Bruno Mars shines in Detroit – Detroit Metro Times

There’s a moment toward the end of the night where Bruno Mars is using that raspy tenor of voice of his to sing his 2012 hit “Locked Out of Heaven” as if he was launched out of a rocket. The crowd is hanging and swinging on every note, confetti is pouring down, Mars is over two hours into his set with barely any breaks, but his swagger feels so effortless. It was as if you could throw him a cup of ice water and he could go for another two hours.

For Mars, this is just another day at the office.

Saturday was the first of two nights in which Mars’s The Romantic Tour set up shop in the Detroit Lions’ Ford Field. The night started off with a 30-minute energetic DJ set from Anderson .Paak’s alter ego, “DJ Pee .Wee.” That was followed by another 30-minute set from singer Leon Thomas, who is fresh off Grammy Award wins for Best R&B Album (MUTT) and Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Vibes Don’t Lie”).

Mars, a 40-year-old native of Hawaii, has sold over 20 million albums and won 16 Grammy Awards. He’s always been a wild mix of James Brown and Justin Bieber — this generation’s impresario of funk with a mutant-like ability to create over-the-top pop hits. The Romanic, released on Feb. 27, is his fourth solo album and first project in four years. 

Mars hit the stage right at 8:45 p.m. dressed in a casual crimson lounge suit and headband while accompanied by his band the Hooligans. From the jump the energy was magnetic. Mars dove right into songs “Risk It All,” “Treasure,” and “On My Soul” (he performed all nine songs from The Romantic). His stage presence and synchrony with the Hooligans was subtle and effective. They routinely swaggered into a choreographed doo-wop dance steps that were evenly spread out through out the night. At times there were multiple members playing trumpet and other times they were all on guitars. Mars himself jumped on the conga drums on “Cha Cha Cha,” played the guitar on “Something Serious,” and played the piano on “It Will Rain,” “Talking to the Moon,” and “When I was Your Man.”

Visually, there was cinematic camera work being displayed on two large LED screens positioned on both sides of the stage. This allowed all 48,000 attendees (no matter where their seats were) to take in the visual experience that was aided with laser beans, pulsating lights, cold sparks, and pyrotechnics.

Anderson .Paak joined Mars back on stage for the second hour of the show where they performed “Fly as Me” and “Smoking out the Window” along with most of the songs from their joint album An Evening with Silk Sonic.  Toward the end of their hit, “Leave the Door Open” the duo went back and forth singing the line “come on over baby” as if it was a ballad duel. The moment highlighted both singers’ chemistry and showmanship. 

But the night was all about Mars. He ended the show singing his mega hit “Uptown Funk” but also did an encore performance of “Dance With Me,” singing just as strong and effortlessly near the end of the night as he did at the beginning. His 150-minute set was polished without feeling robotic.  Even though he’s stepped foot behind a microphone thousands of times, he never sounded like he was going through the motions. He was charismatic, engaging, and made Detroit feel like it was this tour’s only stop, not his ninth. 

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