Mraz’s best ‘comeback’ yet

There are musical acts who are but shooting stars — those who pass by, put on an unforgettable show, but are never to be seen again. 

Then there are artists like Jason Mraz. Consistent and reliable as a comet, he forgoes the elaborate spectacle for a more subdued, but no less anticipated performance that keeps people coming back time after time. 

Mraz’s third visit to the Philippines Thursday night was his best yet. It was the same old Jason, with his trademark fedora, baseball shirt and guitar, but it was his girl band Raining Jane — the figurative comet’s tail — that made this particular show shine a little brighter than his previous two. 

It was the first time the whole band had come to the Philippines, though they had been working with Mraz for eight years already as both front act and co-writers. Mona Kavakoli, Raining Jane’s drummer, said one of their first collaborations with Mraz is fan favorite A Beautiful Mess.

“After that, we knew we wanted to keep working together. Eight years later, here we are with you in the Philippines,” she said. 

Jokingly calling themselves Girlz 2 Man, Mraz and the dynamic foursome of Raining Jane played two sets, tirelessly and seamlessly shifting from one song to another, from crowd banter to amazing instrumental solos. 

The show opened with three songs by Raining Jane before they introduced Mraz with the underrated ballad, Life is Wonderful. The concert flowed in a similar vein throughout the entire first half, which was made up of some of the singer-songwriter’s most positive and reflective songs, including Oh, You Beautiful Thing, Back to the Earth and 3 Things from his newest album, Yes! He also played old hits Butterfly and Make it Mine.

But the highlight of the concert’s first set was the song he played right before the intermission, a song set to video of Mraz’s recent trip to Antarctica with the (mostly Filipino!) crew of the National Geographic Explorer. 

In the second half of the show, the mood shifted from introspective to emotional as Mraz broke out his most famous love songs, including I’m Yours and his newest romantic single, Love Someone.

He also peppered the concert with some new arrangements of some of his most popular hits, like The Remedy, as well as his renditions of other artists’ songs. 

But it was clear from the very beginning that the entire audience was waiting for one particular song. So when the lights dimmed without the crowd even hearing the first notes of Mraz’s biggest hit, I Won’t Give Up, people didn’t waste time before calling for an encore. 

Mraz happily obliged with an overwhelmingly emotional performance of the song (which the entire crowd, of course, sang along with) before capping off the night with the appropriately titled single from his new album, It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye.

Raining Jane summed up the entire band’s sentiments right from the start of the show when they said, “We couldn’t be more thankful to be here in Manila. Thank you for giving us something to be thankful for.”

And as Mraz yelled out “Kitakits!” as he made his last bow, the whole audience knew that his words would ring true. No matter how many times he passes by the country’s shores, his loyal droves of fans will flock to see him time and time again, each waiting and anticipating the next appearance of this much loved musical comet.