The Bruno Mars concert experience

  In 2024, Singapore has attracted many big music acts from across the globe to travel to our tiny little red dot as a stop on their tours and perform in the renowned Singapore National Stadium. Artists such as Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran have performed in Singapore in 2024 and the most recent artist to perform is the one and only Bruno Mars.

  Bruno Mars is an American singer-songwriter who has Puerto Rican and Philippines descent. With his music being heavily inspired by the likes of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, which is evident in the way he moves and presents himself on stage, he is one of the biggest artists of the 21st century.

  Charting on the Billboard Hot 100 with 32 songs, he sprouted into the music scene after stealing the spotlight with his unique vocals on singles such as B.O.B.'s "Nothin' On You" and Travis McCoy's "Billionaire" which are songs that are still revered by fans of his to this day.

  He further established himself into the mainstream with his debut album "Doo-Woops and Hooligans" being an instant hit with iconic songs such as "When I Was Your Man", "Runaway Baby", "Just the Way You Are", "Marry You" and " The Lazy Song" instantly hitting radio waves and into everybody's ears.

The album's longevity is highlighted when one of its songs, "Talking to the Moon", found late success in 2021 due to TikTok after 11 years since being released.

  Bruno's sophomore album, "Unorthodox Jukebox", would garner the same success. Hits such as "Treasure", "Locked Out of Heaven" and more notably "When I Was Your Man". 

  His biggest song would come in 2015 as he collaborated with Mark Ronson to make "Uptown Funk", which was a massive success and now has over 5 BILLION views on YouTube. The song brought around a more 80s R&B and jazz sound that Mars is familiar with but with a more refined touch and it would set the tone for his upcoming album in 2016.

  24k Magic is a more disco and R&B focused album and would be his best yet. Songs such as "24k Magic", "Finesse", and "That's What I Like" quickly proved to be prominent songs of the late 2010s. 

A poster for Bruno Mars' Singapore shows.

  With his albums being automatic hit-makers, he cemented himself as one of the biggest artists of the 2010s and everybody has heard him whether they liked it or not. An important part of many people's childhoods, there is undoubtedly a high demand for his concerts and now that he made a stop in Singapore, his tickets sold out quick and an initial one show in Southeast Asia quickly became three.

  I was one of the lucky ones to secure a ticket to the concert and got a General Standing ticket, which was initially Cat 6 seated but my friend and I opted to exchange with someone else as we saw how far the seats were from the stage itself.

  The event was a hit, many flocked to social media to post their videos of them at the concert, which highly contributed to my FOMO. Though when Saturday morning came about, the anticipation only spiked.

  I was finally going to go to a concert for the first time in my life and there is no one better than the man who made memorable songs that stuck with me from childhood all the way to my adolescence. 

  

  I was actually going to see Bruno Mars.

  I arrived at the stadium early to purchase a shirt of him performing, which cost $60, and already there were many queuing up outside the gates to get in. I quickly met up with my friend and we grabbed lunch at an Ayam Penet restaurant to quickly plan the pictures we were going to take, songs we were most eager to sing and dance to, as well as grab an early spot in the queue.

My friend and I queuing for security checks.

  To our surprise, we went to the wrong venue to our gates and by the time we arrived at the correct location, it was already filled with a sea of people in front of us awaiting the security checks. Strategically manoeuvring our way through the crowd like rattle snakes, we eventually made our way to the checks and unfortunately had to drain away our water bottles.

  After a successful bag check, we dashed our way up the staircase and then sprinting to the gates like a gold medalist Olympic runner. Once we made it, we were exhausted but we still managed to get a good spot in the line for when the gates opened.

  Sprinting with all our might would backfire as we started to grow thirsty and due to the stadium's frankly inhumane rule of having to drain out our bottles before going through security, means that in the oven that was the queue line, we had no water to drink for an hour.

Singapore Sports Hub's no water guidelines.

  The "security measure" of having to drain out our water is outlandish as they wanted us to just refill it inside the stadium anyway so there is not really a purpose to draining it in the first place and after the incident of a fan passing away due to the heat and dehydration at a Taylor Swift concert in Brazil, they ought to have learnt from that. Sadly, they didn't. 

  Especially considering that Singapore is well-known for its hot and humid conditions and especially when surrounded by many people in a non air-conditioned space, the safety measure just wound up to be a safety hazard instead and I hope they abolish having to drain water out before entering the stadium as it made the experience a lot more unpleasant than it should have been.

The queue outside the gates.

  After entering the stadium, we instantly turned into cheetahs and made our way down the steps and into the standing pen. Despite many security guards donning bright yellow shirts looking like the Minions from Despicable Me trying to stop us from running, we still made our way to a good spot in the middle meaning that we were going to have an amazing view of the show that was ready to unleash before our eyes.

My view of the show.

  I quickly went to the toilet and brought me and my friend some much-needed refreshments. Though coming back was the worst part as for some reason, bottle caps were also prohibited in the standing pen.

  What?

  At the end, the ground ended up to be littered and at the start, a fan threw a bottle in the air which is probably the same as a cap. Spillage is also a high risk and will ruin people's experience more than actually hitting them with a cap, but whatever. Rather questionable regulations in the stadium aren't a surprise to us anymore.

  An hour before the show begun, a stampede of people rushed forward and I was forced to abandon the drinks that my friend and I bought due to the sudden rush of it. We squirmed our way to the middle and for the next hour, we were standing in close proximity to others and it felt like suntanning to an open oven. 

The sea of people behind me.

  At around 8.10 p.m., the excitement started to kick in as huge dark red curtains unfolded and covered the stage which led people to cheer and believe that the show was starting soon. The anticipation ramped up the crowd even more as the lights around the stadium switched off.

People starting to record once the lights went out.

  Fluorescent blue lights shined from the floor of the stage while the iconic opening line of 24k Magic started to play. A tsunami of energy quickly crashed into the crowd. Everybody quickly grabbed their phones as this was the real deal, the show was starting! The curtains quickly dropped and fireworks at the back of the stage popped, while Bruno Mars and the Hooligans (his backing band) sung the hit single. In the standing pen, lots of us were jumping and singing along to the songs that have been etched into our brains. 

  Singing is a generous word, we were all shouting and screaming.

  After that, he sung another song off of the same album as 24k Magic, Finesse. A song well known for its dance break at award shows in 2018 and Bruno with the Hooligans would replicate the same dance break in the middle of the song which was a delight to see. 

  The next highlight of the night was in Versace on the Floor, Bruno decided to let the crowd sing the pre-chorus. A decision that would be memorable as I, along with the many people in the stadium sung our hearts out to the slow section which can give me goosebumps by just reliving it.

  His backing band The Hooligans would also get their time to shine, with the guitar and saxophone player getting their time to shine between songs, playing jazz numbers and the guitar player, who Bruno cheekily remarked as "Luke Skywalker" due to his hair, had his rendition of Pure Imagination and though I did not recognize the song at first, it was breathtaking to see a master of his art in front of my eyes.

  Bruno's keyboard player, John Fossitt, brought a Singapore taste to the show with his performance of one of the country's most patriotic and iconic national day songs, Home. The flashlights shining from people's phone cameras quickly filled the stadium, moving from side to side and it was a great moment of unity between everybody inside the stadium, except for some foreigners in front of me who awkwardly did not know the song. A good gesture to show that this isn't just "another show" for them and they wanted to make it special for us.

  Bruno's brother is The Hooligans' drummer and he gets his spotlight too, performing a complex drum solo before it transitioned into my personal favourite Bruno Mars song, Runaway Baby.

  Runaway Baby's memorable riff played and I was ecstatic. A personal favourite of mine to the point that I had made it my alarm clock ringtone a few years back everyday before I went to school yet I never, ever got sick of listening to it. 

Me in the midst of jumping to 'Runaway Baby'.

  As Bruno worded the opening lyrics "lookie here", I immediately jumped with the crowd. A rock-focused song with high energy, the crowd certainly delivered on it as we were jumping and screaming all the lyrics and it is a memory that will stick with me for my life, seeing one of your favourite songs performed by the artist in front of you can change your mood real quick!

 The famous Locked out of Heaven played with the ending becoming a quick song to post on social media, with the confetti spraying out of the stage to enhance the energetic atmosphere as the crowd turns into a wave of hands and I got to experience that for myself. Bruno then closed off the concert with his biggest song, Uptown Funk. A fitting way to end an adrenaline-filled, dopamine inducing experience.

Arms and confetti galore in 'Locked out of Heaven'.

  However, some people were not going with the energetic vibes me and the people around me were giving by jumping around and screaming our lungs out and having fun as the person directly behind may uttered the word "ah, f*** this s***" to his friends and moved to the back of the standing pen, their loss for being low energy in a section where high energy is expected.

  Overall, for a first concert, I'm not sure if anything could possibly top Bruno Mars. Him and The Hooligans have a strong stage presence and gives the show more personality which is hard to find nowadays. 

Bruno Mars and The Hooligans' silhouettes accompanied by fluorescent blue lights.

  Yes, there could be moments such as Taylor Swift's backup dancers and with one uttering Singlish words in the middle of a song, or Coldplay reading their fans' signs in a break, but Bruno and the Hooligans somehow manage to outshine all of them for me. 

  With smooth dancing and getting their bodies and the crowd going in such a fast and consistent pace throughout the whole event accompanied by their overall chemistry together just puts the icing on top of a sweet and delicious cake. Bringing an 80s party showman vibe to a modern day audience and making it work wonders is truly stunning and hopefully Bruno continues to make more music in the years to come and further bring more light into people's lives in an experience such as this.

  For me, if any other artist I like were to come to Singapore, I would try and lower my expectations after this as a man like Bruno Mars can be tough to beat. Going to a concert and being on the same page as others in the crowd is mesmerizing and I hope I never get over it!

  After a post-concert meal, I was introduced to one of the issues which was finding a taxi to get home with as the MRT train system closes near midnight. After trying Grab multiple times to no avail, I eventually got a taxi at around 1 a.m. and the driver and I had a quick and fun discussion about the concert and it being late out.

  All in all, as post-concert blues kicks in for me and does not look to settle, I hope that I go to more concerts and that it will be a more enriching experience than this one, though it’ll be unlikely to reach the high bar Bruno has set.