Jason Mraz takes hands-on approach to eclectic tour

Singer/songwriter Jason Mraz thinks he's assembled the perfect bill for his forthcoming--and unusual--tour.

The multi-artist extravaganza, dubbed the "Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour," sees Mraz accompanied by a variety of performers, including magician Justin Kredible, freestyle acoustic rapper Bushwalla and world music-inspired folk quartet the Makepeace Brothers. Mraz is supporting his album "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.," which hits stores May 13.

"I rarely get the opportunity to select the supporting acts and design the tour and have a concept tour," Mraz said during an interview with LiveDaily. "This is sort of a dream come true. We've only been able to do one other tour like this. It was called 'The Tour of the Curbside Prophets.' We took out unknown artists and the whole concept of the tour was that the entertainment would never end."

Like "The Tour of the Curbside Prophets," fans will constantly see entertainment beginning the minute they walk up to the venue.

"From the time people arrive, they can expect entertainment on the sidewalk," said Mraz, who recently wrapped up a tour in Korea. "They can expect something going on onstage when they get into the theater. All the acts will segue into the next. Our host, who's a world-class magician, isn't like a top-hat-and-cane, cheesy magician. There's no tigers that appear. He's a very modern, comic-based magician. No matter what people say, everyone loves to be like, 'Wow. How did he do that?' I'm a huge fan of magic."

The tour has also been "greened" by Reverb, a nonprofit organization designed to educate and engage music fans to promote environmental sustainability.

"It's so easy to just be wasteful on tour," Mraz said. "We are usually most wasteful with our gas guzzling and our plastic water bottles. I can't count the number of tours where we're throwing away hundreds of thousands of plastic water bottles.

"The first thing we've done is given everyone they're own reusable water bottle. We're just going to have water coolers. It's using things like that. We're not printing day sheets. We're doing everything we can digitally, using both sides of paper, recycling, reprinting."

[Note: The following tour dates have been provided by artist and/or tour sources, who verify its accuracy as of the publication time of this story. Changes may occur before tickets go on sale. Check with official artist websites, ticketing sources and venues for late updates.]
 tour dates and tickets
April 2008
4 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst
5 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
6 - West Hollywood, CA - Troubadour
9 - Chicago, IL - Metro
11 - Selingsgrove, PA - Susquehanna University
12 - Pittsburgh, PA - University of Pittsburgh
13 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live
14 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
16 - Winston-Salem, NC - Wake Forest University
17 - Davidson, NC - Davidson College
18 - Richmond, VA - The National
21 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
23 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
25 - Charleston, IL - Eastern Illinois University
27 - Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
28 - Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis

 tour dates and tickets
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