Bruno Mars

It’s a dreary Monday night and there’s an invitation to see the freshly painted Green Room backstage at the O2 Academy Brixton  and, oh, a gig by Bruno Mars. Hmm Bruno Mars, you mean the guy that blew the X-Factor results show out of the water with his red-velveted doowop? The biggest selling male artist in the world in 2011, Number One singles in 14 countries, 25 international Number Ones, 31 million singles sold worldwide? Okay, we’ll risk a grenade for this… Review by Alan Greenhalgh

Gaga has her Monsters and Bruno has his Hooligans

A sky high black curtain dropped to reveal ‘Hooligans’ and Bruno Mars dressed in a blazer with Michael Jackson roll up sleeves, black hi tops, baggyish trousers and a mesmerising white Marilyn Monroe Bandana Bandit t-shirt and holding a huge-looking white electric guitar on a simple set with rectangles and cartoony graphics. Where better for him to wear his Brixton Gain fedora than the O2 Academy Brixton?

The night moved fast, hit after hit at some points it felt as if we were seeing the Jackson Five being reborn, or a young Elvis, Little Richard or a Chuck Berry – a heady mix from now all the way back to the 1950s.  Doo-Wops & Hooligans is Mars’ debut album released in October 2010. It’s hard to believe it’s only a year but this overnight sensation has been performing all his life, you know he’ll never live down the 1992 role as the Little Elvis in Honeymoon in Vegas but, all grown up and moving to LA, he was so broke he sold one of his early songs for $20,000 and had to put being an artist on the back burner.  He set himself up as a producer and in walked a none-the-wiser K’Naan and the football world cup winning Wavin’ Flag, then made a break through with Flo-rida’s Right Round and received a blessing from Reggae Royalty Damian Marley.   The band is a family affair with Bruno’s brother on the drums and taking a fair share of deserved limelight, collaborator and friend Philip Lawrence.

Bruno’s not from mars, he’s from heaven

Bruno told the audience he’d grown up seeing stage performers get the girl  – so he scoured the front row and alighted on Kelly, a beautiful young woman, and serenaded her with Just The Way You Are as the back screen projected her blowing him kisses, and he undoubtedly made her night and perhaps her life. He syruped it up some more by telling the crowd if they are with someone special to look in their eyes but if you’re not, then he says ‘I’ll be your special someone’.

Skylar Grey was the support act and pierced the auditorium with the song she co-wrote with Eminem Love The Way You Lie, she joined Bruno on keyboard on stage for Twilight’s It Will Rain –  a ‘prettily forlorn ballad’ the video for which will premiere on MTV in the next couple of weeks and as @brunomars tells us on twitter ‘Be patient for ya boy.. Love Yall’

Back stage was Orlando’s Johnny Magic and X-Factor’s The Risk, Janet Devlin and Sophie Habibis.

Sadly for the Zuton’s it’s Amy Winehouse who now has the call on Valerie and Bruno’s tribute with a background of pop art lips and lashes as encore stole the show and our hearts.

Five doowops out of five.

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Oh yeah, the Green Room, it’s black leather, framed London scenes and drums for stools and the O2 Academy Brixton people are the politest security and door staff we’ve ever found.