Music news: Bruno Mars’ Romantic tour stop in London comes to an end

Bruno Mars just completed a 10-day residency at Wembley Stadium, with six dates ranging from July 18-28.

This marks the end of the European leg, which began in France and toured in other large cities such as Madrid, Spain and Berlin, Germany, writes Music News Blitz's Brianna Ngambi.

Initially, when tickets were first made available, they broke the record for the most tickets sold on a single day across North America and Europe, on Ticketmaster at 2.1 million sold.

Even this wasn't enough, as Mars and his team went on to add over 30 extra dates to meet the large demand for tickets. 

This resulted in multiple dates at Wembley Stadium, with each day being sold out. 

Opening acts

For this all-stadium tour, Bruno Mars had many opening acts, split over the legs. 

This included Anderson Paak (using the pseudonym DJ Pee Wee), Leon Thomas, Victoria Monet and Raye, all RnB artists that have grown in popularity within this decade. 

This tour gives these acts the opportunity to present their talent to a larger audience, which I can only hope will bring them more recognition for the music that they clearly work hard on. 

In the European leg, Mars’ openers were DJ Pee Wee, who acted as a hypeman and warmed the crowd up, getting them ready for the night, and Victoria Monet, who showcased her singing and dancing ability to the large audience, highlighting why she was a perfect pick for this tour.

As an opening act, the chance to grow your fanbase is high, and Monet, who performed a range of RnB ballads and House-infused pop hits, gave this ready-made audience a chance to consider becoming a new listener.

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Silk Sonic

Anderson Paak goes on to feature again on the stage but within the duo, Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars.

They go on to sing multiple songs on their album, An Evening at Silk Sonic, including the hit songs, “Smoking Out the Window” and ‘Leave the Door Open.’ 

This section of the show acts as a reminder of Mars and Paak’s love for the 70s, as the soul and funk influence is clear in the tracks and in the outfits they choose to wear, which draw inspiration from the musical influences that are present on their album. 

Bruno Mars, the hitmaker

With 10 number-one singles and 17 songs with over 1 billion streams on Spotify, Mars had a setlist packed to the brim with songs that would have the 90,000 people in Wembley Stadium screaming.

His hits, which range over two decades, created an audience of all ages. This is what made Mars so special, in that he brought people of any age to this concert and made the atmosphere comfortable for all.

As someone who went to the tour, there was a section after the opening acts where the audience was encouraged to post a ‘romantic dedication.’

And while many in the audience were young children going to their first concert, there were also older individuals celebrating their anniversaries or birthdays and so on.

This was lovely to see, and it felt like the crowd, despite being huge, was its own community.

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My favourite aspects

What I enjoyed the most about the concert was Mars’ clear adoration for music.

It did not feel like a playlist. Rather, he would change the instrumentals with the Hooligans, his band, adding different layers to each song. 

Mars would also perform multiple key changes and extra riffs and runs, which would make the song feel different but in a pleasant way.

On top of the singing, he was dancing for the majority of the show with the Hooligans. 

This concert affirmed that Mars is worthy of all the popularity he has, as he truly loves the art he makes, which inspires and makes you want to support it even more. 

My favourite songs he performed were “Locked Out of Heaven” - which had the perfect section for a concert drum breakdown, and it is overall a very enjoyable song to scream at the top of your lungs in a stadium - and “Marry You.”

This rendition of “Marry You” had a different instrumental that had Latin influence, making it fresh and fun, while white confetti exploded everywhere, for a very memorable experience. 

This concert has positioned Mars as one of my favourite performers, and I know he will continue to keep the energy that we received in Wembley to the end of the tour in Tokyo, Japan, in 2027.

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