Fall semester's concert brought together a rising pop star and one of hip-hop and R&B's most talented groups for a night of phenomenal music. A crowd of 2,100 showed up to Gosman gym on Thursday, October 2nd to see Jason Mraz and the Roots perform. The concert, which lasted slightly over three and half hours, offered something to music lovers of all genres. After a fifteen minute delay, Jason Mraz took the stage with his female fans shrieking in delight for the newest pop superstar. The pause before the beginning of the show had only served to work them up into a frenzy.

During his 45 minute set, Mraz played eight songs, including tracks off his debut CD, "Waiting for my Rocket to Come." The crowd nodded and sang along with their favorite Mraz tracks such as "You and I Both" and "Curbside Prophet." Yet it was Mraz's current hit single, "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" that elicited the biggest response and applause from audience at Brandeis.

Surprisingly, "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" made an appearance very early in the set. Fans who came later with the idea that they would catch the song as an encore or at the end of the set were sorely disappointed to learn that they had missed their favorite song.

With colorful strobe lights painting the ceiling of the Gosman gym and a bright backdrop of lyrics from his songs illuminating the stage, the set for Mraz's performance complimented his upbeat sound and positive vibe of his music.

Yet throughout his entire set, Mraz did not really appear to be in a lucid state of mind. Seeming overly relaxed and mellow on stage, Mraz would often just stop playing his guitar or just break into random gibberish in the middle of his songs. During one song, he stopped in the middle of the song to talk about wanting to be on your "A game" during a date but ending up with your "B game." This followed his pronouncement that he wished the microphone could be a woman so he could make love to it. Granted Mraz was playing to a crowd of college kids as opposed to Mixfest at the FleetCenter where he would perform the following evening.

I feel that Mraz should had shown a little more respect for the audience at Brandeis by not acting so high on stage, not that he admitted to it. By all accounts he was a pretty mellow and silly guy off stage as well as on. But by the time he finished his set with his comical track "Too Much Food" even his devoted female fans seemed eager for him to leave. Happily in the spotlight, however, Mraz ran around the stage for almost five minutes taking random Polaroid shots of his back-up band and throwing them into the audience.

Still, Mraz proved in this performance that he possesses true vocal talent and credibility as a song writer. His songs address issues such as love and individuality, even food, through humorous, original lyrics that feel meaningful. He also has a distinctly enjoyable grasp on the English language, allowing him to really play with his words in his lyrics. Even if you don't like the music, his delightful word-play will get you every time.

Mraz's sweet, sexy voice has incredible range and pitch that reflects his love of singing. The long, high notes Mraz held at points during his performance resulted in adoring screams from his devoted female throng and even respective applause from the less enthusiastic male members of the audience. Plus, his boyish good looks don't hurt his chances for success in the current climate of the music business. Based on what I saw at this performance, if Mraz worked on his professionalism, he really does have the potential, character and good looks to be the next John Mayer.

An hour after the end of Mraz's set, veteran musicians the Roots took to the stage to treat the roaring crowd to an hour and a half of non-stop, phenomenal hip-hop and R&B.

The Roots have been on the music scene since late in the '80's, tracing their origins to the streets of Philadelphia, and are considered pioneers in the hip hop world. They are one of the few hip hop groups to gain fame and fortune while remaining fiercely true to their own vision. They are also a full band, comprised of lead rapper Black Thought, percussionists ?uestlove and Scratch, keyboardist Kamal, bassit Hub and guitarist Captain Kurt. Wearing Brandeis paraphernalia, the group immediately won the crowd over.

Never stopping in between songs or instrumental solos, the Roots kept the music and energy flowing throughout their entire set as they performed hits from earlier albums to tracks such "The Seed (2.0)" and "Break You Off" off their latest CD, Phrenology. Although the music was playing so loudly that people had trouble making out the words or which song the group was on, the group kept the audience involved throughout the entire set calling out to the crowd and encouraging everyone to move during the songs.

The highlight of the Roots' set was easily the percussion solo performed by ?uestlove and Scratch. Starting on the bongo drums set up next to ?uestlove's drum kit, the two men proceeded to beat out identical complimentary rhythms on just about everything on stage. They travelled from bongos to drum kit, from drum kit to microphone stand, from microphone stand to Hub's bass guitar and back to the drum kit again.

Any time they were moving and not actually beating on an object, the clicked their sticks together in the same rhythm as before. The two never missed a beat, never got out of sync and never even flinched as they moved from place to place. It was an unbelievable performance, and a real tribute to the talent of these two drummers as true musicians, not just hip hop artists. And best of all, the audience could easily see how much fun they were having. Concentration wasn't an issue: the performance seemed to come second nature. Instead, ?uestlove and Scratch were free to enjoy their own moment in the spotlight.

Ending their set with covers of artists such Beyonce, Outkast and Busta Rhymes, the Roots had the every person in the audience going crazy. Whether the closing was sarcastic or not, they seemed genuinely amused by the audiences enthusiastic reactions to tunes they know from the top 40 radio charts.

It also seemed to make a statement about live instrumentation and hip hop: the Roots seemed to be saying that even the big top 40 songs can be played with live instruments, instead of back tracks. It seemed they were encouraging other artists to follow in their footsteps.

If there were any doubts in the audience about the quality of the Root's perforance, they were quickly and easily squashed. From Black Thought's incredible ability to flow to ?uestlove and Scratch's instrumental break, the Roots showed at this concert why they are still one of the most respected and successful groups in hip-hop and R&B today after almost a decade in the music world.

The applause and screams that filled the auditorium at the end of the Roots' performance did not nearly do justice to their amazing performance and overall talent as musicians. Unfortunately, having to stand for over three hours seemed to drain the energy of the crowd some as many people unfortunately chose to leave halfway through the Roots' rockin' performance.

The pairing of newcomer Mraz with the seasoned group the Roots brought together two very diverse styles of music which in the overall scheme of the concert did not really seem to work. Most of the male members of the audience there to see the Roots looked bored to death during Mraz set. At the same time, many of the teenage girls who came to the concert only to see Mraz performance left after their heartthrob had finished singing. Furthermore, Brandeis isn't really a school where hip-hop and R&B is the primary music genre listened to on campus. I think this caused students to not be as into the Roots the way many other college students would have been during a performance as incredible as theirs.

Audience enthusiasm aside, the concert really fulfilled its purpose to give Brandeis students a show by two wonderfully talented groups of artists who are making strides in the music world today. Students at Brandeis should consider themselves very lucky that Student Events is able to bring such prominent artists to campus like Mraz and the Roots.