At BOBBYSHAKES we cover everything, Unity Sports Club to Gillette. One summer, everybody. We're not the Boston Globe or Rolling Stone, who only cover Taylor for likkle school girls. Matter of fact, at BOBBYSHAKES we recognize all genres of music. We don't teaspoon culture like those big publications. We are the culture, because we live it — not some goofy photographer who's only there to take three pictures and write a lame story like Nancy Hall. The Globe reviewed Gillette and couldn't even show you Gillette — their photo is a wire shot from the Grammys in February. Ours are from Gillette, Sunday night. You following?
So when I say this, it's not fandom — it's the scorecard.
When Bootsy christens your band, you are certified by the Funk Gods.
Bruno came out flat. In dancehall we call that resetting the dance. DJ Pee .Wee (Anderson .Paak) and RAYE had the building up, and Mars refused to hitch his wagon to it. He built his own moment from zero. That's a veteran move, and it's the first thing that told me I was watching somebody who understood the room better than the room understood itself.
The Romantic night opens in prayer — Bruno asking for protection over the fans and himself. Then he grabs the guitar case and walks out of the church straight into Latin percussion. The congas rattled my soul. I turned to Julez and asked if he was Mexican. She said no, Hawaii.
Here's the answer I got later: born in Honolulu, Puerto Rican father, Filipina mother. The Latin set wasn't a costume. It was in the blood, and you could hear it — nothing forced, nothing borrowed.
Then the keyboardist is in a UFO flying around the screens and I'm waiting for an Olmec head to fall out of the sky. Then Bootsy Collins appears on the screen and my heart skipped. I told Julez if they bring Bootsy out I'm fainting.
I pulled my phone. It's real. Bootsy Collins is the special guest host on An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021), the Bruno Mars / Anderson .Paak album. Bootsy gave the group its name. He plays on \"After Last Night\" with Thundercat. The UFO, the vocoder, the whole space trip — that's not a stage bit, that's the Mothership.
For the younger heads: Bootsy came up in James Brown's band in 1970 (\"Sex Machine\"), then went to Parliament-Funkadelic, where Mothership Connection put the spaceship in funk for good. Star bass, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When Bootsy christens your band, you're certified by the Funk Gods. Period.
That's also why the bass was top-tier all night. Jamareo Artis plays in the Bootsy lineage — the pocket, the space, the swagger — and it showed for two hours.
Just when it couldn't get crazier, he comes out Elvis-inspired and does Elvis better than Elvis. So let's tally it: Latin set, authentic. Mothership funk, certified. Rock and roll, better than the original. Three lanes, one night, one man, and nobody else on the road right now can do it.
Bruno Mars is the king of Latin Phunk Rock and Roll. Best touring musician on the planet. Photos by Julez for BOBBYSHAKES.