After 7 long years of waiting, Jason Mraz fans in Malaysia finally get to see the American singer-songwriter performing live in their country again.
The 41-year-old made a one-night stop in Kuala Lumpur yesterday evening at Axiata Arena, as part of his “Good Vibes Tour”, which kicked off in North America last summer and is currently making its rounds in Asia this month.
A few hours ahead of the concert, the singer teamed up with local artiste Aizat Amdan to host “Energy Playground”, during which the singing duo performed “I’m Yours” with Orang Asli kids from local NGO SOLS24/7 using the bicycle-powered generators set up by Biji-Biji Initiative, also a local NGO.
Jason cycled on one of the two bicycles while Aizat strummed away on his guitar. Halfway through the song, Jason laughingly got one of the kids to replace him (cycling is tiring) and continued singing more comfortably.
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| Jason getting ready to hop on to one of the bikes before the performance. |
During the interview held afterwards, Jason told TheHive.Asia that while he has not thought of recording a song in Malay, he does know enough basic phrases in the national language to greet his fans.
“When I look out to a room when we’re singing songs, it’s humans. So, I don’t always grab every phrase off of the buffet of languages that’s available but I am very, very grateful to be back here for the third time. Hopefully I’ll pick up some cool phrases. Longer ones, I know,” said the singer.
Later that evening, the concert kicked off at around 8.30pm with Aizat as the opening act.
Jason then took over, starting off with hits like “You and I Both”, “Let’s See What the Night Can Do” and “Living in the Moment”, and a medley of “Curbside Prophet”, “Geek in the Pink” and “The Remedy”.
Knowing that his fans were there for more than just his songs, the singer kept a continuous flow of conversation with the crowd whenever there was a break in between his performances.
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| Indie band Raining Jane and Jason Mraz bringing good vibes onstage. (Photo source: Jeff Coffman | Raining Jane’s Instagram). |
He encouraged his fans to stand up and dance, saying that it was a safe place to express themselves. “That’s what the good vibes is all about!” It wasn’t just good vibes that the singer was spreading, too, he also brought plenty of humour to the event. At one point, he talked abut how when he was a kid, his favourite song was the “vacuum cleaner song”.
It’s not a song about vacuum cleaner. No. It was literally him humming the sound that the home appliance makes.
The crowd burst out laughing when he asked them to “sing” along and make their favourite vacuum cleaner sound, but everyone complied anyway. Like the singer said, “You can do no wrong singing like a vacuum cleaner.”
He also had a special guest, during his performance of “More than Friends”, in the form of a puppet named Meghan in Training. “Someday she will be a real Meghan,” he joked.
The puppet’s name is a ‘punny’ nod to Meghan Trainor, who originally recorded the song with him.
At the concert, however, one of the lovely ladies of Raining Jane, the folk-rock band that tours with him, provided Meghan in Training’s voice.
Jason wrapped up his two-hour show with “Love Someone” as his encore stage.