Bruno Mars at Park MGM is a concert residency by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It is held at Dolby Live (previously Park Theater) at Park MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada, at The Theater at MGM National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Maryland, at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Boston, Massachusetts and once outside of the United States, in China at MGM Cotai in Cotai, Macau. For performances, Mars is accompanied by his eight-piece band, the Hooligans, and the setlists feature songs from his albums Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010), Unorthodox Jukebox (2012), and 24K Magic (2016), along with various covers.

Bruno Mars at Park MGM
Residency by Bruno Mars
LocationLas Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Oxon Hill, Maryland, U.S.
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Cotai, Macau, China
VenueDolby Live at Park MGM
The Theater at MGM National Harbor
MGM Music Hall at Fenway
MGM Cotai
Start dateDecember 27, 2016 (2016-12-27)
End dateSeptember 1, 2024 (2024-09-01)
Legs16
No. of shows99
Attendance384,000
Box office$114.3 million
Bruno Mars concert chronology

The show typically ended with Mars performing an encore of "Uptown Funk" (2014). It received a positive reception from music critics, who praised the energetic and the singer's showmanship. The concert residency was promoted by Live Nation and MGM Resorts, lasted eight years, and grossed $114.3 million, attracting a diverse audience of all ages. The April 2020 shows were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, the residency won Top R&B Tour.

Background and development

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On October 10, 2016, Entertainment Tonight announced that Bruno Mars had signed a two-year deal with MGM Resorts International to perform at the Park Theater in Las Vegas and The Theater at MGM National Harbor in Maryland.[1] This was Mars' second concert residency, after performing at The Chelsea.[2] The president of MGM Resorts International, Bill Hornbuckle, was quoted as saying "There is no stronger launching pad for a new venue than for Mars to be among the first to grace its stage".[1] The singer was among the first to perform at MGM National Harbor, as well as the first to perform at the new Park Theater, which, at the time, featured 5,300 seats, as well as brand new audio and visual technology.[3][4] The concert residency was promoted by Live Nation and occasionally by MGM Resorts.[5][6][7]

The first show of the residence took place on December 27, 2016, at the Theater at MGM National Harbor. It was followed by two shows on December 30 and 31 of 2016 at The Park Theater, in Las Vegas.[5] In 2017, the singer performed a total of eight shows, two at The Theater at MGM National Harbor and the other six at The Park Theater. He also took the stage on December 30 and 31, similar to the previous year.[6][7][8] In 2018, Mars performed shows in February and July, all at The Park Theater.[9][10][11] In 2019, he performed at The Park Theater in April, May and September.[12][13]

In 2020, the singer only performed two shows on March 6 and 7, both at The Park Theater, mainly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[14][15] In 2021, Mars returned to perform at The Park Theater and MGM National Harbor from early July until late August.[16] He continued performing in October at The Park Theater and The Theater at MGM National Harbor.[17][18] In mid-October, The Park Theater was renamed "Dolby Live", and the theater's sound system was upgraded to use Dolby Atmos surround sound technology as part of an agreement with Dolby.[19] Mars continued his performances in December in both the venues aforementioned.[20][21]

In 2022, Mars performed seven shows, two at MGM National Harbor in National Harbor, three at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston, and two at Dolby Live in Las Vegas, including the New Year's Eve show.[22][23][24] In 2023, Mars performed in January and February at Dolby Live.[25] Extra show dates for May and June 2023 were later added to the lineup at Dolby Live, except for two in June at The Theater at MGM National Harbor.[26][27][28] In August, the final five show dates were added, including one on New Year's Eve.[29]

In 2024, various shows were scheduled, including one on January 6, 2024 for the MGM Cotai in Macau.[30] Several other concerts were scheduled in Las Vegas at Dolby Live throughout the rest of the year, including shows in February, June, August and September.[31][32]

Cancelled and rescheduled shows

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The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Mars avoided close contact with fans at his shows on March 6 and 7 (2020) as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[33] Moreover, MGM Resorts announced the cancellation of shows planned for April 20, 24, and 25 at the Park Theater due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] On April 26, 2021, it was announced that Mars was to return to perform more concerts at Park Theater beginning on Fourth of July weekend.[34] The scheduled shows sold out within hours after being announced.[35] On July 22, 2021, Mars postponed his July 23 and 24 shows to August 27 and 28 due to "unforeseen circumstances", according to a spokesperson for MGM Resorts.[36]

Concert synopsis

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The concert, which had a runtime of 90 to 95 minutes, opened either with "24K Magic" or "Finesse".[37][38] During the show, Mars would split the fans in half "to see who was loudest". During the concert, the song "Runaway Baby" was interluded with The Isley Brothers' single "Shout", and as Mars sang "A little bit softer now..." he and his band, The Hooligans, would fall to the ground, only to rise again, ending the track. There was also a mash-up of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire", the latter of which featured Mars. He also covered "Pony" by Ginuwine and gave "Grenade" a guitar solo, transforming it into a rock song.[37][39] Mars sang the ballad "When I Was Your Man" alone on the stage.[38] Afterwards, his band came back to perform "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Just the Way You Are" with him. The show closed with an encore of "Uptown Funk". The concert included fire cannons and a large sign that spelled out 'Bruno Mars'.[37]

During the 2017 New Year's Eve show, as the performance of "Locked Out of Heaven" came to an end, the power went out onstage.[37]

Mars performed a medley of various covers that would vary according to dates and fan suggestions. During the New Year's Eve show, he sung portions of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", Queen's "We Will Rock You" and "Another One Bites the Dust", "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani, the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way", The Beatles' chorus "Hey Jude" from the Cirque du Soleil's Love tribute show at The Mirage in Las Vegas, and "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder.[40] In another show, on February 19, 2018, Mars performed covers of songs by Ginuwine, Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Soul for Real's "Candy Rain", as well as portions of "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder, Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and a full version of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy".[38]

During the New Year's Eve show on December 31, 2021, Usher joined Mars on stage. They sang Usher's 2001 single "U Got It Bad" together as Mars played the piano, and Usher's "U Don't Have to Call" while Mars played the guitar and both danced side-by-side. After this number, Usher left the stage and watched the rest of the show from the Dolby Live VIP section.[41]

Reception

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The residency received positive reviews from critics. Mike Weatherford from Las Vegas Review-Journal, while reviewing Mars' 2017 New Years concert, commented that"If the casinos could genetically engineer the perfect entertainment machine, Mars is it." Weatherford gave the show an A rating.[37] Writing for the same publication, John Katsilometes dubbed the performance "extraordinary" and "classic".[40] When reviewing Mars and Usher's show, Katsilometes wrote that "a pair of kings won the hand and rocked the house at Dolby Live at Park MGM".[41] Las Vegas Weekly's Brock Radke noted that "the modern age of Vegas entertainment hasn't had a hotter, more relevant regular than Bruno Mars".[38]

As of August 27, 2021, Billboard's Boxscore reported that Mars grossed $53.2 million and sold 201,000 tickets after playing 41 shows. The ten shows played between July and August 2021 had the highest per-show gross, per-show attendance, and per-ticket price out of the entire residency.[42] In late September, his theater residency was the highest-grossing in the MGM franchise at $56.2 million.[16] In late 2021, Billboard's Boxscore reported that Mars had the top R&B/hip-hop tour of the year, as well as the top-earning residency of 2021 with $24.4 million and 240,000 tickets sold that year.[43] The residency won Top R&B Tour at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.[44] As of April 2024, the residency's Las Vegas shows have grossed $114.3 million from a total 384,000 tickets sold.[45]

Shows

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List of concerts, showing date, city, venue, tickets sold, number of available tickets and amount of gross revenue
Date City Venue Attendance Revenue
Leg 1[5]
December 27, 2016 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor 2,646 / 2,746 $582,275
December 30, 2016 Las Vegas The Park Theater 10,157 / 11,000 $2,547,397
December 31, 2016
Leg 2[6]
March 11, 2017 Las Vegas The Park Theater 10,466 / 10,466 $2,158,850
March 12, 2017
Leg 3[7]
September 2, 2017 Las Vegas The Park Theater 10,505 / 10,505 $2,153,264
September 3, 2017
Leg 4[8]
December 20, 2017 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor 5,498 / 5,498 $1,354,000
December 21, 2017
December 30, 2017 Las Vegas The Park Theater 10,292 / 10,292 $2,737,700
December 31, 2017
Leg 5[9][10]
February 14, 2018 Las Vegas The Park Theater 20,509 / 20,592 $4,354,719
February 16, 2018
February 17, 2018
February 19, 2018
Leg 6[11]
July 25, 2018 Las Vegas The Park Theater 15,154 / 15,450 $3,413,843
July 27, 2018
July 28, 2018
Leg 7[12][13]
April 29, 2019 Las Vegas The Park Theater N/A N/A
April 30, 2019
May 3, 2019
May 4, 2019
September 3, 2019 36,630 / 36,630 $9,787,031
September 4, 2019
September 7, 2019
September 9, 2019
September 10, 2019
September 13, 2019
September 14, 2019
Leg 8[14]
March 6, 2020 Las Vegas The Park Theater N/A N/A
March 7, 2020
Leg 9[16][34][36]
July 3, 2021 Las Vegas The Park Theater 59,304 / N/A $19,300,000
July 4, 2021
July 9, 2021
July 10, 2021
July 30, 2021
July 31, 2021
August 6, 2021 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor
August 7, 2021
August 13, 2021 Las Vegas The Park Theater
August 14, 2021
August 27, 2021
August 28, 2021
Leg 10[17][18][20][21]
October 1, 2021 Las Vegas The Park Theater N/A N/A
October 2, 2021
October 9, 2021 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor
October 10, 2021
December 4, 2021
December 5, 2021
December 17, 2021 Las Vegas Dolby Live
December 18, 2021
December 30, 2021
December 31, 2021
Leg 11[22][23][24]
September 1, 2022 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor N/A N/A
September 2, 2022
September 7, 2022 Boston MGM Music Hall at Fenway
September 9, 2022
September 11, 2022
December 30, 2022 Las Vegas Dolby Live
December 31, 2022
Leg 12[25]
January 25, 2023 Las Vegas Dolby Live N/A N/A
January 27, 2023
January 28, 2023
February 1, 2023
February 3, 2023
February 4, 2023
February 8, 2023
February 10, 2023
February 11, 2023
February 14, 2023
Leg 13[26][27][28]
May 24, 2023 Las Vegas Dolby Live N/A N/A
May 27, 2023
May 28, 2023
May 31, 2023
June 2, 2023
June 3, 2023
June 6, 2023 National Harbor The Theater at MGM National Harbor
June 7, 2023
August 25, 2023 Las Vegas Dolby Live
August 26, 2023
Leg 14[29]
December 22, 2023 Las Vegas Dolby Live N/A N/A
December 23, 2023
December 28, 2023
December 30, 2023
December 31, 2023
Leg 15[30][31]
January 6, 2024 Macau MGM Cotai N/A N/A
February 1, 2024 Las Vegas Dolby Live
February 2, 2024
February 5, 2024
February 7, 2024
February 9, 2024
Leg 16[32]
June 7, 2024 Las Vegas Dolby Live
June 8, 2024
June 12, 2024
June 14, 2024
June 15, 2024
August 20, 2024
August 23, 2024
August 24, 2024
August 27, 2024
August 28, 2024
August 31, 2024
September 1, 2024
Total 121,857 / 123,179 $31,089,079

Canceled shows

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List of canceled concerts, showing date, city, venue and reason for cancellation
Date City Venue Reason
April 20, 2020 Las Vegas The Park Theater COVID-19 pandemic[15]
April 24, 2020
April 25, 2020
July 23, 2021 Unforeseen circumstances[36]
July 24, 2021

References

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  1. ^ a b McRady, Rachel (October 10, 2016). "Exclusive: Bruno Mars Partners With MGM Resorts International for the Next Two Years". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  2. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (January 24, 2019). "Bruno Mars & Maroon 5 Leave Las Vegas With Their Biggest New Year's Eve Jackpots Yet". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 25, 2019.
  3. ^ Freed, Benjamin (October 10, 2016). "Bruno Mars to Open Theater in MGM Casino at National Harbor". Washingtonian. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  4. ^ "Bruno Mars performing in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve". KTNV-TV. October 10, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 15, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  10. ^ a b "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  12. ^ a b Seeman, Matthew (February 4, 2019). "Bruno Mars announces 11 shows at Park MGM in Las Vegas". KSNV. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Billboard Boxscore :: Current Scores". Billboard. August 7, 2019. Archived from the original on October 5, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
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  15. ^ a b c Katsilometes, John (March 26, 2020). "Bruno Mars cuts $1M check to MGM Resorts assistance fund". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c Frankenberg, Eric (September 28, 2021). "Boxscore Charts Return After Year-Plus Break: Classic Rock, Country & Vegas Lead the Way". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Bruno Mars Upcoming Tour Dates". Bruno Mars Official Website. Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2024. October 9–10, 2021
  18. ^ a b News 3 Staff (June 14, 2021). "Bruno Mars adds October dates to Park MGM residency". KSNV. Retrieved April 11, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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  23. ^ a b Bowker, Brittany (May 3, 2022). "Bruno Mars to open new MGM Music Hall at Fenway in September". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
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  27. ^ a b Las Vegas Weekly Staff (August 23, 2024). "What to do in Las Vegas This Week (August 24-30, 2023 Edition)". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
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  29. ^ a b Kress, Bryan (August 8, 2023). "How to Get Tickets to Bruno Mars' 2023 Las Vegas Residency". Consequence. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  30. ^ a b "Macau na rota das grandes estrelas". Revista Macau (in Portuguese). January 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
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  33. ^ Katsilometes, John (March 11, 2020). "Cirque du Soleil halts touring shows in coronavirus response". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  34. ^ a b Radke, Brock (April 26, 2021). "Bruno Mars Returns to his Las Vegas Strip Residency in July". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
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  38. ^ a b c d Radke, Brock (February 20, 2018). "Bruno Mars Can Have Begas Whenever He Wants". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  39. ^ Redação Brazilian Times (September 3, 2021). "Guitarrista brasileiro fala sobre emoção de tocar para Bruno Mars". Brazilian Times (in Portuguese). Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  40. ^ a b Katsilometes, John (July 28, 2018). "Phones locked up during Bruno Mars concert on Las Vegas Strip". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  41. ^ a b Katsilometes, John (December 31, 2021). "Usher teams with Bruno Mars, teases Dolby Live residency". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
  42. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (August 27, 2021). "Bruno Mars' Las Vegas Show Grosses More Than $50 Million As Residencies Resume". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  43. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (December 2, 2021). "The Year in Touring Charts 2021: The Rolling Stones Return to Glory With No. 1 Trek". Billboard. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  44. ^ Wilman, Chris (April 8, 2022). "Billboard Awards Nominations Led by the Weeknd, Doja Cat, Kanye West, Olivia Rodrigo and Justin Bieber". Variety. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  45. ^ Frankenberg, Eric (April 5, 2024). "25 Biggest Concert Residencies of All Time". Billboard. Retrieved April 5, 2024.