I never thought I'd see the day that Mason Jennings would open for one of my favorite musicians instead of the opposite. But that day came. On April 4th, 2003, Mason Jennings and Jason Mraz played to a slightly less than capacity crowd at the historical Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin. It was amusing to think that Mraz and Jennings were playing in the same venue that drew a large, strange crowd to its weekly midnight showings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Though the Orpheum is a very beautiful venue, it does not make a good place to hold concerts. From the floor, the stage was six or seven feet up and those seated on the lower level were heard to complain of neck aches. The balcony was a much better place to sit, but only if you were seated in the first two rows. Otherwise, you were unable to see anything toward the front of the stage.

Despite a surprising (and very unwelcome) ice and snow storm, a large and diverse crowd of people between the ages of fourteen and fifty-two managed to find their way to the State Street theatre. A majority of the crowd was there to see Jennings and left as soon as he was finished, but that only allowed for a better appreciation (and view) of Mraz.

At around 8:30 pm, a man carrying a guitar walked on stage. He said his name was Peter Stuart and that he was going to play a few songs for us. Stuart sounded much like your average solo acoustic guitar player, but he soon proved critical thoughts wrong. The highlight of his half hour set was "Seven Wonders," a song that he had written over the past few days on the road. During the chorus, he made clever plays on words to attempt to count to the number 8. As the song title implies, he didn't. Between songs, and even during, he made cracks about Creed, Shakira, Ashanti, and meeting God on the subway in New York City.

A little after 9:30 pm, Mason Jennings and his band (Chris Morrissey on bass and Brian McCloud on drums) walked on-stage and began to play. With a voice similar to that of Bob Dylan, Jennings was very unimpressive. Some audience members found themselves nodding their heads to the beat every so often (or maybe that was just a desperate attempt to stay awake), however the men goofing around backstage and Morrissey's orange sweater proved more entertaining than Jennings himself. Many of Jennings' songs are very enjoyable on the lyrical and even musical level, but the monotony of his voice left much to be desired.

Finally, at around 11:15 pm, after an incredibly tedious sound check, Jason Mraz strolled on-stage followed by Toca (percussion), Ian (bass), Micah (guitar/banjo/keyboards), and Scott (drums). Mraz took the early technical issues in stride and joked about the weather -- and how he had stepped off the bus in flip flops because he thought that sunny weather meant warm weather. The crowd laughed as if sharing an inside joke. They obviously knew that he must not visit Wisconsin often. As soon as Mraz began playing, the remaining members of the crowd finally began to show signs of life. People danced and sang along. There were even three girls in the balcony who were dressed in homemade t-shirts that referenced the Mrazda and made witty plays off song titles. Mraz called them his "Price Is Right" girls.

The highlights of the set included "Curbside Prophet," "0% Interest," "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)," "Did I Fool Ya?" and "Too Much Food." After an hour and a half, Mraz said goodnight to an excited crowd who refused to let him leave without one more. Reluctantly, as he was running fifteen minutes over the allowed time, he and his band came back onstage and played "Sleep All Day." Mraz proved his potential as the next big thing by mixing just the right amount of jamming, singing, and discussion of his favorite topic -- sex. He even went so far as to explain his obsession with his feathered friend, the cock -- and how it represented this portion of his life. "Besides," he said, "The cock's the first thing up in the morning."