Bruno Mars’ The Romantic Tour Review: A Masterclass In Live Performance

When Bruno Mars announced The Romantic Tour, I honestly was not sure what to expect.

His last solo tour ended years ago and while his residency in Las Vegas kept him busy, this felt like the first real chance for fans to see him on a massive scale again. And judging by the crowds, people were ready to jump at the chance to see him live.

There are very few artists I would happily buy a plane ticket to another continent just to see live. Bruno Mars turns out to be one of them.

Every Toronto date sold out and after spending two hours inside Rogers Stadium with 50,000 other people, it is not hard to see why.

The first surprise of the night actually arrived before Bruno even stepped on stage.

Anderson .Paak, performing as DJ Pee .Wee, opened the show and was far better than most opening acts have any right to be. Taking to the stage about an hour before Bruno would, he was great in hyping up the crowd.

Not everyone was seated yet but he still managed to keep the stadium engaged before the main event had even started, mixing crowd interaction, humour and live performances that were honestly way more entertaining than expected. Performing familiar classic songs that weren’t even his own to get the crowd active, it felt almost like a mini concert than a warm-up act.

@yomrants someone take that button away from him😭 #andersonpaak #theromantictour #brunomars #concert #yomrants ♬ original sound – myah elliott

It also helped that he would later reappear throughout the night during the Silk Sonic section of the show. And once Bruno arrived, the energy never really dropped.

The thing that struck me most was how ridiculously good Mars sounds live. Plenty of artists can sing. Plenty of artists can dance. Very few can do both at the same time without sounding exhausted halfway through. Bruno somehow spent the best part of two hours running across the stage, dancing constantly and hitting every note without missing a beat.

Honestly, if anything, he sounded better than the recordings. Songs like 24K Magic, Treasure, Perm and That’s What I Like got exactly the reaction you would expect, but what surprised me most was how well the newer material worked.

@braeden.obrien Send this to who you’re seeing Bruno Mars with!🌹🎶 #brunomars #theromantictour #setlist #toronto #concert ♬ original sound – Braeden O’Brien

I’ll admit that The Romantic album itself didn’t completely win me over and didn’t have the same gravitas and originality compared to his previous albums, it felt a little quieter and did not have as many obvious hits. But live was a completely different story.

Tracks like On My Soul, Risk It All and Why You Wanna Fight sounded incredible in the stadium and ended up becoming some of the standout moments of the night. There is something about hearing Bruno sing those songs in person that completely changes them.

Of course, the classics still stole the biggest reactions. Locked Out Of Heaven probably got the loudest response of the entire night. And after briefly stepping back for a saxophone instrumental performance version of Versace On The Floor, Bruno launched straight into it and the entire stadium came back to life.

 

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Then came Uptown Funk, which still felt as fresh and fun as it did when it first came out over a decade ago.

If I had to pick my favourite moment though, it would probably be Marry You. Not because it was the loudest song or the biggest production number, but because it felt like the happiest moment of the entire concert. Everyone knew the words. Everyone was singing. For three minutes, 50,000 strangers felt like they were all at the same party.

The Silk Sonic section was another highlight. Fly As Me, Leave The Door Open and Smokin Out The Window were all incredible live, with Anderson .Paak and Bruno bouncing off each other so naturally you almost forget how talented both of them actually are.

The production itself was huge without ever feeling over the top. There were fireworks, confetti, giant screens, multiple outfit changes and enough crowd interaction to keep things moving. Even before Bruno came on, fans could scan a QR code, upload a photo and caption, and have it appear on the jumbotron.

@shaishai15_ thank you bruno mars!!!! 🤩⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #fyp #brunomars #theromantictour #dmv #northweststadium ♬ original sound – kevo

It sounds simple, but it genuinely kept everyone entertained, especially when one group captioned their photo, “closer to Pluto than Mars”, while another said, “Bruno, let’s hit up the casino after the show.”

If I had one complaint, it is probably that there were a few fan favourites missing from the setlist. Songs like Grenade or The Lazy Song are probably two of his biggest songs that weren’t preformed, but I also understand that playing the same song consistently in almost every concert you do would probably feel very repetitive for the artists.

Other than that, a bit of crowd work would have been nice. Bruno is so naturally charismatic that he could easily have talked for another ten minutes, and nobody would have complained.

But honestly, that feels like nitpicking. By the end of the show, everyone was exhausted, sweaty and trying to navigate the absolute chaos of 50,000 people leaving a stadium at the same time. Nobody seemed to mind.

Bruno Mars has always been a great performer, but The Romantic Tour proves he might actually be one of the last true pop showmen. And after seeing him live, it is very difficult to argue otherwise.

Words by Andrew Connolly