Music Review | Jason Mraz at the Santa Barbara Bowl, July 21, 2023

With contagiously goofy enthusiasm and an impish grin that reminded me a lot of Seth Meyers, Jason Mraz hit the stage of the Santa Barbara Bowl on Friday night grooving in full rainbow regalia and his trademark trilby hat, accompanied by an impressive superband that included the Austin-based Grooveline Horns, longtime collaborators Raining Jane, and guitarist Molly Miller — all as part of his Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride album tour. 

He started with “Getting Started,” a happy little ditty from the new album that would not have been out of place on Broadway. He then segued into another new one, “Feel Good Too,” which launched into a string of feel-good tunes both new and old, with the superband — “I call them my superband because they give me superpowers,” he said — including “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry),” his 2002 debut hit; “Long Drive,” from 2014; “Little Time,” from the new album; and “Lucky,” his 2008 hit with Colbie Caillat. This time, he dueted with singer Chaska Potter, whose Raining Jane bandmate Mai Bloomfield also did a beautiful cello solo on that one. It’s not often you see a cellist dancing, singing, and also playing the tambourine, but this was definitely that kind of night.

For those of us old enough to remember H.R. Pufnstuf and The Bugaloos, Sid and Marty Krofft would have been quite at home at this Jason Mraz show, which weaved colorful animated videos with vaguely new-age fantasy elements throughout the night. 

The big band sound, particularly when the Grooveline Horns jumped in, was one of the highlights for me. They added a fun visual element as well as a jazzy note to the mostly pop tunes, and even some Latin infusions that, if I closed my eyes, transported me to an evening with Ricky Ricardo at Club Babalu — only with less Lucy and more pot smoke. 

“This is definitely a 10mg song,” said Mraz as he introduced “Disco Sun,”  a song he wrote about mushrooms for the 2020 documentary Fantastic Fungi: Reimagine, which talks about magic shrooms and “the reason they succeed is ’cause the seeds are so strong, and they’re so psychoactive.” All of this was interspersed with the occasional rainbow animations and Mraz urging us, “Why don’t we all take a deep breath together, inhale, inhale, rainbow kitten, and smile on the exhale.” 

It’s hard not to smile at such silliness, especially when combined with crowd favorites like “I Won’t Give Up,” “I’m Yours,” and “I Feel Like Dancing.” All in all, it was a very fun, very entertaining night.