Bruno Mars, centre, and his backup singers sat on the hood of a vintage Cadillac for an oldies medley during his Toronto show Sunday night.Daniel Ramos/Supplied
Toward the end of the first of three segments that constituted Bruno Mars’s vibrant second concert at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on Wednesday, the star of the show told a sold-out crowd of 50,000 or so that he was going to “take a little drive.”
Out rolled a red Cadillac convertible. The car was vintage, as was the medley of cover songs Mars sang while sitting on the hood: Oh Girl by the Chi-Lites, You Are Everything by the Stylistics, I Miss You by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and I Want to Be Your Man by Roger (Troutman).
Though the Cadillac was most certainly a gas guzzler, Mars gets great milage from the music of the era.
His own material, performed with his large band the Hooligans early in the concert, was a pastiche of party funk, 1970s vocal-group crooning, sleek Chicano soul, jazzy horns, snazzy disco-pop and Tex-Mex moments from a time before the 40-year-old Mars was even born.
On Something Serious, Mars spoke in fluent Carlos Santana. God Was Showing Off imagined the Jackson 5 with brass. I Just Might made me want to dance with Leo Sayer. All those tunes were pulled from Mars’s latest album, The Romantic.
Bruno Mars brought an extravaganza to Toronto’s outdoor Rogers Stadium on Sunday, complete with pyrotechnics.Daniel Ramos/Supplied
Add stadium-sized pyrotechnics and weather factors and you have a two-hour extravaganza that might be called Earth, Wind and Fireworks. Mars’s planned Saturday show, the first of five at the open-air facility, was postponed to May 31 because of rain.
After the Sunday show, people in the area of the former Downsview Airport, at the top of the city, complained about the noise. One resident said a concert night at the stadium, which will host 20 shows in its second season of operation, is comparable to a next-door neighbour throwing a party.
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“If you want a free Bruno Mars concert, come to my condo tonight,” Suzy Martins told CP24 television. “We have the best seat in town.”
Meanwhile, many others travelled far distances for the shows. I spoke to one fan who drove eight hours from Baltimore, Md., for the postponed Saturday concert.
“We really thought it was going to be a great experience,” said Jasmine Vaughn-Hall, a journalist, speaking from Baltimore. “It would have been something we could talk about for years to come.”
She had travelled to Toronto with her husband to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Attending the makeup concert or any of the other shows was not an option because of previous commitments.
Tickets for the postponed show will be honoured for the rescheduled date. Refunds are available as well. Unfortunately, Vaughn-Hall did not get to hear her favourite Mars song – the appropriately titled It Will Rain.
That fans are willing to travel far distances to see the Honolulu-born musician is neither uncommon nor new. For years, the Uptown Funk singer had a residency at the Park MGM resort and casino in Las Vegas. But what happens in Vegas does not necessarily stay in Vegas. More and more, Mars and other stars are playing fewer cities and hunkering down in big markets for extended runs, thus reducing their travel costs (and increasing them for fans).
Harry Styles’s current Together, Together tour, for example, features 68 concerts across seven international cities, including a 30-night stay at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The coming Fifty Something Tour by Canadian rockers Rush is a series of multinight arena residencies.
“We are absolutely seeing evolution in touring models across live entertainment,” Live Nation Canada president Erik Hoffman said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. “As global touring continues to scale, artists and promoters are increasingly looking at ways to maximize production value, create destination-style fan experiences and operate more efficiently across markets.”
The original material Bruno Mars played was a pastiche of party funk, 1970s vocal-group crooning, sleek Chicano soul, jazzy horns, snazzy disco-pop and more.Daniel Ramos/Supplied
In Canada, Mars’s the Romantic Tour encompasses 10 performances in just two cities: Toronto and Vancouver (at BC Place, Oct. 14-21). Maximize production value? Mars’s crew will only need to build and tear down the extensive staging twice.
So, less road for the roadies. And more for the fans, who did not seem in any way disappointed on Wednesday. Mars is nothing if not an adorable, hard-working pleaser. Rogers Stadium was built for major touring artists like him, and he in return is built for big rooms.
His music is danceable and charismatic, if undeniably derivative. The show’s second segment was dedicated to the songs of Silk Sonic, Mars’s side project with Anderson .Paak. The duo ran through a polished, high-energy set of contemporary R&B and modern funk.
The final segment put Mars in the spotlight (and often on the piano bench) for pop-oriented material that included his 2024 hit single (with Lady Gaga), Die With a Smile. After a costume change, his second of the night, he returned for infectious Locked Out of Heaven, the pleading romantic ballad Just the Way You Are and the horn-happy, bass-slapping thriller Uptown Funk.
Bruno Mars plays Rogers Stadium Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; and Vancouver’s BC Place Oct. 14-21.