Terri Dunbar-Curran
FANS of multi-Grammy Award-winning singer Jason Mraz can be guaranteed a one-of-a-kind performance at GrandWest’s Grand Arena on March 1 at 8pm.
Mraz will play an acoustic set together with Los Angeles-based eclectic rock-folk band Raining Jane. Together they released the album Yes! last year. “We’re on the road currently, busy with bringing the new album to life,” says Mraz. “Every day we work diligently to create a new set list. We try to make each show different to the last.”
He says that he’s looking forward to performing with Raining Jane in Cape Town. “They are four amazing women. We’ll play a lot of songs off the new album, and also from my old catalogue.”
While being on tour sees him perform in large venues for huge crowds, Mraz is still connected to his San Diego coffee house origins and makes a point of lining up gigs in smaller venues as well. And even with shows on the scale of this upcoming GrandWest performance, he aims to make it more than just another big concert. “This show has been a bit of a conversation,” he says. “I do my best to set up the purpose behind the songs – it enhances them. I look at why the themes are still important and relevant today.”
He says that fans can definitely expect a good dose of banter between him and Raining Jane’s Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter and Mona Tavakoli.
“I met them in 2006 when we were both billed at a festival. I loved what they did and I immediately approached them to ask if they’d like to collaborate,” he says. “We got together to write a few songs – but we never intended to write an album.”
Mraz enjoys working with a variety of new and established artists, and he discovered a particular connection with Raining Jane. “It was something that was so special in my life, and I realised it should be shared,” he says. “The music I was making at home and in my personal life was with Raining Jane. It was a real joy, one I needed to share with the world.” And so the seeds for Yes!, his fifth studio album, were planted. Mraz’s previous albums include Waiting for My Rocket to Come(2002), Mr A-Z(2005), We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things(2008), and Love is a Four Letter Word(2012).
He’s only ever visited South Africa as a tourist and so is eager to come here to share his music this time around. After his Cape Town performance Mraz will head back to the US for a few dates and then venture across to Asia.
With such a busy schedule when he returns home after a tour it’s vital to “clear the slate” and find a change of pace. “I’ll work in the garden and take classes in urban farming and yoga. I’ll write songs and experiment with new sounds and technologies,” he says. “And there will always be good coffee shop gigs.”
l Tickets: R375 – R650, 0861 915 8000.