Hundreds packed into the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday night to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Jason Mraz, who might be the closest thing the music industry has to a leprechaun. Mraz spent the evening talking about his connection with nature and how his guitar sits at the end of a rainbow.
The show opened with L.A.-based quartet Raining Jane, an all-female folk-rock band reminiscent of a Sara Bareilles from the 1970s. The group meshed beautifully; of the four members, three of them sang, and all of them played their instruments with such zeal it felt like the first set of the tour. (In fact, it was closer to their 50th.) They told the audience how they had first met Mraz and how stoked they were to be playing and recording with the musician they considered to be “one of the best songwriters of our time.” That energy and excitement roared through their half-hour set and only intensified when Mraz joined them onstage.
When Mraz stepped up to play along, the audience was blinded not by the beauty of the situation but by the stage lights. Even in the bright light, though, you could see the outline of his trademark hat. Mraz and Raining Jane kicked off their duet with “Love Someone,” a heartfelt track that was made even more so thanks to the harmonies and instrumentation of the three women. The four gathered together beside a single microphone and harmonized through the night in true barbershop-quartet fashion.