Jason Mraz casually strolled on stage in John R. Emens Auditorium sporting a trucker hat and tucked-in collared shirt, eating a piece of bread slathered in peanut butter.
“I wanted to personally say hello to every one of you,” Mraz said.
Mraz began pointing to individuals in the crowd and saying “hello” and shook the hands of eager crowd members in the pit.
The stage was plainly decorated and glowing in blue light with four white drapes stretching from the ceiling to the floor against a dark curtain.
“I’m incredibly nervous … ” Mraz said. “Probably because I haven’t done a show with my shirt tucked in, ever.”
Mraz said one month ago he asked his manager to cancel the show, because he felt it was not prepared.
However, his manager said there was no way he could cancel because “tickets were already on sale in Muncie, Ind.”
The crowd erupted in applause in response.
“I’m very grateful to be here in Muncie, Ind,” Mraz said.
Mraz didn’t start the show with a fancy light show or suspenseful entrance. He personally introduced his opening band Raining Jane.
“I’m about to folk-rock your face off,” Raining Jane percussionist Mona said to the crowd as she began playing.
The four-person, all-female band preceded Mraz’s well-known opening song, “You and I.”
While the show featured Mraz solo on a few acoustic songs, the majority of the concert was collaboration between Raining Jane and Mraz.
Raining Jane gave Mraz classic “Lucky” a fresh take, by shortening notes to staccato and adding more female vocals.
“It was really cool to see him incorporate a different style of music [into his own] by playing with Raining Jane,” junior Riley Watts said.
Raining Jane and Mraz have been collaborating for six years, since Mraz asked the band members to be in his band after watching them play a college show.
The band members joked on stage, fake crying when sharing their disbelief that Mraz really intended to collaborate with him when he first saw their show.
Since then, the five have gotten together “One weekend a year, with our minds clear, to write tunes,” Mraz said, improvising in rhythm with a bass beat.
Mraz said the group had “no agenda” until last October when they decided to join forces.
Mraz said the audience in Emens a “test audience.”
The concert marked the first real show the group had ever played together, with the exception of a small show performed at Mraz’s house.
Mraz and Raining Jane ended the show in an encore, performing radio hit “I’m Yours.”
After Ball State, Mraz will be heading out to Virginia and then to South America. His tour will take him to Brazil, Colombia and across the U.S. through December.
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