Jason Mraz opens his 2017 summer tour at Centennial Hall Friday, June 16, the first of only a handful of concerts he will do this summer.
The Tucson show is a warmup to Mraz’s big summer moment, his 40th-birthday bash/concert at the famed Hollywood Bowl in California on his birthday, June 23.
Until then, here are three songs we are super-excited to hear him sing live and when we hear them we will give him the kind of applause — loud and sustained — that he’s sure to get for his birthday bash.
- “I’m Yours,” from his triple-platinum 2008 album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.” It’s a safe bet that by the time he gets to the second verse — “Well open up your mind and see like me / Open up your plans and damn you’re free / Look into your heart and you’ll find love love love love” — the whole hall will drown him out and he’ll gladly relinquish lead vocals to his fans.
- “I Won’t Give Up,” from his 2012 studio album — his fourth — “Love Is a Four Letter Word.” This will be the show’s inspirational highlight, the moment where we can all read into the lyrics — “’Cause even the stars they burn / Some even fall to the earth / We’ve got a lot to learn / God knows we’re worth it / No, I won’t give up” — something that inspires more universally than the feelings we have for the date sitting beside us.
- “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” his debut single off his 2002 debut album “Waiting for My Rocket to Come.” It’s always nice to go back to the beginning, and when you listen to this song, even 15 years down the road of Mraz’s pretty enviable career, you get a sense of how much he’s grown as an artist.
