Hooligans in Wondaland Tour

On February 15, 2011, after Bruno Mars and Janelle Monáe performed at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, a joint co-headlining tour between the two was announced, title "Hooligans in Wondaland". The concert tour was performed in North America in May and June 2011.[1][2] Pre-sale tickets were made available two days after the annoucement of the tour. There were available various purchase options, such as bundles with a meet-and-greet with one of the artists, a signed poster, a digital EP and a commemorative laminate. On February 26 the tickets were made available to the general public.[3] A promotional trailer was released through Mars' official YouTube channel, as well as a decicated website to further promote the tour.[4]

The tour was named "Hooligans in Wondaland Tour", after Mars' album Doo-Wops & Hooligans and Monáe's Atlanta crew, Wondaland Arts Society, and a track included on her album, The ArchAndroid.[5] The promotional poster was inspired by the "James Brown-era all-star shows at the Apollo Theater".[6] In 2011, Mars rejected several requests to open shows for other artists and instead decided to do a co-headline tour with Monáe. The show was produced by AEG.[7] This strategy meant lower earnings in the short term but allowed Mars to build a fan base by performing shows at smaller, more intimate venues.[8] After their first show of the tour, Mars confessed he was nervous regarding the "production values" of the lights and other equipment.[9]

The concerts were supported by Mayer Hawthorne & The County, American musician Patrick Stump and English rapper Plan B.[3][11] The former act used his opening spot to play a range of his setlist, including some of his famous covers.[12] During the tour, Monáe performed the concerts in a "The Cotton Club" set, along with her 13-piece ArchOrchestra.[13][14] She was dressed with a white shirt, black tie and tuxedo pants, with a cloack covering it, and a arranged hair in a pompadour. The ArchOrchestra, which included three violinists, a cellist, and two horn players, wore a white and black 60's modernism.[15][14][16] Mars, who used a Gibson guitar during the concerts, performed with his band, The Hooligans.[12][upper-alpha 1][17] During the tour, Mars usually wore a fedora hat, with a "plaid flannel-turned-vest" or a sleeveless denim jacket on top of a teeshirt—sometimes with a Harley-Davidson design—and black jeans.[18][15][13] The stage had square screens projecting images, lights, flashing graphic colors and video.[18][15][12] Mars' set during was around 60 minutes.[18]

The show started with an MC "in a top hat and coattails" greeting us to the concert and waving at her to the stage.[12] Monáe was brought to stage by several dancers wearing " heavy-hooded black cloaks".[13][14][12] Eventually, these cloacks were removed and the figures were seen wearing "skintight bodysuits with glittering cuffs." At the same time, the ArchOrchestra would play "space-funk" as a "James Bond and Fantasia" fusion appeared on the screens.[12] Once on stage, she tore apart her cloack to reveal her tuxedo pants, tie, and jeweled bow and started to performed "Dance or Die" and "Faster". Monáe alternated between rapping and gospel chanting with the aforementioned songs.[14][12] She also sung the "double whammy" "Locked Inside".[19] Monáe created a "theatrical flair" where she had to fend "off dancers wearing masks".[13] Then, she put sun-glasses on, and not only sung the "south bass and Greek chorus" of "Sincerely, Jane", but also covered Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", while moonwalking.[12][14][19]

It was followed by her turning her back to the audience and painting on a canvas the word "love" in yellow letters and a "naked female form", as she sang "Mushrooms & Roses".[13][20] Monáe dedicated the performance to the "freedom to love."[13][16] With dim lights, she, only accompanied by a guitarist, did a rendition of Charlie Chaplin's ballad "Smile".[15][14][19] Afterwards she started a "pouding", "toe-tapping" performance of "Cold War" and proceeded by asking her band to "put some voodoo on it" and sang the "funk jam", "Tightrope".[15][16][12] She closed her set with a "gospel rock" version of "Come Alive (The War of the Roses)", before diving into the crowd, getting a "piggy-back ride" through the fans or taking a "victory lap".[15][12][19] Both songs were sung in a "crescendo".[20] As Monáe talked and wailed, her hair released itself from her "pompadour." She climaxed with the band leaning onstage.[14]

As Mars entered the stage a spotlight draw attention to him and the word "hooligan" flicker on the center of the stage. Before he started the show, he asked the crowd to put their phones down and have some "fun" with them.[12] He began by performaning the "feel-good" theme "Top of The World", inspired by Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[12][14] The third song on the setlist was a rock cover of "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong. This served as an interlude before the reggae influences on Travie McCoy and Mars' "Billionaire" a song that the crowd was noted to join in with at many performances.[15][13][14] Mars performed "Our First Time", the next number on the setlist, in a sensual way with reggae vibes.[15][14] It was followed by the uptempo "Runaway Baby", filled with "retro rock 'n' roll".[14][16] Before Mars sung a doo-wop harmony with three members of his band, he told the audience "This is the kind of music I love".[15][13] Then, he sang the anthemic, romantic and the Beach Boys influenced "Marry You".[15][19]

It was followed by "The Lazy Song", one of the highlights of the tour.[15] The singer's latter performance contained a comedic moment in which his backup singer, Lawrence, shouted, "Oh my God, that feels great!" and the band stopped to "goof". It also included a repetiont of the verse "have some nice sex".[13][16] "Count on Me", an "ode to buddy-dom", was another singalong in which Mars played on a ukulele.[18][14] "Liquor Store Blues" was included in the set.[18][14] Mars would serenate the chorus of "Nothin' on You" to girl he chose from the audience.[18][20] He returned to the stage and crooned "Grenade", as a powerful rock song, inspired by the Cure's "Just Like Heaven".[13][14][19] The show closer, "Just the Way You Are", was performed with a different melody, and Mars asked the "men in the audience to give their ladies attention", sometimes choosing a girl from the croud and singing to her.[18][14][21] In some concerts, the encore was "Somewhere in Brooklyn", which had the word "Brooklyn" replaced for the city he was in, along with "Talking to the Moon".[19][20][21]

The Hooligans in Wondaland concerts received positive reviews from most critics. Chris Gray writing for Houston Press praised Mars and Monnáe performances, saying the show was "assembled so perfectly, delivered so charismatically and received so warmly". Gray concluded, "finding fault...would be like throwing rocks at the Easter Bunny."[14] Jordan Levin from Miami Herald complimented the show, saying Mars and Monáe are "moving musical formulas forward, not with technology and spectacle, but with invention and talent."[15] Robert Ham of The Oregonian said Mars had the spectators' attention throughout the concert and that he sang every note himself; Ham also applauded Mars' guitar skills and dubbed Monáe's performance as "exhilarating".[13] LA Weekly's Lainna Fader lauded the performances. She commented "With the addition of Mayer Hawthorne, you've got three of the truest purveyors of perfect pop music on stage together."[12] Angel Cheung and Alexis Greskiw from The Vancouver Observer lauded the show, "Monae and Mars were the perfect combination, filled with vivacity and soul".[20] Shawn White writing for Westword commented that the tour "might look like a strange bill", however "all three featured acts are purveyors of perfect pop music."[19] Seattle Gay News's Shaun Knittel commend the live show, affirming "Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae are as good as critics say they are."[21]

In a mixed review, Emily Barker of The Globe and Mail condemn Mars set as "obvious and pedestrian; so cynical and exploitative", but praised Monáe's performance as "she proved herself miraculous, an unabashedly theatrical musical polyglot".[16] The Hollywood Reporter' s Lauren Schutte criticized the high cost of the ticket due to the "short running time", but noticed that everyone "looked more than satisfied."[18]

NME's Emily Barker complied a list of the 25 best co-headlined shows, ranking Hooligans in Wondaland Tour at number 20. Barker said the show "took its cues from the old-school."[6]

Bruno Mars Janelle Monáe's set lists for the May 18, 2011, show, respectively.[14]

Notes

• Set lists may vary according to dates, locations or artist preference.[12][18][14]
• Monáe usually opened with the instrumental of "Suite II Overture".[12][19]
• Monáe's band played a portion of "America the Beautiful", on May 29, 2011, in Broomfield.[19]
• Monáe performed "Say You'll Go", on May 29, 2011, in Broomfield.[19]
• Mars and his band performed a cover of The Cleftones's "You Belong to Me", on June 14, 2011, in Los Angeles.[18]
• Mars sung a portion of "Somewhere in Brooklyn" along with "Talking To The Moon" as an encore in some shows.[18][20][21]

Credits adapted from several sources:[10][31][32]