Bruno Mars Took Over Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium for a Two Night Stand

Bruno is back on a world tour after 9 years! His last tour in Tampa was the 24K Magic tour in 2017 at the Benchmark International Arena. He played the Ray Jay on both Saturday and Sunday nights to sold-out crowds. Heat & humidity were not a fun part of the shows for both the fans and Bruno and his gang but most everyone powered through with cold drinks and battery operated hand fans which were allowed in the stadium.

Opening the Show

Opening the show was DJ Pee Wee, Anderson.Paak’s alter ego. A fun, high energy opener, the DJ gets the audience in the act with playing tunes from the 60’s through today. He plays Michael Jackson to ABBA tunes, to getting the crowd dancing the Macarena. DJ Pee Wee is creative and a great way to open the show for 30 minutes. Up next is the British singer, RAYE, who has won seven Brit awards, similar to our Grammy award. Raye’s styles are R&B, jazz, rap and dance. She performed a 6-song set including her number one hit “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” Dressed in a black and red sequined evening dress, she was barefoot on stage. A class act for Bruno to add to his tour. Check her out on YouTube.

A Two-Night Tampa Stand

The anticipation is high waiting for Bruno to arrive on the stage. Blaring over Ray Jay’s speakers was B.o.B’s, “Nothin” on You” and Bruno’s hit duet with Rose, “APT”. When the screens finally open, they find Bruno in cowboy hat sitting in a church, praying for a good show for the audience and he walks out to over 60,000 fans screaming to sing the first song from his “The Romantic” album, “Risk It All”, a love song for the ages. Bruno takes us time traveling over the last sixteen years of his career since he hit the scene. Mars the multi-instrumentalist, played drums, guitar and keys. There were seven new songs from “The Romantic” album on the setlist. Of course, the biggest song of the year for Bruno, “I Just Might” had the Tampa crowd dancing out of their seats. During “God Was Showing Off” there is a bit called “Angel Baby Cam” where female audience members show off to Bruno. There was a 70 year-old woman holding a sign saying she was an AARP fan! Hilarious! Bruno held his hand up like he was on the phone and said “I’m gonna call you” A fun moment! The fans were treated to many hits of his beloved catalog. Pyro and fire were sprinkled throughout the show, not just saved for the encore. Hits from 24K Magic like “Perm” were great dance tunes for the fans and “Treasure” from 2012’s “Unorthodox Jukebox”. Out came the red Cadillac on stage to bring us a tribute to old school R&B, with the Hooligans, sitting on the car singing the Chi-Lites, “Oh Girl” and Marvin’s “Let’s Get It On” and Bruno’s hit duet he had with Cardi B, “Please Me.” He performed “That’s What I Like” standing on the car.

Silk Sonic and the Closing Hits

Moving on to mid-show, it is a show within a show with “Silk Sonic” Bruno and Anderson.Paak played six songs from their album of the same name. A totally different vibe, it is a fun jam and great to hear “Leave the Door Open” live. After Silk Sonic, Bruno takes to the piano for some of his earlier songs like “Marry Me”, “Talking to the Moon” and one of my favs, “Grenade” which the entire stadium was singing along! Bruno lets the band shine while doing a costume change with an instrumental version of “Versace on the Floor.” Check out the video for it with Zendaya and Bruno. Closing out the show with three big hits, “Locked Out of Heaven”, “Just the Way You Are” and the 2014 Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks and global hit, the great “Uptown Funk!” Thanks for coming to Tampa, Bruno and Company, hope it’s not so hot for ya next time!

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Vicky Sullivan Photos