Bruno Mars didn’t need the souped-up disco and light show.
Didn’t need the frequent pyrotechnics accompanied by eardrum-splitting booms.
Didn’t need those overhanging, ever-shifting boxes of stage lights, the frenetic display of lasers. Didn’t need the upward-shooting fireballs whose heat could be felt halfway back from the stage.
Bruno Mars and his literal band of Hooligans could have done their thing on a bare simply-lighted stage and the screams of adoration would have been just as deafening. But they brought it — "it" being a lot of sound and fury, signifying something — Sunday at Verizon Arena.
The performance before a sold-out crowd of 15,806 fell short of two hours but was action-packed. Wearing a red “Hooligans” baseball jersey (which he exchanged later for a white one), black shorts, baseball cap and sneakers, Mars and the boys hit the ground running with “24K Magic,” a song that also kicked off the booming pyrotechnics,” then slid into “Treasure,” during which they showed their impressive skills at synchronized footwork with dancing while instrument-wielding and, at one point, even sit-down-and scoot dancing. Mars, who was a child Elvis impersonator, delivered his share of hip swivels and pelvic thrusts.
Standing throughout nearly all the performance, the crowd lost its collective mind on every song presented including “Chunky,” “That’s What I Like," “Straight Up and Down,” and “Versace on the Floor.” While the band took a break, Mars belted out the forlorn “When I was Your Man” with piano accompaniment and with the sing-along audience as backup. After a solo by the keyboardist, it was back to the special effects with “Gorilla.” Mars topped of his performance with the anthem-like with “Just the Way You Are."
Beforehand, Jorja Smith got the restless crowd warmed up with a fast-paced but laid-back performance, delivering “Something in the Way,” “Where Did I Go?” “Teenage Fantasy” and “Beautiful Little Fools" with her husky, lilting voice reminiscent of Erykah Badu.
The audience, as expected, was a people-watcher’s fantasy, many wearing the black-and-gold, Greek-key-trimmed kimonos with “XXIV” on the backs. One couple wore “freako” and “freaka” T-shirts as a nod to lyrics in “That’s What I Like.” A group of women wore black-and-gray Hooligans baseball jerseys.