Bruno Mars/ Janelle Monae

Last night I had the treat of going to the Bruno Mars/Janelle Monae concert at the Independence Events center with my dad, sister, and brother. Let me tell you, it was great.

First off, the Independence Events Center is very nice. It is only a few years old, and they did a great job with it.

The tour is called Hooligans in Wondaland, and it reflects both featured artists. Bruno Mars' first album is called Doo-Wops and Hooligans. Janelle Monae's self-created label is Wondaland Records. The Wondaland name is perfect for her style of music.

The opening act was a five member band from Detroit, Michigan with the lead singer being Mayer Hawthorne. Now, I had never heard of these guys before so I wasn't expecting a whole lot from them. They ended up not being too bad. Their style definitely reflected their roots and was something that today's generation doesn't get to hear too much. They mixed some modern music styles with the Detroit "Motown" feel. They did a good job. While I wasn't "Wowed" by them, I didn't dislike them either.

Next came the absolutely beautiful Janelle Monae. Going into this, I hadn't heard a whole lot of Janelle Monae outside of her Grammy performance. I knew her hair style, but didn't know that it matched her music style. I also didn't know that. because she was playing in Independence, she was essentially playing at home. She actually was born in Kansas City, Kansas, which I did not know. She had many friends and family, and even sent out a tweet today reading: "Last night= one of THE best nights of my life! To have all my hometown family, friends, teachers, etc come see us perform was surreal. LOVE." That shows how down to Earth she is. Now back to the show.

She opened with a very interesting yet very cool song with a neat video. She had all of her band members silhouetted on the screen putting their instruments on. I enjoyed this very much. She got into her act and played a few songs from her album. She accompanied her phenomenal vocal abilities with some very smooth James Brown and Michael Jackson-esque dance moves. She then moved on to a little old school, playing a Jackson 5 song. She then played a few more songs, and in her finale, she decided to move off the stage and around the crowd. For her final performance, she jumped into the crowd and surfed across the audience while the band kept playing the song. To me, this was a very risky move, but it was astonishing to see someone of her stature doing something so bold. It was amazing. She finished her act and they prepared the stage for Mr. Bruno Mars, the headlining act.

Bruno Mars came onto stage to a very loud chorus of cheers, mostly from the women on the floor. Bruno Mars definitely worked his sex appeal towards the ladies. With hips gyrating and the littlest leg movements driving the girls wild, I only imagined that this is similar to the following that the great Elvis Presley experienced. He worked a phenomenal performance. He definitely knows what he is going to get whenever he goes onto the stage. He made it a point to make it seem like this performance was unique. Not only was he a showman, he has some absolutely amazing pipes on him. Mr. Mars can hit the high note and the low note, but still stay on key. The last two songs he played were his two biggest hits thus far, "Grenade" and "Just the Way You Are". He did a great job on these and then left the stage. Half of the crowd left thinking it was over but he came back after a little while and played his final song, and my favorite, "Talking to the Moon." This is the one song where he can show off his vocal skills. Towards the end of the song he really belts it out and it sounds fantastic. He is a great showman and can put together a really nice performance.

I was happy to go to these concerts, and they ended up being better than I would have expected. A lot of different styles from all three acts. It was a fun experience.