Audio By Carbonatix

Some artists can walk onto a stadium stage and immediately make it feel like their own. Bruno Mars is one of them.

Bringing his The Romantic Tour to Hard Rock Stadium Saturday night, Mars turned a rain-soaked Miami evening into two hours of dancing, singing, romance, and some serious funk.

By the time Mars took the stage, Miami had already been hit with a heavy downpour. People arriving for the show wore disposable raincoats, and those with floor seats wiped down their wet chairs. It didn’t seem to matter much. Most people weren’t going to be sitting for very long anyway.

The crowd came dressed for Mars— and for the romance of the tour. Women wore red flowers in their hair; there was plenty of red, and several couples wore matching red satin pajamas. One couple even wore face disguises to look like Mars. Teenage girls arrived with their parents, couples shopped together at the merchandise counters, and women in their 20s lined up to buy $70 Romantic Tour shirts and $125 red hoodies. Multiple merchandise counters dotted the stadium, and the lines were long. At one of them, more than two hours before Mars took the stage, the line stretched about 50 feet and was two people deep.

And Miami has had quite a week for concerts. Empire of the Sun sold out FPL Solar Amphitheater, Rosalía played two nights at Kaseya Center, and now Mars was taking over Hard Rock Stadium for two nights. The first night of Mars’ Miami run was sold out, filling the stadium for The Romantic Tour.

The stage was set off to the side at the front of the stadium and, considering the scale of the venue, looked surprisingly small. Thankfully, the large video screens helped bring the show front and center for everyone to see. The sound and clarity were also surprisingly good considering the size of the venue, with Mars’ voice coming through clearly from the first song.

Mars’ South Florida run actually started two nights earlier with The Romantic After Hours, a phone-free late-night event at E11even Miami. Saturday night was the other end of the spectrum: a massive stadium and Mars at the center of it all.

Before Mars came on, the crowd got its own warm-up. DJ Pee Wee, the alter ego created by Grammy-winning Anderson .Paak, came out dressed in a red sequin jumpsuit and his signature black bowl-cut wig, singing “Dancing Queen,” and the stadium erupted. “Dance With Somebody” had everyone singing along, followed by “Macarena,” a reminder that this audience included more than one generation of Mars fans.

Raye took the stage next with a full orchestra, brass instruments, and three singers in red gowns. Her set had a different feel, with a polished, soulful sound that seemed to connect particularly well with the older crowd. She closed with her hit “Where Is My Husband!,” which surely got the crowd warmed up for what was coming next.

Then, at 8:45 p.m., Mars came onto the stage.

A video played showing Mars in a church, praying that he would give Miami a show they would never forget. “Amen.”

He opened with “Risk It All,” walking onto a stage surrounded by a stained-glass backdrop with a red rose in the center. The song comes from “The Romantic”, Mars’ fourth solo studio album, and the album is the reason for the tour’s name. He wore a red bandana, a black silky shirt with a floral pattern, black pants and black sneakers with white soles.

From the first song, the crowd was singing, holding phones in the air and screaming.

Then came “Cha Cha Cha,” complete with a full brass section, choreography and Mars showing off on a pair of congas. He followed it with a powerful Latin percussion solo, surrounded by male dancers moving in sync with him.

The musicians were part of the visual presentation, too. Mars’ backing band was styled in black shirts and black pants with embroidered gold trim, giving the group a sharp, coordinated look that fit the old-school showmanship of the performance.

By “24K Magic,” the lasers were shooting across the stadium, and the brass players and dancers were moving with him. During “Treasure,” people were waving their hands back and forth.

By this point, if you were sitting, you weren’t at the right concert.

The Romantic Tour might sound like a night built around love songs, but the show is much bigger than that. The album brings the romantic theme, but Mars moves just as easily into funk, R&B and straight-up party music. Several songs from “The Romantic” were woven through the night, making the new material feel like part of the larger Mars catalog rather than something separate from it.

He told Miami that the tour was about celebrating love and dedicated “God Was Showing Off” to the “pretty girls in Miami,” asking the crowd to make some noise for his “angel babies.” As the night moved through one song after another, the audience sang along, phones back in the air, couples embracing and people dancing in the aisles.

Then came “Why You Wanna Fight,” the first real slowdown of the night, with Mars joined only by two backup singer-dancers. He talked about going for a drive, and suddenly a classic red Cadillac rolled onto the stage.

Mars climbed onto the car for “That’s What I Like,” singing about strawberry champagne on ice while fireworks sparkled from the back of the Cadillac. It was one of the night’s big crowd-pleasing moments.

And then there was the band. Mars’ longtime band, The Hooligans, are known for their own musicianship, keeping the show tight from beginning to end. Behind the drums was Mars’ older brother, Eric Hernandez, known as E-Panda, who has been with The Hooligans since the beginning.

Mars spent the night showing that he is much more than a singer. He picked up the electric guitar, sat at the piano and, earlier in the show, played percussion, all while dancing and singing and keeping the energy moving.

The Silk Sonic portion of the night brought another change in the look and sound. Mars came out in his second look, dressed in black with a black bandana, his jacket covered in rhinestones, and a white electric guitar. Anderson .Paak joined him for the Silk Sonic portion, wearing sparkly, diamond-rimmed glasses that matched the look. The two looked like they had stepped into another show entirely as they launched into “777.”

Then Mars asked Miami if it wanted to hear the song that started Silk Sonic. “Leave the Door Open” followed.

Watching a woman in the crowd singing every word with a red rose tucked into her hair, it was hard to miss just how personally people connect with these songs.

Mars’ first solo hit, “Just the Way You Are,” came out in 2010. I still remember hearing it on the radio that year. There was something about the song that made it immediately memorable — you didn’t need to hear it more than once to know it was going to be a hit. And then came one hit after another. That became part of the Mars catalog: songs you hear once and somehow already know are going to be everywhere.

Some of the younger fans singing every word Saturday night were still in single digits when “Just the Way You Are” came out. Over the course of about 25 songs, Mars pulled from across his albums, moving between pop, R&B, funk and romantic ballads without losing the crowd. Looking around the stadium, it was clear that his music has grown up with a generation of fans while picking up plenty of new ones along the way.

And then there’s that voice.

Mars’ voice came through clear all night, hitting every high note without seeming to strain. And for a performer doing this show night after night, his stamina was impressive. He danced, sang, played guitar and worked the stadium with such ease that you would have thought it was opening night of the tour rather than another stop along the way.

His voice is still pure Mars — raspy, soulful and instantly recognizable. Add the dancing, the musicianship and the way he connects with an audience, and it becomes clear why his music has lasted.

“Marry You” sounded less like a song and more like a fan anthem. Couples were taking selfies, and confetti blasted from the front and back of the stadium.

The mood then softened for “Die With a Smile,” with cellphone lights filling the stadium. Later, Mars sat at the piano for “Talking to the Moon,” and the entire crowd sang along. “When I Was Your Man” followed, with women around the stadium screaming the words.

Even the instrumental break became part of the show, with the saxophone taking over for “Versace on the Floor.”

By the time Mars returned for “Locked Out of Heaven,” he had changed into his third outfit, another black shirt with white trim. “Just the Way You Are” brought another huge response, with Mars dedicating it to everyone in the stadium.

Then he asked Miami if it wanted one more. Of course it did.

He brought “Uptown Funk” down to Miami, and the stadium turned into one giant dance floor.

After the high of “Uptown Funk,” it felt like the show was over. Mars had given Miami everything — the dancing, the hits, the romance, the funk.

Then the screen came up with a message telling the audience to turn on their lights. “Dance With Me” began playing.

Phones went back into the air, lights twinkling throughout the stadium as the crowd kept dancing and singing. It was an unexpected way to end the night — not with another huge production number, but with Mars leaving Miami in the middle of one last dance.

After the show, I spotted a couple walking together, embraced and holding hands. I asked how they would rate the night on a scale of 1 to 10. The man gave it a 9.5. When I asked why it wasn’t a 10, he explained that he didn’t really know Mars’ music — his girlfriend had brought him. Now, he said, he’s a fan.

His girlfriend smiled and said, “10.”

For an artist playing to a stadium this big, Mars somehow made the crowd feel like he was performing just for them.