Mraz, Folds Play to Packed Smith Center

Jason Mraz and Ben Folds played to thousands of GW and DC-area students Friday night at the Smith Center, performing a mix of old favorites and songs from their most recent albums.

A capella group the GW Vibes began the concert with a three-song set that included a cover of Folds’ “Missing The War.”

Folds then took the stage, opening with songs from his album “Way To Normal,” which was released in September.  In addition to Ben Folds Five’s “Brick,” other songs in Folds’ set included “Annie Waits,” “Zak and Sara,” and “Rockin’ The Suburbs” — during which he shouted out co-headliner Jason Mraz.

Folds also interacted with a group of concertgoers that hollered for him to play his cover of Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit.”  Folds paused for a few moments before telling the crowd “that’s not very nice.”

Mraz followed Folds, bringing with him a full band and brass section, which at one point found its way into the crowd and appeared in the bleachers mid-song.

The 31-year-old Virginia native played mostly songs from his spring 2008 release “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.”  But Mraz also broke out some older tracks like “Unfold.”

Mraz enjoyed a back-and-forth with the audience, as he discussed the merits of Valentine’s Day and suggested the date of the concert – Friday the 13th – meant that “Jason’s back.”

He ended his set with current hit, the Grammy-nominated “I’m Yours,” before returning for an encore which concluded with “Butterfly.”  Mraz also took Polaroid photos of each of his band members and tossed them into the audience as souvenirs toward the end of his performance.

Both Folds and Mraz are still on tour, with Mraz leaving for a series of dates across Asia and Europe beginning Feb. 21, while Folds concludes his U.S. tour March 30.