Jason Mraz Live in KL: A Review

I hate concerts at Stadium Negara. The sound system is crap. When Muse came down and played there, I could barely hear Matt Bellamy’s voice on top of the instrumentation (which is one of the 7 deadly sins, btw) but I thought that could have been a sound check issue. But today, I realized it’s really the venue. I was seating at the stands (168 tickets) and there were no speakers on top of me. Sound had to travel from the speakers at the front which pretty much sucks for me. Mogwai had the best audio arrangement I’ve seen so far. Anyway down to business.

Hats off to Mraz. He was in excellent form and does his best to deliver the a great show. As a performer he was engaging. He addressed and acknowledged the crowd with lots of call and respond sessions,  and even got everyone moving to some geeky dance moves which I thought was rather cheeky. As a musician, he was in fine form. His song improvisations were immense and the inclusion of a brass band certainly helped funk up the rhythm. His folly unfortunately, comes from his lack of strength as a songwriter. More about that later.

Mraz started off strong – video taping the crowd with his  camcorder and subsequently launched into Make It Mine, the perfect song to introduce us to his band. The first thing that caught my attention was the Malaysian football jersey that his 3 piece brass band wore. For a brief moment I thought he was actually using local musicians but after closer inspection, nah.

He seamlessly moved into his 2nd track – the ever popular single The Remedy. This was where he got me to sit up and pay attention.  From the gleeful scat-singing chorus, he called out to the crowd – asking for us to join in by singing Oasis’s Wonderwall as he masterfully merged the rhythm of The Remedy with Wonderwall‘s riveting melody. Now, Wonderwall has to be one of my most revered songs thanks to Ryan Adams and that, definitely got me to start giving this guy some serious attention.

He launched into You and I Both next – perhaps one of my most favorite ballad from Mraz. His voice was strong and steady throughout but I can’t shake the feeling that he is too safe as a a vocalist to really capture the magic of a stadium arena.

As he got into the half way mark of his set, he seemed to have lost the crowd. People were shifting in their seats or standing idly on their spots. He was playing some of his lesser known songs (non radio songs la) and I could sense it in the air that the crowd were losing attention. Mraz, reading the situation correctly, made the popular decision to play I’m Yours and that got the whole stadium roaring with approval. It really annoys the shit outta me that people really only know whats being played on radio. Gives way too much power to the mass media but yesterday night, I was guilty of that same crime too.

My favorite moment of the night was when he performed his tender ballad – A Beautiful Mess. As his carefree vocals soar over the gently plucked guitar, I thought to myself this has to be one of the finest songs any musician has ever written. The set went on for another 15 minutes or so before Mraz bowed to the crowd and disappeared for a shirt change and of course, for the encore.

“Jason!” “Jason!” “Jason!” chant the crowd and sure enough, our hero returned with an “I Love KL” tee. Haha so typical but it was cute though. So up on stage we have 3 guys in a Malaysian football jersey and our main man in an “I Love KL” tee. One can’t help but smile.

He started off the encore with Lucky. Joining him on stage is Taiwanese based Malaysian singer Penny Tai who to my horror, botched the entire song. It’s not that she has a bad voice or anything but there was simply no chemistry between Jason and Penny. Her singing made Colbie‘s voice sound like an angel in contrast.

After Lucky, he dropped his guitar and began to take polaroid shots of his band members and tossed the photos into the crowd. I thought that was a very meaningful gesture. There’s something outrageously romantic about merging the art of music and photography into a single, beautiful night.

Remember how I mentioned that Mraz’s downfall is his lack of solid songwriting? That becomes most evident as he tries to bring the night to a close. Death Cab has Transatlanticsm. Damien has Cold Water / I Remember. Coldplay has Fix You. Sigur Ros has too many to mention.

My point is, Mraz does not have a strong song to end the night. He doesn’t have an epic song that could finish the night with a bang leaving his audience starstrucked. He could probably use The Remedy as a closure but he didn’t which made the night’s epilogue steam rolling at it’s best, a simmer. I couldn’t really feel much chemistry between him and his band though so the best moments of the night was when he was playing solo – just him and his acoustic guitar.

Mraz was in top form last night. If he wasn’t a musician, I think he would fit perfectly into the role of stand-up comedian. It was a very decent concert for me. The songwriting could have been stronger but I knew that even before buying my ticket so I really can’t complaint.

Would I watch him again if he comes back in the future? Not likely unless his 4th studio album blows the cat out of the cradle. But it was a good night nonetheless and I’m glad i was amongst one of the 5000 strong crowd.

And damn, did he look good in that top hat!