The Moonshine Jungle Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. The tour supported his second studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox (2012), from June 2013 to October 2014. After an official announcement on February 10, 2013, which coincided with Mars's performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, a promotional trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of the tour were released through Mars's official YouTube channel and website. Mars and his team selected Ellie Goulding and Fitz and the Tantrums as the opening acts for the first North American leg, while music video director Cameron Duddy was signed as creative director for the tour in North America. In Europe and Oceania, Mayer Hawthorne and Miguel, respectively, were selected to open the shows.
In 2014, Mars announced an Asian leg and a second leg in North America, which featured Pharrell Williams and Aloe Blacc as the supporting acts. However, due to schedule conflicts, Williams was replaced by Nico & Vinz. Mars's well received performance at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show led to a frenzy in ticket scalping in several states, especially Hawaii. As a consequence, The "Bruno Mars Act" was passed by the State Senate of Hawaii to limit all ticket purchases within 48 hours of the on-sale to the physical box office, but the bill died at the conference committee. The show's set list consisted of songs from Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) and Unorthodox Jukebox and some covers; the songs were performed by Mars, who was backed by an eight-piece band, The Hooligans. The show ended with Mars performing "Locked out of Heaven" and "Gorilla" in an encore.
The Moonshine Jungle Tour received a positive reception from music critics, who praised not only Mars energetic and "genre-jumping" performances, but also his abilities on the drums and guitar solos, as well as the special effects. Others criticized the "long breakdowns and interludes," labeling them as unnecessary. As soon as the tour was announced, tickets were sold everywhere without pre-sale. After its end, the Moonshine Jungle Tour was reported to have grossed over $156.4 million, with Billboard Boxscore reporting a gross of $136 million. The tour was nominated for three Pollstar Awards.
Background
The Moonshine Jungle Tour was announced on February 10, 2013, after Bruno Mars performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, by William Morris Endeavor (WME). Instead of announcing everything and starting sales later in the same week, WME decided to reveal the shows in an unconventional way. Consequently, two days after the Grammy performance, the cities were unveiled. A few days later the dates and venues were announced. Finally, the tickets were made available two and a half weeks after the cities were disclosed. A promotional trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of the tour were released on Mars's YouTube channel and website to further promote the tour.
WME decided to price each market differently, with a total of four different price points. In most markets each ticket would cost US$62, while in bigger cities the tickets were between $130 and $140. However, in minor cities the tickets were cheaper and similarly priced. One aspect that received attention was the decision to sell the front seats prior to the back ones. If that did not occur, it would mean that the front seats were too expensive, but the tour did not suffer from this problem. Unlike the prior tour, where Mars performed in theaters and ballrooms, in January 2012 it was determines that the concerts would be in arenas. This decision was based upon his successful debut tour, not only based on the amount of sold-out concerts, but also due to his "dynamic performances." John Marx, an associate and personal manager at the music division of WME, explained, regarding the previous decision, that "analytics only give you so much...it has to do with what's in your gut and what you think." Since the beginning there were plans to schedule dates in the United Kingdom and Europe, a leg of the tour that took around two months to be completed. Concerts were also scheduled in Australia and New Zealand for early 2014, as well as at 40 stages in North America. In the end, more seats were added to venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. It was Mars's first world tour to not reach South America.
The tour was first scheduled to begin in February, having been booked a year in advance. Nevertheless, not only was the album Unorthodox Jukebox released later than expected, but many tours were already scheduled in the first quarter of the year. This led to the tour being delayed until the summer in North America. According to Marx, this and the previously mentioned unusual announcements contributed to the success of the tour. Notwithstanding, Marx has run successful tours with several artists during the first quarter of the year.
Development
After the tour was confirmed, Mars and his band started preparing for it. His manager at the time, Brandon Creed, said that Mars was more focused and excited than nervous. He furthered that the singer spent most of his time rehearsing, preparing, directing, and choreographing everything. Commenting on the development, Creed said, "We're going into rehearsals now, so I don't have much to share, but it's going to be ... incredible ... it's hectic, but it's amazing ... It's a thrill to work with an artist so talented." After evaluating the American Express and Citibank suggestions regarding a presale, WME decided not to pursue the idea with the agreement of Mars's management, a decision which ending up further promoting the tour. The idea was received with some skepticism within the team; some believed it was a good idea but most were reluctant and thought it was an awful idea, as buyers find presale a crucial element of tours. Cameron Duddy was the music director for the first leg of the North American tour.
Ellie Goulding and Fitz and the Tantrums were signed as the opening act for the first leg of tour in North American. Marx recollected that the team approached several agencies and asked for suggestions. In the end, Mars decided to pick Goulding, who was seen as someone who could assure sales. Marx was pleased with the tour development since everyone's efforts, from The Smeezingtons to the label Atlantic Records, benefited it. Despite having booked tours for acts such as Lady Gaga, Peter Gabriel, and Justin Timberlake, Marx said that booking this tour was among the most exhilarating experiences during his 37-year career. He added that the setup was "unique and special". The stage configuration would vary according to the sales, having three different configurations available before selling seats in over 180-degrees arcs from the stage. Nevertheless, due to the success, the expectation was to go "into 240-degrees" and further; they ended up by opening and selling 270-degrees arcs from the stage and consequently breaking records in several venues, but they did everything to assure that all seats were suitable to experience the show in the best way possible.
Rehearsals Mars and The Hooligans rehearsed for the tour in a Hollywood rehearsal studio. During an interview with Rolling Stone, the author, Brian Hiatt got a glimpse of most of the set for the tour. He watched Mars croon with his tenor voice during the act "Don't it feel good, baby". Afterwards, the singer tried to get the nonexistent crowd, excited "Does it feel good on the left side? What about the right side now?" During this rehearse Mars tried to make the track "Show Me" "move seamlessly" into "Our First Time". He was not satisfied with the band's choreography, as it looked to rehearsed and is not supposed to look that way.
At this point, Mars leaves the stage and tells The Hooligans to perform the moves as he watches from in front. He points out that the guitarist, Phred, is not doing the dance moves correctly. Mars decides not to include the choreography, due to the amount of time they are spending on it. Later, he tells the band to leave, joking "We'll change everything on Monday." Mars is aware of his yelling during rehearsals, stating "I always tell everybody that we finally get to enjoy all the hard work that we've done when we play and when we sing."
Light and sound Lighting director Dave Marcucci and lighting designer Cory FitzGerald assembled a system capable of producing the aesthetic of the show. Of particular note, FitzGerald created a backdrop wall, which could be programmed to show animations and video. The fixtures were all controlled by a large scale computerized lighting console system.
Mars and his bandmates used Sennheiser microphones and wireless receivers. Mars's monitor engineer James Berry was the influence behind selecting Sennheiser over other industry standards such as Shure after finding Sennheiser's sonic character paired well with Mars's voice. Front of House engineer Derek Brenner tested several capsules and transmitter combinations.
Brenner utilized three compressors giving Mars's vocals an appropriate tonality and level consistency, he also provided a smooth and reliable reverb on them. He used compressors for kicks, snares, toms, keyboard, and drums, making them enhance their own sound, and amplified the guitar and horns audio. Brener had some onboard reverbs for snares, acoustic guitar, and horns to use in outdoor spaces. Berry used a DiGiCo SD7 mixing console for most of Mars's vocals, outputs, delay, "vocal rack" and loops. Moreover, he controlled the outputs and vocals from the loop.
Concert synopsis Shows during the first leg of North America opened either with Goulding or Fitz and the Tantrums performing their songs. The shows in Europe had Mayer Hawthorne as the opening act for Mars, while in Australia Miguel commenced the show. In January 2014, a second leg in North America was announced with Pharrell Williams or Aloe Blacc as the supporting acts. However, Williams left the tour due to scheduling conflicts after only opening two nights for Mars at the Madison Square Garden. He was replaced by Nico & Vinz. Fitz and the Tantrums and Williams were considered to be worthy performers. However, Miguel was only considered a satisfactory opening act. As they finished their performance, a giant black curtain with drawings of gold palm trees was placed in front of the stage. A voice-over pronounced, "Welcome to the Moonshine Jungle" and suddenly the drape vanished. The band – consisting of Phredley Brown (guitar); Jamareo Artis (bass); Eric Hernandez (drums); Kameron Whalum, Dwayne Dugger and James King (horns); Phillip Lawrence (backup vocals); John Fossit (keyboards) – and Mars came into focus, wearing matching red blazers, shirts with a cheetah, and gold chains. As soon as Mars reached the microphone the music started.
"Moonshine" opened the set with Mars and The Hooligans "executing a series of slick synchronized steps." During the performance of the first segment and its follow up, "Natalie," a "hyperkinetically catchy" "booty-shaker," a giant screen behind Mars displayed flashed images and sounds of wild animals, such as panthers, gorillas, and parrots who flapped their wings in slow motion. Taking a moment to invite the audience to dance and sing along with him to the Motown and soul-funk "Treasure," a giant disco ball descended from the roof reflecting dozens of bright gold lights and multi-colored laser lights flashed. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the music. The show also included several covers of songs by other artists mashed up with Mars's tracks. A cover of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" was mashed up with "Billionaire" and Aloe Blacc's "I Need a Dollar" as Mars and his band gyrated with the fans. Afterwards, the stage would be colored with red, yellow, and green lights during the "reggae jam" performance of "Show Me."