Bruno Mars, in his first appearance ever in Israel, didn’t disappoint on Wednesday night. Performing for over 60,000 fans in the first of two sold-out shows at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon, the US pop superstar, accompanied by his band The Hooligans, wowed the crowd for almost two hours with his hits.
There was a sense of celebration as a huge gold Mars emblem lit up the screens before he burst on stage with one of his biggest hits, “24K” as fireworks lit up the night sky and the crowd went wild.
“The Hooligans made it to Israel,” he announced, by way of introduction, before he and his band launched into a spell-binding, energetic performance of “Finesse.”
At ease and glad to be here
Casually dressed in a baggy shirt and trousers, Mars showed off his prowess as an accomplished musician and dancer whose diminutive figure (he’s only five feet, five inches) lit up the magnificent, multi-colored stage.
“Treasure,” another favorite, came next, with Mars warmly addressing the crowd during this performance, before treating us to an impressive electric guitar solo. This was immediately followed by “Billionaire,” which reached number one in Israel. The ecstatic crowd sang along with Mars and his band to the strong reggae beat.
Connecting with his Israeli fans was clearly important to Mars, who even went to the trouble of learning about Israeli culture - and some Hebrew - before he arrived in Israel.
Around half an hour into his performance, Mars appeared on stage with a huge, gold, old-fashioned brick-like mobile phone, into which he joked with the words, “Hi Mammy, it’s me; baby Bruno. I’m in Tel Aviv right now. Ani ohev otach (I love you),” at which point, the crowd dissolved into peels of laughter.
Mars, clearly relieved that he’d managed to pull off a few words in Hebrew repeated the phrase, much to the crowd’s delight.
Mars and the Hooligans then broke into an impromptu dance routine. These “incredible dance moves,” he told the crowd, “were called, ‘the shawarma.’”
At this point, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Hit after hit followed, as everyone sang and danced along with Mars and his band.
An impressive guest performance
After an hour or so, Mars introduced “Luke Iona on guitar,” at which point, a strange, high-intensity performance of “Pure Imagination,” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, followed while Mars went offstage for a costume change, (I later realized).
Being one of the older members of the crowd, I recognized the riff immediately, although I’m not sure anyone else did.
Nevertheless, when Mars returned to the stage to reprise “Versace on the Floor,” his smooth, velvety, signature tones captivated the crowd, who swayed along to the music, with their phones held aloft as huge golden Versace emblems appeared on the screens and fireworks illuminated the sky.
Some young hopefuls unfurled a banner exclaiming, “I want to marry you, Bruno!” as he launched into “Marry You,” making each and every woman there believe that he was proposing to them.
Singing the hits
“Runaway Baby” was like a giant party. Mars and the Hooligans danced their way through the song as the stage lit up around them. He even appeared with a loud hailer at one point to address the crowd.
Things then slowed down as Mars sent everyone else off stage “for a breather” and sat down at the piano to play a game of, “let’s see if you can remember this one,” with the enthralled audience. His keyboard skills were no less impressive than his guitar skills, which became apparent as the crowd played along with his game.
Mars’ trademark hat made an appearance at the end of the show when he belted out his biggest hits, the fast-paced “Locked Out of Heaven,” which juxtaposed nicely with the beautifully melodic, “Just the Way You Are,” as silver confetti fell on the stage.
“Uptown Funk” rounded off this dazzling show in which Mars brought the heart of Tel Aviv to life.
Mars will be performing again at the park on Oct. 7