Jason Mraz will be performing in Medicine Hat on July 19.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Two-time Grammy Award winner Jason Mraz is excited to perform in Medicine Hat for the first time this summer, as part of his Lalalalivesongs North American tour.
“I’ve never been to Medicine Hat and I’m so excited to be even just crossing Canada through Alberta,” Mraz told the News. “It’s an enormous honour and privilege to be able to travel anywhere and play music, so doing this cross-Canadian trip is, in a way, a dream come true.”
Mraz begins his tour on July 2 in San Diego. It will travel through several U.S. states as well as British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, stopping in Medicine Hat on July 19.
Lalalalivesongs, which will take place at the Esplanade, will feature songs off Mraz’s most recent album Lalalalovesongs.
“We decided to celebrate the fact that this album came out and called the tour Lalalivesongs,” Mraz said. “It’ll definitely feature the songs from the greatest hits, as well as the beautiful harmonies and the uniqueness of my backing band Raining Jane. We’ll be out on the road together in Medicine Hat performing not only Lalalivesongs, but songs that we are currently writing and recording for our next album.”
Love is the prevailing theme of the album and will be front and centre in the tour set, as Mraz performs songs such as ‘Lucky,’ ‘Have It All,’ ‘You and I Both,’ ‘A Beautiful Mess,’ and, his most famous title, ‘I’m Yours,’ a love song which was the most-streamed song of the 2000s decade.
“When I write songs, they’re usually coming from my own experience and my own version of falling in love. And so, if someone in the audience has that same connection, I feel like I’m really doing my job,” Mraz said while discussing the importance his love songs hold to some couples. “There’s billions of songs out there and you can choose any song to fall in love to … if two people are falling in love together over my music, I would say that, for me, is a really high honour.”
Along with spreading love, Mraz hopes the audience will leave inspired.
“I love to leave people with the feeling of like, go for it, go live your dream because I’m up here on stage, just a regular guy from a small town who decided to pursue a dream, and it just opened up a lot of doors,” he said. “I feel like that’s what dream-pursuing does for humans, it continues to open doors and gates and lead us into these magical adventurous lives potentially. We try to share that from stage.”
Mraz will be joined by the four-woman rock-folk group Raining Jane.
“They are four incredible artists who have been a band since the 90s,” he said. “I met them in early 2000 and we began collaborating on songs and eventually on recording. They are all songwriters, singers, multi-instrumentalists and it really creates for a fun collaboration between the five of us … They’re also just phenomenally great people. They’re the founders of the Rock and Roll camp for girls in Los Angeles. So they actually have a mission behind their music, which is to continue to empower young girls on their journey through life, through the medium of music.”
Mraz hopes the audience will enjoy the entire Lalalalivesongs experience and get lost in the fun of the evening.
Tickets for the event are on sale now tixx.ca.
