Who: John Mayer with Philip Phillips
When: July 26, 2013
Where: Shore Line Amphitheater/ Mountain View, CA
With: an entire row of people SUPER PUMPED to be in the third row
Of Note: OMFG
I have pretty much always had a lot of feelings about John Mayer. There’s something about his music that cuts – lyrically, I think he’s one of the best in the business. My good friend Neil sent me the webcomic below, which is pretty accurate for 99% of people and 99% of music. I feel like John Mayer’s music takes absolutely no trying to make it all about me. (And let’s be honest, most of what I do here is make music all about me.)
I think it’s been so fascinating to follow his career and watch the progression of message & tone on each subsequent album. I feel a little like I’ve grown up with him. I mean, ‘No Such Thing’ from 2001's ‘Room For Squares’ was big the summer after my freshman year of college and, in under four minutes, perfectly described what it felt like to be 19 and trying to figure it all out. There is no such thing as the real world, you know?
‘Stop This Train’ from 2006’s ‘Continuum’ (which was an album I listened to more than was probably healthy) was a far more articulate description of my quarter life crisis than I could come up with. ‘Who Says’ became the anthem of the “I’m going to do what I want; feel free to kindly go fuck yourself” portion of a nasty break-up. And now, ‘The Age of Worry’ from Born & Raised has become a personal rallying cry on my recent cross-country move. I’ve always joked that I wanted my life to be a musical – at times I feel like it already could be a John Mayer jukebox show.
Anyway, I was so excited to see John Mayer summer tour dates pop up – he’d been off the road for a few years dealing with his well-publicized throat issues. I bought a ticket when they went on sale, my first week in CA, and got pre-emptively pumped. I didn’t pay much attention to the ticket buying process, selecting ‘best available’ and getting through check-out quickly. That’s only relevant in that I ended up having a third row seat, which I didn’t fully realize until I got to the venue. As I sat down, I remarked to my seat neighbors, “I was not expecting to be this close; I’m going to need a moment.”
Philip Phillips was the opening act. My feelings for Philip Phillips are well documented – I think the guy is incredible. Musically, he lives in a space that an amalgamation of so many artists I love, plus he’s adorable. I’m not sure I fully realized how close my seat was until I noted that I could actually read the Toms label on the back of his shoe.
He opened with one of my favorites from the album ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ and it was just lovely in person. I thought his saxophone player who had an alto and a silver tenor was awesome. His guitar player was also great, not only for his tremendous solos, but for his Adidias Sambas. To close, he segued from ‘Let’s Get it On’ to a ‘Let’s Get It On’-esque take on the first few lines of ‘Home’, transitioning into ‘Home’ as its meant to be – a foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing anthem. For someone who was kind of awkward on his American Idol run, he had a great stage presence here – thanking the crowd, looking really thrilled when everyone got to their feet at the end, introducing the band. His improvement as a front-man was obvious. I would think some of this has to be being on tour with Mayer, but what do I know? Like I said, I’m a big fan of his, and this did not disappoint.
And then, John Mayer. Holy shit, John Mayer. This set was so cool in the seamless mix of old & new material. It was like every song was a special surprise from some point in the last ten years (aww man, I am getting old, huh?) and you never knew where he was going to take you next. Let’s talk about a few of the evening's highlights, shall we?
‘3x5’ is one of my all-time favorites and is second by a miniscule margin to ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ on the “old songs I don’t expect to hear but would be frigging delighted if I did” list. For ‘3x5’, the band left the stage and it was just John & his acoustic. It was magic. One of his strengths is his story-telling ability. That was put to such effective use here – I felt it in my bones that he wanted me to see that sunrise.
He told a story about how he sang ‘Age of Worry’ to himself, hands in the air. Here it was delivered as a foot-stomper, livelier than the album version; it felt like my using it as a personal rallying cry exactly what it was meant to be.
New song ‘Paper Doll’ was intercut with Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes’ which blew my mind. It’s possible I shrieked a lot. My seatmate friend lost her mind over ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’. There was some crowd sing along action on ‘Vultures’. The older couple in the front row went absolutely nuts for ‘Waiting on the World to Change’, even busting out some sweet slow dance moves. 'If I Ever Get Around To Living' was beautiful, almost bitter sweet, and another song he indicated he sings to himself.
He was less chatty than the last time I saw him, but did a funny bit about how it’s hard to be as hydrated as you need to be and play a 2 hour plus show without peeing. (He left the stage briefly mid-set to pee.) He also talked about how excited he was that everyone still wanted to see him play after having been off the road for three years. He made a crack about being almost totally off the radar, with the exception of the ‘Born & Raised’ album and “a couple photos here are there; guy’s gotta eat”. After introducing the band (Which, can we talk about his guitar player, Zane? He had on the best pirate/revolutionary soldier coat that I am totally in love with. Also, mad guitar skills!), he said, “Justin Timberlake and Jay Z! Your Oakland Athletics! Your San Francisco Giants!” and went on to point out that there are so many entertainment options and he was really thankful that we had chosen to see him – even over “a random ballet that I’m sure is happening somewhere”.
Sitting as close as I did, I feel like I got a little something extra at this show – I watched him pick up the special mic next to his water bottle and give direction to the band before most numbers. At the end of Zane’s guitar solo in ‘Gravity’ during the encore, I saw John tell him, “play some more”. I also got an up-close view of all the faces he pulls while singing, which, seem slightly less vulgar than I remember.
Since I've moved I've been joking that I don’t have good days or bad days, I have ‘Good California Days’ and ‘Bad California Days’. This show? This was an awesome California day.
When: July 26, 2013
Where: Shore Line Amphitheater/ Mountain View, CA
With: an entire row of people SUPER PUMPED to be in the third row
Of Note: OMFG
I have pretty much always had a lot of feelings about John Mayer. There’s something about his music that cuts – lyrically, I think he’s one of the best in the business. My good friend Neil sent me the webcomic below, which is pretty accurate for 99% of people and 99% of music. I feel like John Mayer’s music takes absolutely no trying to make it all about me. (And let’s be honest, most of what I do here is make music all about me.)
I think it’s been so fascinating to follow his career and watch the progression of message & tone on each subsequent album. I feel a little like I’ve grown up with him. I mean, ‘No Such Thing’ from 2001's ‘Room For Squares’ was big the summer after my freshman year of college and, in under four minutes, perfectly described what it felt like to be 19 and trying to figure it all out. There is no such thing as the real world, you know?
‘Stop This Train’ from 2006’s ‘Continuum’ (which was an album I listened to more than was probably healthy) was a far more articulate description of my quarter life crisis than I could come up with. ‘Who Says’ became the anthem of the “I’m going to do what I want; feel free to kindly go fuck yourself” portion of a nasty break-up. And now, ‘The Age of Worry’ from Born & Raised has become a personal rallying cry on my recent cross-country move. I’ve always joked that I wanted my life to be a musical – at times I feel like it already could be a John Mayer jukebox show.
Anyway, I was so excited to see John Mayer summer tour dates pop up – he’d been off the road for a few years dealing with his well-publicized throat issues. I bought a ticket when they went on sale, my first week in CA, and got pre-emptively pumped. I didn’t pay much attention to the ticket buying process, selecting ‘best available’ and getting through check-out quickly. That’s only relevant in that I ended up having a third row seat, which I didn’t fully realize until I got to the venue. As I sat down, I remarked to my seat neighbors, “I was not expecting to be this close; I’m going to need a moment.”
Philip Phillips was the opening act. My feelings for Philip Phillips are well documented – I think the guy is incredible. Musically, he lives in a space that an amalgamation of so many artists I love, plus he’s adorable. I’m not sure I fully realized how close my seat was until I noted that I could actually read the Toms label on the back of his shoe.
He opened with one of my favorites from the album ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ and it was just lovely in person. I thought his saxophone player who had an alto and a silver tenor was awesome. His guitar player was also great, not only for his tremendous solos, but for his Adidias Sambas. To close, he segued from ‘Let’s Get it On’ to a ‘Let’s Get It On’-esque take on the first few lines of ‘Home’, transitioning into ‘Home’ as its meant to be – a foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing anthem. For someone who was kind of awkward on his American Idol run, he had a great stage presence here – thanking the crowd, looking really thrilled when everyone got to their feet at the end, introducing the band. His improvement as a front-man was obvious. I would think some of this has to be being on tour with Mayer, but what do I know? Like I said, I’m a big fan of his, and this did not disappoint.
And then, John Mayer. Holy shit, John Mayer. This set was so cool in the seamless mix of old & new material. It was like every song was a special surprise from some point in the last ten years (aww man, I am getting old, huh?) and you never knew where he was going to take you next. Let’s talk about a few of the evening's highlights, shall we?
‘3x5’ is one of my all-time favorites and is second by a miniscule margin to ‘St. Patrick’s Day’ on the “old songs I don’t expect to hear but would be frigging delighted if I did” list. For ‘3x5’, the band left the stage and it was just John & his acoustic. It was magic. One of his strengths is his story-telling ability. That was put to such effective use here – I felt it in my bones that he wanted me to see that sunrise.
He told a story about how he sang ‘Age of Worry’ to himself, hands in the air. Here it was delivered as a foot-stomper, livelier than the album version; it felt like my using it as a personal rallying cry exactly what it was meant to be.
New song ‘Paper Doll’ was intercut with Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes’ which blew my mind. It’s possible I shrieked a lot. My seatmate friend lost her mind over ‘Slow Dancing in a Burning Room’. There was some crowd sing along action on ‘Vultures’. The older couple in the front row went absolutely nuts for ‘Waiting on the World to Change’, even busting out some sweet slow dance moves. 'If I Ever Get Around To Living' was beautiful, almost bitter sweet, and another song he indicated he sings to himself.
He was less chatty than the last time I saw him, but did a funny bit about how it’s hard to be as hydrated as you need to be and play a 2 hour plus show without peeing. (He left the stage briefly mid-set to pee.) He also talked about how excited he was that everyone still wanted to see him play after having been off the road for three years. He made a crack about being almost totally off the radar, with the exception of the ‘Born & Raised’ album and “a couple photos here are there; guy’s gotta eat”. After introducing the band (Which, can we talk about his guitar player, Zane? He had on the best pirate/revolutionary soldier coat that I am totally in love with. Also, mad guitar skills!), he said, “Justin Timberlake and Jay Z! Your Oakland Athletics! Your San Francisco Giants!” and went on to point out that there are so many entertainment options and he was really thankful that we had chosen to see him – even over “a random ballet that I’m sure is happening somewhere”.
Sitting as close as I did, I feel like I got a little something extra at this show – I watched him pick up the special mic next to his water bottle and give direction to the band before most numbers. At the end of Zane’s guitar solo in ‘Gravity’ during the encore, I saw John tell him, “play some more”. I also got an up-close view of all the faces he pulls while singing, which, seem slightly less vulgar than I remember.
Since I've moved I've been joking that I don’t have good days or bad days, I have ‘Good California Days’ and ‘Bad California Days’. This show? This was an awesome California day.
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