The remedy is the experience
Rarely, have I been able to say that a concert's opening act was as good as the headliner. After attending Jason Mraz's acoustic tour last night, for the first time, I have to say that the opening acts outshone the headliner.

I am not a fan of acoustic shows. The others I've been to have been disappointments. I saw Shawn Colvin perform acoustic a couple of years ago and she stumbled and bumbled through her set and told incoherent stories. Ryan Adams' acoustic set completely alienated the audience and he failed to play any of the songs that the fans wanted to hear. And in the same fashion, Jason Mraz was entertaining, but didn't live up to expectation, especially after his two opening acts blew the audience away.

The first artist, Hawaiian singer/songwriter Makana, did things with a guitar I didn't know were possible. He infused traditional Hawaiian sound (including the "slack key" form of guitar tuning) with modern folk elements, resulting in a mesmerizing performance. I'll forgive Hawaii for Jasmine Trias now.

Makana brought out Jason and the second opening act, Raul Midon, for his final song. The show transitioned effortlessly between Makana and Midon's sets. Midon, who just happens to be blind, turned his guitar into an entire band, by simulating percussion and even performing a horn solo with his mouth. He had a funky, soulful sound that I would put somewhere on the map between Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz and Bob Marley.

After having seen two incredible talents, I figured Jason would just rock the house. He didn't disappoint the crowd, who would have screamed uncontrollably regardless of whether or not any actual music was played, but he didn't wow. He played a succession of favorites, like "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)", "I'll Do Anything" and "You and I Both," and told some pretty amusing stories about roller rinks and Scary Spice which I only half heard, and also did a cover of "The Rainbow Connection," but then wasted time by trying to get the audience to do a call-and-answer style skat song. I would have rather heard a few more of his tunes than had to hear the audience try to sing "skiddly a ba bap bu bap", but maybe that's just me.