I went and saw Jason Mraz in concert last night. For the forth time. Its safe to say that I’m a rather big fan.

The previous three times I’ve been to a Mraz concert, he has wowed. The first and second times he played without the backup of a full band. Just his guitar, Toca on the percussion stuffs and a bass player. I remember being blown away by the first show I saw at The Forum in Sydney. Notably… this was also the only time I’ve seen him peform without a hat. Also the only time I’ve seen him play ‘Plane’.

The third time I saw him, he had a full band, including a brass trio, with him. He played the Enmore in Sydney. It was three days before I was due to fly out to America for five weeks… and I’d also managed to pick up a stomach bug. But I had seating so I still went, knowing I could relax into it and not move for several hours. I just had to make it back to the car afterwards….

Last night was the Horden. Here’s my thoughts in point form, I’ll start with the bad and end with the few good ones in order to finish on a high note.
1. I had venue pick up tickets, because the ticketing company wanted to charge me $13 to send them out to me in the post. So when I first arrived (early so we got a good parking spot to get out of the carpark quick), I asked the security guard what time the ticket office opened to pick up tickets. He said 5:30, so we went off and had some dinner before coming back to pick up our tickets. We got there just after 5:30, and they weren’t open. We then proceeded to wait outside the ticket office for a further forty minutes before they opened it and then they took about five minutes to find my tickets. By that stage, the line had started to curl back around upon itself.

2. The line…Lucky us got stuck standing in front of what was initially two teenage girls… this began to grow exponentially as the line shifted a little when they compressed us to fit everyone in without causing traffic problems. I didn’t have a problem with that… I DID, however, have a problem with the fact that they did not allow any extra room for their plethora of what I am assuming were private-school-kid friends.
2a. Dear Initial Girls Who Stood Behind Us: You did not “meet” Jason Mraz. He shouted something at you from across a carpark after you shouted something at him initially. That’s not “meeting”… thats acknowledgement. One “OHMIGAWD” would’ve been enough. It’s not that exciting. Also…. buy longer dresses.
2b. Dear Friends Of Initial Girls Who Stood Behind Us: I’m lead to believe that you were all from a private school. This caused me concerns on a few levels as none of you seemed to have any respect for anyone standing around you. I counted being kicked seven times by one or more of you, I was leaned on a few times, elbowed several more, and at one point, one of you sneezed on me. I got one apology when I basically stared one of you mofos down. What the fuck are your parents paying for in a private education if you clearly don’t know how to apologise and treat the people around you with some level of respect?
2c. I’m also pretty sure you were all drunken skanks. I really enjoyed hearing about your drunken escapades… especially seeing as I don’t think any of you were over the age of 16. I will point out though that when you say that you’ve been skinny-dipping, and then adding in that you were in your underwear…. thats not skinnydipping. That’s swimming in your underwear.

3. More on the line! Apparently there was a delay on the music people getting from Brisbane to Sydney.. (They said something on the news thismorning about a flight being delayed because some baby snakes escaped in the cargo hold), and thats fair enough. Delays happen. Its not a big drama… But I, and mostly everyone else in the line did not appreciate the wait in line being extended by a further hour without any information from the security guards as to what was happening. Seriously.. just get them to say “sorry folks, we’ve had a bit of delay thisevening, but we’re working our hardest to get you guys inside as fast as we can”.. Not that hard… they weren’t doing anything else anyway. You would have given them something to do.

4. Lisa Mitchell. Oh my holy jesus. Does she know or is she capeable of more than three notes? Perhaps she also should’ve thought a little more about her wardrobe choices too… I was way up the back in the seats and I could see from there just how close she came to one of those “malfunctions”.
4a. She also did ‘Lucky’ with Mraz later in the night. She did not know the words and warbled through most of it in those same three notes from earlier. I’d have been upset if I was a performer and I’d picked a support act who clearly had so little idea of who the fuck I am. I laughed. I laughed my ass of at you, Lisa Mitchell.

5. WHERE WAS GNOMIE!?!
this should’ve been a sign that things weren’t quite right.

6. Mraz did come on stage. Mraz was still good. However, with the exception of three songs.. Mraz only played songs off the new album. He played ‘Unfold’… no one knew it, and for a song no one really knew.. I thought he stretched the instrumental part in it out a little bit and people started to get bored. It was around this time that a few people near me actually LEFT. Packed up and LEFT. I saw maybe one pair of hands up and waving and two people with their cameras up… everyone else just looked confused. I am rather disappointed with the set list. He didn’t play The Remedy… how could he not play The Remedy? Nor did he finish with the usually AMAZING acoutic version of You And I? Sure, the setlist would’ve pleased a whole bunch of new fans – which was probably about 80% of the crowd.. but I don’t like that it seemed to completely disregard any older fans. Fans that know songs from the coffee shop days. It felt like a bit of a sellout setlist to me.  In the sense that all the old stuff that established him as a kick-ass live performer in the first place appeared forgotten in favour of the newer stuff that more people would know simply off the back of I’m Yours. And this wasn’t just me… I was near an exit and a LOT of people left early. Or they hung out at the bar out the back… because I did not see them come back in.

7. When elevators say they can’t hold more than 14 people…. you and your five closest friends will not fit, and its kind of rude to everyone else already in the elevator to keep on shoving until something gives.

Now the good.
1. Eric Hutchinson. Gloriously dorky. Gloriously upbeat. Good fun. I seat danced.

2. The Dynamo of Volition. WOW. Still one of my faves.

3. Bushwalla! Who expected that!

4. Jason Mraz is still Jason Mraz. And even though this was the least enjoyable of all my Mraz concert-goings, it’s still Mraz. He’s still pitch perfect and he’s still incredibly talented, and he’s still the best live performer I’ve ever been lucky enough to see. Maybe just alter your setlist for next time. I’m seeing him in Melbourne next week… I’ll be upset if I get a copy of what I saw in Sydney. I want the older stuff!

5. Getting home before midnight, coz I had to work today.