BLAST FROM THE PAST
Bruno Mars delivers high-energy party at TD Garden
Bruno Mars feels like an artist from another era. This is on purpose: Mars has drawn a square, with Michael Jackson, Bobby Brown, Marvin Gaye and Prince at the corners, and vowed never to stay within the lines. Often this makes for pop so absurdly catchy, so awesomely enjoyable, you would have to be some kind of monster not to bob your head to the beat. Unfortunately, his lyrics can also be locked in the past.
I don't think Mars goes out of his way to write lyrics that degrade women. I don't think he goes out of his way to write any of his lyrics. At Mars' Thursday stop at the TD Garden (he also had a show last night), his lyrical indifference showed. Among many questionable lines, he cheered “Bad (expletive) and ya ugly (expletive) friends ... I gotta show 'em how a pimp get it in” over the golden groove of “24K Magic.”
Later, he sang, “When I Was Your Man,” an impassioned, ultra-earnest ballad of lost love and regret.
The popular view is Mars is only clowning, that he means no disrespect.
And he makes a persuasive case for this. After all, he doesn't seem to care about a song's message (even though he absolutely should). He devotes his Energizer Bunny energy to creating perfect hooks and delivering said hooks over a can't-lookaway live set.
From the instant Mars and his seven-piece ace band kicked into “Finesse,” they didn't stop bouncing through Top 40 jams most of the crowd knew by heart. They didn't play long — at an hour and a half, the set felt slight — but they filled the time with a cappella harmonies, synchronized dance moves, drum and piano solos and as much pyro as a Motley Crue tour.
Surrounded by a set of glowing tiles somewhere between “Saturday Night Fever” and a vintage Atari arcade game, the crew smashed together new jack swing swagger and a Latin jazz break for “That's What I Like.” With his horn players blasting away beside him, Mars proved he remains the king of '80s retro with “Treasure.” And he somehow added more heat to “Uptown Funk,” still the most unifying pop song of the century (whether you're in your Saint Laurent suit or Chuck Taylors, “Uptown Funk” gonna give it to you and everybody else on wedding dance floors for decades to come).
Much like Justin Timberlake's recent tour, Mars' show felt dated at times, and not always in the “Purple Rain” meets Tony! Toni! Tone! way he wants it to feel. He can seem like a relic of bro culture. But if you don't care about that, if you want a cheerleader for a party of 10,000, Mars is your man.