JASON MRAZ + Raul Midon @ Spectrum

By Jordan-na Belle-Isle - Canadian Invasion - 10/06/2005

Like, omigod! I got to see Jason Mraz headline at the Spectrum and it was, like, pretty okay. And I’m not into him because he’s hot or anything! It’s about the music, you know, totally about the music. But he is soooooo hot, omigod! And he wore a pink t-shirt (his new single is “Geek in the Pink” ;) ) and his trademark backward baseball hat, so cute!

So there were TONS of people, mostly girls who were like all skanked out for Jason. It was like being at a friggin’ Backstreet Boys concert, whatever. Omigod, these girls were like fifteen! No way would he want any of them. Geez. And they were all crazy, just going nuts over him, constantly taking pics with their digi cams and cells and screaming things like “Have my baby, Jason!” LOL! Like everytime someone screamed or clapped, it was only because he’d do something cute, like a little hip shake and grin. * swoon * But like no one seemed to care about the music.

The songs were okay. Mostly from his latest album, Mr. a-Z, like “Bella Luna,” “Wordplay,” and of course “Geek in the Pink.” And he just like had to play favourites from his first CD. Everyone went crazy when he did “ The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” especially when he threw in a verse from Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” So wicked! We all sang along! My favourite part was during the encore when he sang “Plane” from Mr. a-Z. It was so cool because all the lights were off except for this one stained glass lamp. He like sat on this stool with his acoustic guitar and sang the song and it was soooooo intense. Except that he missed the high notes at the end of the song. Oops.

Oh yeah! And there was this awesome part when he brought his opening act, Raoul Midon, this blind guy who plays guitar and is just like wow! He reminds me of that Stevie Wonder dude my mom listens to. His set was pretty groovy; he’s great at guitar and does this cool thing when he uses his guitar both for melody and percussion. He also makes wicked trumpet sounds with his mouth. So Jason brought Raoul out for a duet and it was pretty neat. Jason was totally in his element, and for that one song, it was about the music, you know.

You know what totally sucks? Jason kinda knows the effect he has on us girls and sooooo plays up to that because it sells records! All these girls fall totally in love with him and want to buy like all his CDs and stuff! And he does all this on purpose to girls like me, girls who sigh and swoon at his charisma and that’s soooo wrong! Like this guy has musical chops! I have his Jason Mraz Live CD/DVD and it’s so different! You can so see his talent when he doesn’t have to be this cutesy idol guy. He’s great at guitar and has all these clever lyrics and is so quick and smooth with his delivery and omigod, he’s sooooo good at scatting. And like John Popper even plays with him! He’s like this totally famous blues guy, right? N-E-ways. You know what? It’s totally his record company’s fault!!! Elektra, right? It’s not Jason’s fault! He does what his evil record company tells him to do. Oh, Jason! If I owned Elektra, I’d totally give you time to develop as an artist and have you play in more intimate places, where you could totally grow and experiment with your music and not have to like prostitute your CD to teenaged girls.

[Jordan-na hosts Canadian Invasion (Fridays from 4-6pm) and no, she does not actually speak like that. Like, omigod, whatever! ]