Without a doubt, Bruno Mars is one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Born in 1985, he burst onto the music scene in the early 2000s with a slew of pop hits that drew on many different musical styles. Some of these included funk, reggae, rock, R&B and pop as well.
Though he’s definitely a great singer and dancer, he’s grown more and more confident over the years and has since developed a significant following online for his open personality.
One way that he shows this off is by doing crowd participation at some of his concerts.
For a great example of this, just consider the clip from this performance below.
The video was uploaded in September 2010, well before Mars had hit the peak of his fame. It was filmed at a special edition of the Bobby Bones Show through 96.7 KISS FM in Nashville.
Though he and his bandmates started off performing all their own stuff, they stopped the show halfway through to do something a little different. “You know what we like to do?” he asked everyone. “We like to just take requests. Give us a song and we’ll just try to play it.”
The crowd was immediately excited and starts shouting things out.
The first suggestion Mars hears is for a Tina Turner song—so sure enough, he starts strumming away.
After a moment or two, it’s clear that Mars is playing “Rolling on the River.” The guitar work is definitely right at the beginning, and Mars has his bandmate sing some of the lyrics.
It’s clear that they don’t know the song perfectly… but by the time the chorus rolls around, everybody joins in. And isn’t that part of the charm anyway?
After they do a significant piece of it, Mars shouts: “Next!”
After that, someone shouts “Tiny Dancer”… but they don’t know it.
Fortunately, they make a quick recovery by playing “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. Though the crowd is skeptical that they can pull it off, it’s clear right away that Mars has played this one quite a few times!
The guitar is great and his voice fits the song perfectly—and before long, the whole crowd is cracking up at the energy Mars is bringing.
After they get through the chorus, both Mars and his bandmate start laughing as well.
As a third suggestion, the crowd asks him to do Michael Jackson.
After a brief false start, Mars sets into “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Though the original song is a driving, synth-heavy dance song, Mars turns it into something slower and smokier and a little more seductive.
In the meantime, the whole crowd claps along as he does a faithful cover. Towards the end of it, he starts doing his own impression of Jackson’s signature vocals—and once again, the crowd is cracking up.
When it’s all over, they give him a huge round of applause.
Since the video was uploaded, it has been viewed some 13 million times—and it’s easy to see why.
Though it’s great to see a concert where the artist plays all their standard hit songs, sometimes we want to see behind the curtain a little.
When the performers actually talk to the crowd and are willing to experiment, it means their fanbase can get to know them in a whole new way. That’s definitely what happened here, and everybody was grateful for it.
Special shout out to Bruno Mars for his musical versatility! Check out the whole thing in the link below:
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