Bruno Performs 24K Magic Gold in Sydney

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While worldwide music favorite Ed Sheeran awed his third and final Sydney audience on Saturday night, his funky pop competitor was just getting started on the stage next door. The big red curtain glammed out with a golden crown opened, preparing the audience for the entrance of a modern pop king. Before Bruno Mars even made it onto the Qudos Bank Arena stage, fans were up on their feet within the first three notes of his opener and latest single, “Finesse.”

Mars kept up the excitement of the arena without taking a break after his first song, going right into the title track on his newest album, “24K Magic.” Saving fireworks for a big finish is an unknown concept to Mars, as he cued the golden firecrackers in the chorus of this second song. As the matching golden block letters reading “24K Magic” got lowered onto the stage the crowd got higher; singing even louder and reaching their hands up to the sky.

After his second song, Mars stood at the mic waiting for the audience to calm down, only to hype them up again; which wasn’t too hard to do. As Bruno yelled “Sydney!” with a charming smile, cheers heightened once again. The R&B sensation then continued into his 2012 hit, “Treasure,” followed by another hit off of the latest album, “Perm.”

Ten-time Grammy Award winner Bruno’s voice was just as smooth as his moves, which he and his band members really showed off during this number. Bruno and his Hooligans seemed to sway, slide, and pop as one, making the audience swoon not only for Mars himself, but for his musical counterparts as well- because six Bruno-like-moving musicians is better than one!

As a mid-show pump up- as if the audience needed one- Mars told his audience to “put one leg in front of the other, and let your boy Mars take it from here.” At this point everyone on the floor was dancing, or attempting to dance, as smoothly as Bruno and his band. He even had the crowd cheering the popular “Oi, oi, oi,” to his “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.”

The Hooligans, whom accompanied Mars for his two Super Bowl performances, had no trouble keeping up with Bruno. On the contrary, all members worked together playing off of each other’s energy the whole show by cheering after each spotlight solo and adding their own swagger to every dance move.

Bruno continued to impress even on songs that seemed to receive a little less outward love. In the more mellow song, “Calling All My Lovelies,” Bruno brought out a gold electric guitar, on which he proceeded to absolutely shred. Unlike his previous tours where he often showed off by soloing on every instrument he can get his hands on, Bruno only took the center-stage instrumental with his sparkling six-string. However, the audience showed no disappointment, as the rest of his band had the other solos covered.

Taking the spotlight and wowing the audience in a whole new way, Bruno’s saxophone player Dwayne Dugger finally got some love and attention. If Dugger was given any more alone time on stage instead of transitioning his cheered on solo into “Versace on the Floor,” he might have stolen the show all on his own.

Mars and the Hooligans translated the sexy feel of this song perfectly in their live performance, slowing it down and accentuating the sound of the synthesizer. But things didn’t stay slowed down for long, as Bruno continued to play some of his older hits, like “Marry You,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Locked out of Heaven,” and “When I was Your Man,” where Bruno played up the emotion, getting the entire arena to sing in sync with him.

Bruno closed his set with a few moments of a barbershop-quartet-style performance, before leaving his band to play him off the stage…and then back on again for the encore song, “Uptown Funk.” Although the audience loved the barbershop quartet number, Bruno couldn’t truly leave the stage for the night without presenting his most glamorous and over the top self. He entered back on with a golden cane, which he tossed to an audience member during the song. The ending of the show was so hot, firefighters entered the stage to finally put it out.

Throughout the night, Bruno jumped song to song for a full 90 minute set, leaving no time for audience interaction in between numbers. Some more personal interaction would have been eaten up by fans, who definitely wouldn’t have minded if the show went a bit over time. But then again, maybe we’ll just never have enough of our favorite funk man, Bruno.