RALEIGH - Several songs in his show Saturday night at a sold-out PNC Arena, Bruno Mars stopped playing long enough to give a little speech about what the crowd was waiting time. Mars and his band were there, told the audience, that all "Movin 'dancing, Shakin', sweating."
Mars grin and read rakish also allow the crowd in the fact that, like any good rock star, who also wanted to get witchou. But if there was a revelation for the show, is that Mars appears to be a rocker at heart.
As good of an R & B love man as Mars is, the highlights of his 100-minute set came when he tied a guitar and let lament, from a letter making perfect Fort "The Barrett classical money (which is what I want) "the way John Lennon used to. And just before the encore, Mars evoked some guitar flourishes at the end of "Granada", which suggested that fireworks Guitar Prince of "Let crazy."
It is clear and undeniable that Mars is derived. But he wears it with pride and he's just so danged good in anything and everything that comes with it. When Justin Timberlake often comes across as a serious contender clamoring for admission to the Pantheon, Mars just sort of slides into and convinces you that he belongs there.
His inauguration, Aloe Blacc, was not so convincing. Set an hour Blacc was a fun game of "Name That Tune" with the originals that sometimes seemed about to be transitioned over known songs that sounded like (including actual quotes from "God Bless the Child”, of the Jackson 5 "I Want Back" and Elton John's "Your Song"). But Blacc had a moment of genius to show his vocal Avicii Swedish deejay hit "Wake Me Up", a song that was made to go in large buildings full of people. He did.
As Mars, its set was a sensory overload early. The lights dimmed, drumline beats started and the curtain fell to reveal the fog, lasers, choreography and star giving himself an air of cold indifference. Rocking white felt hat, Mars seemed as if he wandered in the golf course to beat this crowd fit.
Despite his casual cool, Mars had a set supertight with his band showing the best transition game this side of the San Antonio Spurs. A medley paired a couple of songs from reggae to R & B love-man seduction "Our first time." That turned into a riff of Santo & Johnny 1959 dream guitar instrumental "Sleepwalk" which begat own shaken-up Mars "Marry You." Was the turn-on-a-dime, and almost as entertaining as musicology puts.
As a vocalist, Mars still throw money "When I was your man," a torch song melted as ever. (It will be interesting to see if he can still put across convincingly than a decade and several thousand interpretations on the line.) The encore proved that a) on top of everything else, Mars is also a pretty mean drummer can play a drum solo arena-rock very credible; b) a combination of lasers and confetti is fresh, even a seizure-inducing species form.
