Jason Mraz Live In Malaysia 2012 - No More Guessing Games

October 15, 2003. Linkin Park had their first concert in Malaysia at Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur. The crowd consisted of people wearing jeans and t-shirts in varying degree of tatteredness.

The field was packed, from section to section. You could faint and still remain in an upright position, held by the sweaty swaying bodies of the people to your left, your right, your front, your back.

There were crowd control personnel there to "airlift" people who couldn't bear the jostling and pushing and the lack of oxygen. People were spraying water at the crowd, not to disperse them like what has been happening recently in the streets of the city, but to lower the atmospheric temperature in the audience.

This was at the height of Linkin Park's fame.

Fast forward close to a decade later, another concert was held at the same venue.

Jason Mraz's Tour Is A Four Letter Word came to town on Tuesday, bringing with him a group of talented musicians, including an incredibly adorable violinist, and arsenal of radio friendly songs and his amazing wordplay.

Right at the beginning, he got the crowd to their feet. Surprisingly, the fedora worshipping crowd sat back down in their seats after only the second song. Only a handful  of fans (nut jobs?) remained standing.

I consider myself a fan, although I am more inclined towards his earlier work. "The Remedy", "You and I Both" from "Waiting for My Rocket To Come", "I'm Yours" and "Details In The Fabric feat. James Morrison" from "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" were some of my favourite. Except for "Details In The Fabric", the other three songs were part of the night's set list, and garnered the biggest sing-along of the evening.

Well, if you consider humming as singing-along. For every person who is able to keep up with his admittedly wordy songs, there are probably ten others like me who butchers his songs and leave it as a mangled bloody corpse.

Occasionally, you will hear the screams of declaration of love by the ladies (and some men). Some have lungs that I personally believe surpasses even those of Mr. Mraz himself, judging by the ringing in my ears by the end of the night courtesy of a nice lady sitting right behind me.

Speaking of ambushes from behind, remember the people who politely sat down after the second song? One of them must have had their view blocked by my ample butt while I was standing, as I felt pieces of tissue paper raining  on me. A piece of paper even found its way lodged between my gelled up hair.

If Mr. Mraz was having any doubts that he was performing in Kuala Lumpur, one look at the passive ossified crowd would have served as a reminder.

Quirks of the typical Malaysian concert goer:

• We have been conditioned that in whatever situation, whenever a chair presents itself, we will sit down politely, and will only stand when we are asked to.
• We pay two hundred bucks to attend a concert only to be more than willing to view it through the small screens of our smart phones.

His brass section was impressive throughout the night. I wonder though, did they lose a bet that required them to all shave themselves bald, and hand over their hair to Mr. Mraz? He seemed to be having more hair that he can manage, while guys on the saxophone, flute, trumpets have domes as shiny as the instruments they play.

Curtain fell after a perfect delivery of his latest hit, "I Won't Give Up". It was a beautiful epilogue to a beautiful evening.

Lyric of the night, "It's like trying to guess, when the only answer is yes."