Jason Mraz

Mraz is also looking forward to touring behind YES! this year, having made a conscious decision to play smaller, more intimate venues this time around rather than his customary amphitheatres and arenas. “A theater is where good music is best experienced,” he explains. “This is where the real conversations can happen unscripted. When we can talk with the audience and share more than just what's in the song. I'm also committed to playing in venues where the sound is impeccable, where everyone has a good seat, and where everyone has the chance to interact in the show, whether it's singing along, shouting out requests, or just being seen. It feels like a sacred space. I know that's important to a lot of people who go to my shows.”

And, of course, Mraz will be on the road with Raining Jane. “These women are my friends,” he says. “I've known them for so long and now we're getting the opportunity to take the album on the road and share our passion-fueled hobby with others.” The cover art for YES! captures the communal spirit in which the album was recorded, featuring five birds flying in a V formation. It’s an image that Mraz says is highly symbolic, in part because the Roman numeral V, or five, represents his fifth album, as well because “we’re really taking off now in a way that we never imagined we would as a five-piece,” he says. “Even though I'm in the front of this group, we're all doing it together. I'm there to help them fly just as much as they're there to help me fly.”

Venue: Bellco Theatre