Jason Mraz delivers the feel-good show of the year for a packed house in Louisville.
There weren’t long lines or people waiting outside the Louisville Palace before the doors opened this evening. Instead, a steady stream of fans poured into the venue, nearly filling the room to capacity. Across the venue you could feel the energy and anticipation building as excited banter filled the air.
This evening Grammy award-winning artist Jason Mraz, along with his percussionist Toca Rivera, longtime friend Gregory Page, and frequent collaborator Billy Galewood made a “Live in Stereo” tour stop in Louisville. Jason Mraz is touring in support of his first studio album in four years, Know, which was released on August 10th. Earlier this year Jason released the single “Have It All” from the Know album as well as the second single “Unlonely”, both racking up millions of streams in the US.
As the house lights dimmed Jason Mraz and Gregory Page bounded on stage, greeted by a rousing ovation. Taking just a minute to get settled in, the two began the opening number of the evening, “Green Lights and Blue Skies” before Gregory flew solo for a few songs of his own including “That’s You,” “Right Side Up,” “Heartstrings,” and “Love Is Stronger than Hatred”.
Over the next 30-plus minutes Jason, Toca, Gregory, and Billy, in various combinations, performed “Life Is Wonderful,” “Hollywood’s Heroes,” “Details in the Fabric,” “I’m Alive” and the huge hit “I’m Yours”. With all four men now on stage, the first set of the evening ended with “Karate” with Billy doing his best Karate Kid imitation followed by the first song of the evening from the Know Album, “Best Friend”.
After a brief intermission Jason picked up exactly where he ended the first set with “Let’s See What the Night Can Do” and “Christmas is Calling Us” before welcoming Toca back on stage for “Sleeping to Dream”.
The fun times were only starting as the groovy and witty “Chocolate” had the entire venue hooting and hollering. While tuning his guitar Jason shared that he is coming up on a wedding anniversary, going on to explain how hard it is to find gifts, so he wrote this song about the occasion, “Leather/Sweatpant Anniversary” with the same humor and wit as the previous song. Now well into the heart of his second set Jason and the guys have a little something up their sleeves for both the new and ardent fans, performing several older songs including “Lucky,” “Bella Luna, “Audibles,” “93 Million Miles, and “I Won’t Give Up”.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and tonight is no different as Jason and the guys close the evening with a rousing medley of all his songs…. culminating with a standing ovation before ending just as he did the opening set with “Have It All” from the new Know album.
During the evening Jason and the guys performed with a fun, tongue in cheek and laid-back vibe that made it impossible not to just sit back and enjoy the moments that were occurring before us. It was clearly Jason at the wheel and we were all willing participants, going wherever he pleased while enjoying every minute of it.
