Recap: The Moonshine Jungle Tour

So, as promised in my tab titled “in the future”, I have to share my experience at the Bruno Mars Moonshine Jungle Tour which came to Columbus on Wednesday July 10th. Keep in mind, the excitement is still fresh in my mind and this post will be all over the place and possibly not make any sense to some if not all of you. . . Enjoy! lol

If I had to sum up the whole show, including Ellie Goulding’s performance, into one word I think I would have to say electrifying…? I’m not sure if that’s a good enough word but that’s all I’ve got at the moment. Anyway, the concert was amazingly loud, fun, colorful and glittery… yes, GLITTER!

Let’s start by talking about Ellie Goulding. Unfortunately, I do not really follow her like most fans do, but she had a pretty awesome performance, despite the fact that her mic was a bit muffled and I only knew three songs. Correction, I only knew the chorus to three of her songs. Nevertheless, she rocked the stage! She doesn’t seem to be much of a dancer but she had a few funky moves while jammin’ to her tunes. Another good characteristic of her show was the lighting. Maybe I’m a weirdo but when I go to a concert, especially one that I dish out a pretty penny for, I expect a good light show to match the songs. Fortunately, I was given a pretty good hint that the lights would be PERFECTION throughout the night. (The hint… signs posted on the doors warning people that dramatic lighting would be used during the show.) But I digress. Back to Ellie Goulding. Her segment was relatively short lasting 50 minutes…literally. She took the stage right on time at 7:30 and I looked at my phone as she was exiting the stage and it was then 8:20. But, of course, time flies when you’re having fun so the 50 minutes felt as if it went by a lot faster as we were in the moment. But, I can say that I would definitely love to see her perform live again and maybe next time I’ll know more lyrics.

I definitely have to give you a quick recap of intermission. The music played in between sets was EVERYTHING!  Bob Marley, Prince, Kool and the Gang, and of course Bruno Mars… I mean the list goes on and on. Buuut, there is one thing I didn’t like about intermission. They were playing some weird comedy skit on the stadium screens about every two minutes. After the third video I began to get confused and slightly annoyed. I mean, what was the point of the videos? Other than that, intermission was surprisingly enjoyable!

Okay, now to my favorite part of the show, BRUNO MARS and is talented band! I kind of don’t know where to begin… Everything was on point! Each performance was better than the last and if you’ve ever watched a Bruno Mars interview, you know he has a sense of humor which was definitely displayed during the show. From performances to monolog, there is sooooo much to talk about but I think I’ll keep it short and just recap the three moments in the show that made me lose my voice and my mind. Moment number one happened when he decided to take it down a notch and turn on the sexy. At one point during the show he sang the classic 90’s r&b jams that no one can resist for example, Pony by Ginuwine. One of the few that he sang happened to be my top favorite. Yes, Candy Rain by Soul For Real. Something about that song gets me every single time. Anyway, moment number two happened towards what we assumed was the end of the show. He started the song “Just The Way You Are” by saying “before we get out of here, I want to tell you…” and begans singing. At this point I’m a bit disappointed because I realized he didn’t even sing “Locked Out of Heaven.” But we all know that the party isn’t over until the lights come on. About two minutes after concluding “Just The Way You Are” Bruno Mars raises from beneath the stage on a platform completely killing it on the drums. After finishing his drum solo, his band rushed out and began THE song. This, being the second to last song that he performed, was the exact moment I knew my voice would be completely shot by the end of the show. “Locked Out of Heaven” is the first song in a long time that makes me, what some like to call, turn up! Luckily the two women sitting to my left had already left, assuming the show was over after he sang “Just The Way You Are.” So, lucky for me, I had plenty of room to jump and wave my arms like the super cool inflatable dudes we all see outside of car dealerships. This brings me to moment number three. After losing my mind to “Locked Out Of Heaven” the lights dim and the stage is quiet. All of a sudden the scariest green gorilla appears on the screen and growled at the crowd as if we just stole his fricken banana. (this is the only way I could think to describe it because it was just that scary) After realized why there was a gorilla in my face, I once again became everyone’s favorite inflatable dude. Next to “Locked Out Of Heaven,” “Gorilla” is my favorite song off his most recent album. And being the extreme risk taker that I am, I just had to push my vocal cords to the brink and see if I had any kind of noise left within my body. Surprisingly, I was able to belt out every single word of the song with ease. In perfect timing my voice finally called it quits, gold glitter rained from the skies and  the show was over….

So, if you can’t tell, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and am not one bit disappointed in the fact that my voice was unbelievably manly the next morning due to all of the screaming. I have zero regrets and cannot wait for Ellie Goulding and Bruno Mars to return to Columbus. Luckily, this was just my first concert of the season. The Breakaway Music Fest is approaching soon and I’m beyond ready. I mean come on, Kendrick Lamar AND Twenty One Pilots? Ya’ll will definitely read about my experience at the Fest in the near future.