced in February, I immediately looked up tickets.  I couldn't believe how expensive they were for a new artist!  More than Aerosmith tickets?  Really?  I was THRILLED to have the chance to go!

I knew it would be a fantastic show, based on the live performances I had seen of him on SNL, the Grammy's, etc.  It is high energy stuff.  Accompanied by his 8 piece band called The Hooligans, there is constant dancing around, all while playing their horns and jumping up and down.  It really looks like they enjoy performing together.

 If you're not familiar with Bruno Mars' music, think Michael Jackson mixed with Earth, Wind & Fire... and then throw in some 50's doo-wop and reggae.  That type of mix could suggest that the show is geared toward an older audience, but it's not.  The interesting mix of music has mass appeal.

I was reading some of the tour reviews from other cities this morning, like this one from the Houston Rodeo, where they created a new world record: over 75,000 fans at a show.

"Mars is, to put it plainly, a fantastic entertainer. He sings beautifully, is a charming dancer and was backed by a showy band, complete with horn section and their own impressive footwork. He’s an expert at playing to every person in the building. It’ll be hard for any forthcoming show to top this one."   - Rodeo Houston review from March 7, 2013

We had to drive through pouring rain to get to Boston, hence lots of traffic as usual, and it was a 90 minute ride.  We had planned to have a nice dinner somewhere, possibly a Moroccan restaurant that Dave had heard about, or a tavern that had great burgers.  Instead, we ended up in a booth at the Ninety Nine.  Dave apologized; I joked that it felt like we were at Denny's - but it didn't matter because a night out is a night out!

Waiting for the subway

By the time we found parking, bought our subway tickets and arrived at the Garden, the opening act had already come and gone.  We found our seats, 2nd row from the very top.  It took me a few minutes to get used to being that high... it felt like we were going to tumble right down.  We were surrounded by screaming women.   We have seen several shows at the Garden - KISS, Rush, Aerosmith, etc. - and none of them were as loud as this.  It was deafening at times.  You could feel the excitement in the air.  I couldn't believe how many people were there!  I had heard that it was a soldout show, and sure enough, it looked like there were barely any vacant seats.

The kids are big Bruno Mars fans too, so I promised them I would take some pictures and video.  Of course, the iPhone is limited in its ability to take great video but at least they'd get an idea.

The stage for the Moonshine Jungle Tour

 When the arena went black and the thundering sound of jungle drums started, I got instant butterflies.  The sounds of gorillas and screeching monkeys made me feel like I really WAS in the jungle.  I could see one of the band members off to the side of the palm tree printed curtain, stretching and getting ready as if he were about to run a marathon.  This video was taken using my iPhone, so the quality is poor.

 

 

The guys, Bruno and his six frontmen, were all wearing bright red suits. The drummer, his brother, was the only one not wearing the fancy suit... kind of hard to play drums in a suit coat.  The show was everything I thought it would be.  I loved every minute of it!  The crowd sang along (quite well, I might add!) and filled up the arena with the sound.  Dave said he genuinely liked the show too and thought they were very talented musicians.

We left as they finished "Just the Way You Are" and said good night to the crowd, even though we figured there had to be an encore.  We wanted to beat the stampede to the subway.  This morning, my first thought upon waking up was,"He didn't play 'Locked out of Heaven!"  Sure enough, I found out later that we missed "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Gorilla", which is disappointing but I already found videos of them on YouTube.

Here's some great video from two nights earlier in Philadelphia, where the show was the same...

The third song in was the current hit, "Treasure."



Here's one of my favorites, "Natalie', followed by a medley of 'Money' and 'Billionaire':



As we waited for the subway to arrive, we witnessed two men playing Bruno Mars' music in the subway station.  One guy was on keyboard, and the other was just drumming on the floor.  Here, they are playing 'Treasure.' It was pretty good and many people stopped to dance and toss coins into their hat.  Pretty smart idea to set up right as the show was letting out!

It was a fun night, and I'm so glad that I got to experience the Moonshine Jungle Tour!