It was a thunderstruck stormy summer night but Bruno Mars’ ‘The Romantic Tour’ stop at Linc made it all worth it

By the time Bruno Mars got around to singing “It Will Rain” at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday, the storm had already passed.

Mars was running late during the first of two back-to-back nights on his “The Romantic Tour,” as he put a meteorological metaphor to music during a piano medley of hits — but through no fault of his own.

Earlier in what turned out to be a wildly entertaining evening with Mars and his high-stepping band the Hooligans — complete with a six-song interlude from Silk Sonic, Mars and Anderson .Paak’s soul and funk supergroup — the South Philly skies opened up.

Sadly, severe weather lit up the night in advance of the fireworks that popped off during Mars’ performance and put the kibosh on the planned opening set by Raye, the British vocalist whose presence made the tour one of the most tantalizing bills of the summer.

Raye was only able to make it through one song — “Beware. The South London Lover Boy,” from her new album This Music May Contain Hope — before a PA announcement urged audience members to flee open seated areas and shelter in place.

A two-hour delay followed, and Raye never returned. That meant fans missed the chance to check out one of the breakthrough talents of the year, hear her hit “Where Is My Husband!” and speculate that she might be on the way to finding him, if internet rumors about dating actor Michael B. Jordan turn out to be true.

Those who spent the interlude seated in stairwells or shopping for “I ❤️ Bruno Mars" merch didn’t seem too let down by that disappointment, however.

The sold-out crowd was a wide-ranging-in-age gathering of Black, white, Asian, and Latino fans of the Hawaiian entertainer of Filipino, Spanish, Askenazi Jewish, and Puerto Rican descent. That was the most genuinely diverse audience I’ve seen this year.

Before Tuesday, Mars — whose given name is Peter Hernandez and was nicknamed Bruno by his percussionist father who thought that, as a toddler, he looked like wrestler Bruno Sammartino — had last performed in Philadelphia in 2018.

That eight-year wait ended a few minutes before 10 p.m., which was only an hour or so later than he was originally supposed to hit the stage, since Raye had been excised from the itinerary.

The show began with a video of Mars praying in church, beseeching the Lord to help him accomplish something well within his abilities — “give my band and I the power and strength to give this city a show they’ll never forget. Amen.”

With that, Mars crossed himself on screen and put on a white cowboy hat and picked up a red rose. As Ennio Morricone-style spaghetti western music played, he materialized in the flesh on stage, ready for romance.

He opened with “Risk It All,” a heart-on-its-sleeve bolero from The Romantic album punctuated by mariachi horns that played a like a vow to a lover — or an audience — to earn their devotion.

“It’s crazy, but its true,” he sang. “There’s nothing I won’t do.”

For the next two hours, the lifelong song and dance man — who was 6 years old when he played an Elvis impersonator in Honeymoon in Vegas in 1992 — pretty much made good on that promise.

Backed by a 10-piece band that included Mars’ brother Eric Hernandez on drums and Cuban musician Daniel Rodriguez on percussion, Mars, 40, was every bit the seasoned entertainer. He was an old-school crowd-pleaser with a Little Richard mustache who puts on a boundlessly energetic, tightly disciplined show.

Over the course of the 25-song evening — packed with hits, though he didn’t get to some like “APT.,” his 2024 smash with K-pop singer Rosé — Mars played guitar and congas as well as piano.

Mars is also a nimble dancer, leading the way with a band whose members stay in step with him in loose, limber rhythm. Their movement felt relaxed, without any of the lockstep vibe that can make pop spectacle choreography seem like a militaristic exercise.

The early part of the show drew heavily from The Romantic album, which leaned into Latin rhythm, starting with “Cha Cha Cha,” the second song of the night. By the croony third number, “On My Soul,” fireworks were already going off overhead.

“Perm,” from 2026’s 24K Magic, punched up the James Brown funk. And the high point of the first section of the show came when Mars followed The Romantic ballad “Why You Wanna Fight?” by rolling a vintage red Cadillac convertible on stage and sitting on the hood while covering the Chi-Lites’ 1972 “Oh Girl” and Marvin Gaye’s 1973 “Let’s Get It On.”

He paired those with his own “Please Me” (alas, without duet partner Cardi B.) and stood on the hood for his hip-hop soul banger “That’s What I Like.”

The two-hour show was briskly paced, making the Foo Fighters’ three-hour endurance test last month at the Linc seem flabby in comparison.

The transition to the middle segment as Silk Sonic with .Paak — who had warmed up the crowd earlier as DJ Pee. Wee — was marked by a video introduction by master of funk Bootsy Collins.

.Paak started behind the drum kit, before coming out front wearing shades and a glittering jacket that matched Mars’, to join the singing, dancing, and finger-snapping troupe.

The six-song interlude culminated in the creamy slow jam “Leave the Door Open.” which gave both .Paak and Mars ample opportunity to fall on their knees to please the audience. It also made for some winningly playful competition between the two to see who could best win over South Philly hearts.

First, .Paak gave Birds fans a “Go Eagles!” shout-out, unabashedly flapped his wings and even added that his father came from Philadelphia. Mars shook his head in mock dismay that .Paak would stoop so low to pander, and then one upped him, albeit with geographical inaccuracy, proclaiming that his “next baby mama” would come from “the great state of Philadelphia!”

After .Paak’s exit, Mars poured on the hits, from the perfect pop of “Marry You,” which ended with him kissing the neck of his guitar, to the piano medley that began with “It Will Rain” and included “Talking to the Moon,” “Grenade,” and “When I Was Your Man.”

“The Romantic Tour ”is aptly named. Every song is a love song.

Mars is eminently likable on stage and his music is so well-crafted and crisply performed that you don’t really mind, for example, that his “Just the Way You Are,” is even more platitudinous than Billy Joel’s song of the same name.

By the time “Uptown Funk” came around to close out the show, and Mars declared “I got to kiss myself, I’m so pretty,” and that he’s “smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy,” it was hard to disagree.

It was a pleasure to spend a few hours with such a world-class entertainer, even on a thunderstorm-soaked South Philly summer night.

Bruno Mars’ “The Romantic Tour” with Raye and DJ Pee. Wee at Lincoln Financial Field, 7 p.m. Sept. 2, lincolnfinancialfield.com