Janelle Monae/Bruno Mars, June 12 at the Gibson Amphitheater

I thought I got into The ArchAndroid way too late but Janelle Monae was still doing increasingly bigger and bigger shows so apparently I was along the way of her upward trajectory.  We were baffled that she didn’t play Coachella, since musically she would have fit in just right there, but I can see now, with the big production of her shows why it wouldn’t work on a quickly-flipped stage in the desert.  And its certainly a show -- it’s beyond just the music.  A full band (though surely a lot of it was sequenced) and back-up singers and dancers, all to serve the weird, wild genius of Ms. Monae.  Maybe too weird, which explains why she was opening for Bruno Mars.  (Yeah, they were co-billed but it was unavoidable that she played first, and his stage was as big and complex as hers so they can’t blame her set-up time.)  What makes her so great -- her way-far-out-there-ness, somewhere near the planet of Outkast but a little more female (or at least omnisexual) -- is also what makes her a little impenetrable from a more massive fanbase (one that's more casual and lazy so maybe she's better off without it).  Her type of slick hip-hop/R&B works better when there’s at least of masculine violence but she mixes in some sci-fi and icy femininity and shiny robots and it all works, even when it's terribly overstuffed.  That it's so overdone, in a world of boring, beat-driven production, shows that she's putting everything up front and not keeping anything back.  We were craving to see if she could pull it off live.  Carla and I had no idea who Bruno Mars was besides being a guy who maybe had a few pop hits but the rest of the crowd did.  It didn't bother us that Monae was sharing a bill but it seemed strange that there was no faith that she could headline her own show (albeit in a smaller venue, judging by her overall popularity).  Rachel and Vanessa came along to see both acts.  (The Saturday morning the tickets went on sale, I went in to get two pair and they were sold out.  I kept trying and suddenly, after a half-dozen tries, I finally got through and got them.  I wouldn't have imagined that they would sell out the place.  They added a second night but I already had our tickets.  It's good advice: don't give up when the show seems to sell out.  Don't give up right away.  Give it a few tries.)  Monae was amazing, as predicted, though listening to her album came out to be a cut above the show, since it’s an hour and a half and her concert was half of that, if that.  She’s a wizard at putting on show, reviving the lost art of all-out, everything-that-will-fit-on-stage performance and entertaining.  There was even a magic trick, when three performers in robes came out at the beginning that you wouldn’t notice since you were looking for Monae then she dropped the robe and was one of them!  The music, of course, held its own, so the rest was even superfluous but it made for an astounding, unique show.  She could be on the level of Michael Jackson and Peter Gabriel stage-shows in a short while if she could get out a few more hit songs and pull a bigger crowd.  There’s no reason why she couldn’t.  Heck, she could just continue to be weird and brilliant and let the world come to her.  If she keeps being herself and is true to her art and keeps producing, it will.  We stayed for Bruno Mars and it was immediately clear that the packed crowd of teeny-boppers was for him, which was fine.  I can’t tell if Monae got any new fans that night (though it would be a crime if she didn’t); there were at least two fans that Mars didn’t get.  He had an acceptable show and he’s a charming showman, and maybe he’ll be something more interesting in a few years as he ages into a mature pop star (if that isn't an oxymoron), but his sugary songs didn’t move me to seek out more.  I’d see the bill again, though better if Monae is rightfully on top.  Mayer Hawthorne opened but we were too busy drinking at the Karl Strauss to get there in time to see him.