Bruno Mars gets PH fans ‘singing and dancing all night’

”We traveled a long way to come back here because we love this place so much,” Bruno Mars told his legion of adoring fans. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF DANIEL RAMOS/LIVE NATION PHILIPPINES

Philippines, are you ready to party with us tonight?” the emcee’s voice blared from the loudspeakers, firing up the packed crowd inside the Philippine Arena. “We have come a long way to be here with you, so let’s all make it count!”

The venue simmered with excitement. To deafening screams and giddy squeals, the stage curtain glowed blue before finally dropping to reveal the star of the night, Bruno Mars. Dressed in gold and flanked by his band, The Hooligans, the pop star kicked off the show with “24K Magic,” whose opening verse aptly goes: “Pop it’s showtime, showtime / Guess who’s back again?” All the while, intermittent bursts of fireworks and arrays of colorful lights lit up the stage, creating a dazzling background for the rousing funk-disco dance bop. “Masaya akong makita kayo! You look beautiful, Philippines,” Bruno said during the first of his tour’s recent two-day stop in the country. “We traveled a long way to come back here because we love this place so much. And we hope we can get this audience—front to back, left and right—singing and dancing all night.”

He didn’t need to ask: Bruno’s upbeat tracks—irresistible fusions of funk, disco, R&B, soul, hip-hop, reggae and new jack swing—had fans on their feet, jumping and moving their bodies to the festive beats. The sensual, velvety jams had them swooning and slow dancing while the pleading ballads sparked emphatic sing-along sessions.

Goes above and beyond

Phones in the air are an inescapable sight in concerts these days but just the same, Bruno asked the crowd to put their phones down to enjoy the set, which also included hits, album cuts and cover snippets, like “Finesse,” “Treasure,” “Liquor Store Blues,” “Locked Out of Heaven” and “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes.

One thing you can expect from Bruno is that he doesn’t just settle for replicating his recorded music. He goes above and beyond, whether through additional instrumental interludes, dance breaks or new vocal arrangements.

Bruno played the guitar in “Billionaire,” pausing and breaking into a smile whenever the crowd cheered during the song’s acoustic moment. He packed in vocal ad-libs to “That’s What I Like,” hushed things down with a slinky, hip-swaying dance interlude with The Hooligans before segueing into “Please Me.” His come-hither ballad, “Versace on the Floor,” was prefaced with a show-stopping intro that had him riffing, belting and drawing out demanding passages.

The piano-driven ballad “When I Was Your Man,” Bruno related, was the hardest song to write and is still the hardest song to sing live. It didn’t show. While he did point the mic to the crowd during the bridge, he more than made up for it with improvised searing high notes and sweet falsettos.

In “Calling All My Lovelies,” Bruno performed his tried-and-tested voicemail act: After whipping out a gold phone, he pressed it against his ear and said, “I’m in the Philippines right now. I know it has been quite a while. About four or five years since I have been here.”

But still, the Grammy-winning singer—who had previously performed in the country in 2011, 2014 and 2018—“still feels the same way” about his Filipino fans. “Miss na kita, mahal!” he crooned pleadingly into the phone.

‘Putting on a show’

Bruno is one of the rare live acts who embodies the phrase “putting on a show.” Blessed with natural swagger and charisma, the 37-year-old singer, who looked up to Michael Jackson and James Brown growing up, moved intuitively onstage, as if his body and the music were one and the same.

Bruno could unleash a series of high notes, then just casually do the moonwalk. He could retreat to the back, wipe his face and make it appear like it was all part of the choreography. Fans couldn’t help but chant his name at the way he slinkily shuffled left and right and undulated his body during the jazz-inflected “Runaway Baby” dance break.

Meanwhile, the fans kept their end of the bargain, singing and dancing all night, just as Bruno had requested. After “Just the Way You Are,” Bruno reiterated his love for the Filipino audience. “We have always wanted to play here,” he said, before ending the show—mounted by Live Nation Philippines—with “Uptown Funk.”

“I hope we can come back real soon,” he added. “I would love to see you all again!”

Bruno Mars with his band The Hooligans

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