Let me preface this by saying I don’t feel like I can represent Bruno Mars’ core fanbase in this review. As a Hip-Hop head, most of the concerts I review on this blog are underground rap shows where I’ve either been following the artist for most of their career, or I have at least lived with part of their discography for some time. When it comes to Bruno Mars, I feel more like an outsider approaching this concert with an open mind, having mostly only heard his music in the background when at a party, out shopping, or in TV commercials. His music has never had the forefront of my attention the way rap music has; that is until he collaborated with Anderson .Paak as the duo Silk Sonic, and some time later wifey and I were cutting our wedding cake to “Leave The Door Open.” I won’t pretend to be a diehard fan who’s been playing his music for a decade-plus, but I can at least say I’ve joined the party late, jumping in at An Evening With Silk Sonic and listening to a few of his solo albums in the months leading up to this concert.

Bruno Mars of course needs no introduction, being one of the biggest Pop stars on the planet with millions of records sold and tons of awards and accolades earned on a global scale. He’s coming off of releasing his first solo album in nearly a decade, The Romantic, and has embarked on a world tour to perform the new music live for his fans. When it comes to performing in Canada, this would also be his first time back in nearly the same amount of time, his last shows in Toronto being a couple dates at Scotiabank Arena during the 24K Magic Tour in 2018. Bruno’s return to Toronto comes with a much larger impact, as this concert was originally going to be the first of 5 sold-out shows over the course of a week at the newly constructed Rogers Stadium, with the open-air venue having a capacity to hold 50,000 fans at each show, making these the biggest he’s ever done in Canada and setting the record for most concert tickets sold in Toronto on a single tour. This was also going to be the grand opening of Rogers Stadium’s second season, however the show ended up being postponed due to a rain storm, and would be pushed to the last of Bruno’s 5 shows in Toronto.

After experiencing Year 1 of Rogers Stadium’s existence with a System of a Down concert last summer, I can say that the venue has made some improvements in Year 2, but some of the pain points still remain. On-site parking now exists and can be booked in advance of the concert, but with it costing over $50, we still decided to commute from the nearby TTC stations instead. With a new pathway opened up to get to Gate 2, the walk from Sheppard West Station is now actually closer to 10 minutes to get to the venue instead of the half hour it took last year, and you still had viable options to do the walk from Downsview Station or Wilson Station as well. The venue itself is the same however, with seating that shakes once the crowd gets dancing, and no seat other than the front of the floor section being anywhere close to the stage. Regardless of how you feel about the venue, the artists booked to perform here are typically top notch performers that make the pain points worth it.

Opening for Bruno Mars on this leg of the tour would be recent Grammy award winner Leon Thomas, however he unfortunately became sick in Toronto and had to miss the last two dates at Rogers Stadium. This meant that set times got pushed to a later start, and it would simply be Anderson .Paak playing the character of DJ Pee.Wee to warm up the stage for Bruno. This blog has of course reviewed a few Anderson .Paak concerts over the years, including his performances with The Free Nationals at Echo Beach and with NxWorries at HISTORY, but this would be unlike any other performance we’ve seen from him.

DJ Pee.Wee’s set would take us through decades of Pop hits, ranging from the ’60s with songs like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, and touching on every decade all the way up to the 2010s with Cali Swag’s “Teach Me How To Dougie.” Knowing the depth of Anderson .Paak’s discography and his musicianship, I was kind of worried that he would simply be pressing buttons behind a set of turntables while running up and down the stage, which he did do a lot of, but he did also perform some of his own music, rapping and singing his own vocals on his Cordae collab “RNP” as well as his 2016 solo hit “Come Down,” complete with a live trumpet player joining him on stage. He had the entire stadium dancing along with him as he shot t-shirts into the crowd, and after playing a brand new song from his latest album/movie soundtrack released just days ago, K-POPS!, he’d close out his set with a Leon Thomas tribute before making way for the main event.

While the stage was prepped for Bruno, one of his oldest hits, 2010’s “Nothin’ On You” by B.o.B. would play through the speakers, and that signaled to the crowd that the show was about to begin. A video interlude would show Bruno in a church saying a prayer for a good show, and the screens would rise to reveal Bruno himself standing on stage, backed by his band The Hooligans, playing The Romantic album intro, “Risk It All.” With an extended dramatic intro, they’d let the song breathe and give Bruno the space to show off his live vocal range acapella, then pulled the crowd in on the chorus and cranked the energy for the second verse. They’d continue on with more hits from the new album, doing some dance choreography that led into track 2, “Cha Cha Cha,” with Bruno playing a set of conga drums during the bridge, and setting off some fireworks during a high-energy performance of “On My Soul.”

The dancing would continue as they pulled out some throwbacks, doing the essential “24K Magic” to set off the party vibes, and taking it back to 2012 with “Treasure.” Bruno would take a moment to acknowledge the crowd, again apologizing for the postponed concert but appreciating the much better weather we ended up getting, the sun starting to set during this first segment of his performance. He’d then go on to perform several songs off the new album, including “God Was Showing Off” with his Angel Baby Cam segment putting the spotlight on the ladies in the crowd, the dance-inducing “I Just Might” and the slow jam “Why You Wanna Fight?,” with the upbeat Funk-infused throwback “Perm” sprinkled in. It was during the slow jam “Why You Wanna Fight?” that I decided to take a bathroom break and re-up on drinks, but could see down at the ground level that they had rolled out a vintage car for Bruno to sit atop of and croon some more slow jams I wasn’t familiar with. He’d then pick the energy back up with the throwback hit “That’s What I Like,” and pulled out a guitar to play with his band as he followed with the new jam “Something Serious,” flames shooting out from the stage as he hit that “Yeahh!!!” in the chorus.

My favourite part of the concert came next, and it was the main selling point for me to get these tickets: seeing Anderson .Paak & Bruno Mars tour together for the first time since releasing their Silk Sonic album. They would perform the album outro, “Blasting Off,” before a video interlude played with Bruno, Anderson .Paak and Bootsy Collins doing the album intro. This gave Bruno a chance to change into a new outfit, and he’d reappear on stage in a black jacket, standing with a guitar atop the high platform of the stage next to Anderson and his drum set. Bruno would play the guitar riff from “777” and fireworks would go off as he hit that first vocal note, kicking off the Silk Sonic segment with a bang! Anderson .Paak would nail his vocals while playing the drums, and The Hooligans would add a Jazz breakdown towards the end of the song, playing an interpolation of SoHo’s “Hot Music” for Bruno to do some James Brown-esque screams over. They’d keep the Vegas casino vibes going as they continued on into “Fly As Me.”

I would’ve loved to see them do the entire Silk Sonic album, but of course this is Bruno Mars’ The Romantic Tour, and they had limited time for the Silk Sonic segment of the show. Still, they would end up performing more than half of the songs from the album. Bruno and Anderson had now put down their instruments and went to the front of the stage with their microphones, and they’d do a soulful performance of “Smokin Out The Window,” with A.P. getting to take the lead on a choreographed, harmonized bridge added to the end of the song. They’d then close out with the obvious hit, “Leave The Door Open,” extending it into an epic 7-minute performance featuring a friendly competitive sing-off between Anderson and Bruno, each showman trying to one-up the other with their vocal range and choreographed pyrotechnics. Fittingly, a red moon could be seen in the sky behind the stage as the Silk Sonic segment wrapped up and The Romantic Tour continued on.

Changing outfits again and now wearing a white shirt and vest combo, Bruno would return to the stage with his guitar to perform some of his romantic throwbacks, having confetti shoot into the crowd as he sang his way through “Marry You” and his Lady Gaga collaboration, “Die With A Smile.” He’d then sit down behind a piano with the screens behind him depicting the moon and stars to set the mood for some softer records, including “It Will Rain,” “Talking To The Moon”, and “When I Was Your Man,” getting the crowd to join in on the chorus. The Hooligans would then return to the stage and give Bruno some time for yet another outfit change, playing the instrumental to “Versace On The Floor” with the saxophone filling in where Bruno’s vocals would normally go.

When Bruno returned wearing a white suit, it was time for him to perform some of his biggest hits. Confetti and fireworks would go off again as he got into a high-energy performance of “Locked Out of Heaven,” and he’d take it back to 2010 with “Just The Way You Are” before closing with an essential to any dance floor, “Uptown Funk.” Some fans could be seen dancing their way to the exits trying to beat the crowd rush to the subway stations, but most stayed and danced the night away to the massive Mark Ronson hit. The lights would go dark to signal the end of the show, but a lot of fans stayed and cheered, bringing Bruno back out for an encore to perform The Romantic album closer, “Dance With Me.” We made our way to the exits during this song as Bruno would end the show just around the 11pm curfew.

Overall, this concert was as epic as you’d expect from a Pop star of Bruno Mars’ caliber. It had all the visuals and special effects that fit the stadium setting, and Bruno himself proved to be an absolute showman, playing several instruments throughout the show and nailing his vocals and choreography with his bandmates. As someone who generally doesn’t listen to Pop music, it was welcoming to see that none of the negative stereotypes like lip syncing or over-reliance on recorded vocals, dance moves and special effects as crutches were present at Bruno Mars’ show; the raw and authentic musicianship he puts on display is incredible to witness. The only downside is the setting of Rogers Stadium, as most of the seats having you feeling like you’re watching the performance from far away rather than being connected and engaged with the performance.

For the Silk Sonic fans: even though they haven’t really promoted the Silk Sonic connection on this tour that much or even put the name on the flyer, it was a pleasant surprise seeing an entire segment of the setlist dedicated to that album, complete with stage setting and album-specific visuals rather than just having a simple one-song appearance by Anderson .Paak. This definitely made up for them not taking that album on tour when it first dropped. As a relatively new Bruno Mars fan, the setlist seemed well executed with not many missed songs to leave the fans wanting more, as we got segments from every era of his career, with the obvious focus around performing 8/9 of the songs off of The Romantic album.

The Romantic Tour is heading to Europe before returning for more North American dates in August – dates and tickets can be found here!

Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen Anderson .Paak perform live over the years!

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

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