By Nicholas Yong
Reporter
nicy@sph.com.sg

 

IT seems Jason Mraz has this inexplicable ability. Simply by existing, he can make thousands of girls, mainly tweens, feel the uncontrollable urge to scream their lungs out.

There was a teenage girl standing directly in front of me who was a, shall we say, microcosm of the women at the Indoor Stadium last night.

With one hand holding her expensive digicam to record the whole experience, and the other raised as if in praise and worship, she would not stop screaming.

One would think that the only words she had ever learned to speak were “I LOVE YOU, JASON!!!”

But she was just one of many be-hatted women who collectively lost their minds there and then, and paid $45 for a T-shirt bearing his name. Not to mention $30 for a variety of concert DVDs

In fact, his concert went a bit like this:

Jason Mraz walks on stage *scream*

Jason Mraz says: “What’s up, Singapore?” *double scream*

Jason Mraz starts singing *scream scream scream scream scream*

Jason Mraz hugs local singer Joi Chua after singing a duet with her *scream times infinity*

Jason Mraz takes a Polaroid picture of himself and tosses it into the crowd *screams followed by small riot in front of stage*

I got the feeling that he could have been singing the phone directory and they would still have been screaming.

They might just have gone into cardiac arrest if he had decided to walk amongst the crowd and bestow his blessings upon them.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think Jason Mraz is a fine musician with a wonderful voice. His songs are (largely) well written, and very emotive. He’s a great showman too, bouncing around on stage with verve and wit.

And yet, it all felt like a strangely detached performance.

He sang all the old favourites, hit all the right notes...But still, it never really felt like he was truly engaging the audience. He dazzled and danced, but he did it all from behind a very safe barrier.

Maybe it’s just performance fatigue. Maybe after so many tours and so many concerts and so many cities, keeping a certain distance is the only way to manage.

After all, everybody wants a piece of Jason Mraz.

It was also my first concert in 10 years too, so maybe I should have managed my expectations better.

Or maybe I should have just bought the $148 ticket and sat right in front.