A week after Bruno Mars wowed ’em with his halftime show at Super Bowl XLVIII, the buzz and momentum just won’t stop.
His two Blaisdell Arena concerts were a quick sellout Monday, and an additional third sold out in an hour. Mars fans are hoping for a fourth show.
Mars helped set a Super Bowl TV ratings record: 111.5 million tuned in to the lame game, but halftime numbers bumped up to 115 million, the largest for the Fox telecast. Mars topped Beyonce‘s 110.8 million viewers for her performance last year, according to Nielsen figures.
The phenom continues: Mars and his Hooligans‘ "Unorthodox Jukebox" CD lit up the iTunes charts at No. 1 (up from No. 6) Monday. And Billboard reported that post-Super Bowl sales for "Jukebox" were unorthodox: up 164 percent; by comparison, sales of Beyonce’s "4" CD went up 123 percent after her Super Bowl appearance.
With his crisp 12-minute performance — featuring an assist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers on one song (that band played air guitar, with prerecorded tracks supporting the live singing) — Mars was stupendous and in one night became Hawaii’s brightest homegrown star.
Mars didn’t earn a salary for the halftime show; none of the performers are paid. Super Bowl headliners stand to gain a lot with the exposure before a humongous audience. The proof: His tour for the rest of the year looks like a sizzler. Mars’ 2013 concerts grossed $72.4 million over 84 performances, with seats going for an average of $66; apres-Super Bowl, the average will be $120 this year, according to Forbes. …
In concert, he and his band wore new Saint Laurent costumes, each worth $5,830 but no doubt provided gratis. The retro-look outfits matched his tradition-bound sound — a fusion of blues, Motown and soul, with equal measures of seasoning from folks Mars adores: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and James Brown.
He opened his act with a youth chorus performing an excerpt from his "Millionaire" tune, and he emerged playing a drum solo to show off his versatility. Did you notice his late mom’s name, Bernadette, on the face of the drum? Then he uncorked a lot of dash and flash — soulful choreography, those characteristic grooves, an unexpected leap and split, and some of the best funk ever, including "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Treasure." It was a textbook performance of how to do it, with sheer energy, class and style. A poignant shout-out from war vets preceded his on-the-field solo of "Just the Way You Are" and showed Mars just the way he is: calm, cool, connected.
Newsworthy: Mars’ "Gorilla" hit is in the just-out "Now 49 — That’s What I Call Music" CD. That’s what I call success. …
AROUND TOWN: The Crown, occupying the former Hard Rock Cafe site at Kalakaua and Kapiolani, will feature Barry Flanagan‘s Hapa in a Valentine’s Day concert with an eight-course gourmet dinner. Simple Soul guests; call 688-4624 or go to www.tix.com, event code 627532. …
Billed as Hawaii’s Folk Singers, Peter Apo, Gordon Freitas and Keith Haugen turned their recent SRO Atherton concert at Hawaii Public Radio into a touching tribute to late folk music icon Pete Seeger, known for such hits as "If I Had a Hammer," "This Land Is Your Land" and "Little Boxes." Haugen premiered an anti-war song, "There’s a War Going On," and reminded the audience that eight years ago, when the late Jean King planned an 86th-birthday concert for her friend Seeger, she invited Haugen and Freitas to headline at the UH Campus Center. …
And that’s "Show Biz."
Reach Wayne Harada at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com. Read his blog at www.staradvertiser.com.
