LA Song
Well, here it is, finally...my John Mayer concert review...Admittedly yesterday I was busy, but I just really didn't want to sit and type up the whole thing. So I'm doing it today while I have nothing better to do. I could be making a Harry Potter birthday icon, I suppose, but perhaps I'll do that tomorrow...if I'm not at ShowMeCon, which I most likely won't be...ah well, money issues...
Anyway...onto the musicy goodness.
Sooo...while I was on my way home to meet the aunt and cousin, all I heard on traffic was bad bad accidents on all the highways, so I was worried. But we apparently left at the right time, or took the (slightly back-roads) right way, since we didn't hit any snags, just normal rushhour traffic. Yay! So we got there early enough to hit the restrooms
and hear some random guy on the second stage (he sounded enough like JM that I was confused for a bit, but he was black, so no relation
and he finished just as we managed to get in the gates, so I have no idea who he was) and get a cupful of free stuff, literally. Southwest Airlines was sponsoring the concert so they were giving away big plastic cups with stuff. And there was the obligatory free condom man
He gave me two. Not sure what I should think about that. After enjoying a leisurely soft frozen lemonade, we took our seats.
DJ Logic started us off, but either his equipment was faulty or he was just randomly inserting scratching into popular songs I'll never quite know, since I wasn't really listening. It was really nice weather for the evening, suprisingly, but thankfully. The concert did start pretty soon after 7, which was nice...I guess Maroon 5 didn't come on until about 7:45, and they played to sometime after 8:30, so a good set. Will have to check out their cd now, I guess. Yay. more things to spend money on *sarcasm* They have a very clever logo: an M with a V cutout in the middle. Get it? Maroon V? I liked it, and they played pretty well. Didn't play the song from the Spidey2 soundtrack which I wouldn't have minded seeing, but they did play the three hits they've got on the radio right now.
And then came the good stuff...John Mayer came on just about 9 pm. Amazing it was neither humid nor raining like they'd said it might be, so everything was perfect condition wise. Too bad the sound isn't quite as good at outdoor concerts as it is indoors, because while you could hear the words of songs pretty well, whenever anyone was just talking it sounded like a blur of noise. Meh. But yeah, songs pretty. I followed my convention from the Josh Groban concert and made a setlist (with help from the official site and Scotty's road journal):
Bigger than my body
No Such Thing prefaced by some 80s song that I can't recall the title of
"This is playing the blues" A Blues Thing (because he's heard people call some of his songs bluesy and wanted to set the record straight)
Come Back to Bed
New Deep (source of the title of his latest disc,
)
Wheel (everyone's favorite singalong)
Why Georgia with a side of Portable
Something's Missing with a side of Home Life
My Stupid Mouth with a side of something I can't remember
Old Love (an eric clapton tribute, I think. DeLa (his best bud/guitarist) had a big solo, and then he and JM did this great duet where DeLa stood behind JM and played JM's guitar while JM played DeLa's. Now that takes talent!)
Your Body is a Wonderland with a side of Signed Sealed Delivered and Maroon 5's She Will Be Loved
Neon with a guitarist from Maroon 5 and JM playing a Macintosh Apple-stickered guitar (yay!)
Clarity
encore
LA Song (acoustic, JM only, a new song he's working on for the next album. good stuff)
Great Indoors (acoustic, JM only)
Only Heart (JM and some of the band)
He ended sometime just before 11...all I know is that we were in the car at 11, so a nice long set. We left just as he was ending his last song, since Aunt Carol didn't want to spend as much time in the car waiting in the parking lot. We still had to wait a long time, but you'll hear about that later.
So, more thoughts:
JM had a really simple set. There were three large folding screens with a vaguely asian tree design, and were backlit or frontlit at certain times to set the mood. And as a backdrop looks like he stole the Counting Crows' backdrop from last year with a huge black sheet studded with lights. Beautiful, especially when they all flickered like a real night sky...
He wore his own tour shirt. They were selling signed concert tour shirts (black, natch. Why are all the good concert tshirts black? Color is good, people!) but they were $80 and that was $10 more than I had brought with me. So I got a raglan tourdate shirt which theoretically is cool since it's longsleeve but is slightly too large so might have to attempt something with the sewing machine I might get from my cousin since she won both the auctions she bidded on. (How's that for a run-on?
)
Every so often he would fling his guitar pick into the audience. A silly little thing but man if I wouldn't have minded getting one. Of course we were just slightly too far away for that
All in all, good seats, only slightly right of center and just behind the VIP seats. How on EARTH do you get VIP tix? Aside from paying $400, there must be a way...alas I am not that lucky.
Lots of younger guys there. I guess JM attracts them for his playing, which admittedly is very cool, unless you look at his face when he really gets into it. As I mentioned last year he either looks like he's in pain or having an orgasm when he's playing. Maybe he is. Maybe it's both. Guess I'll never know. But it's good for a laugh nonetheless.
Tried to catch his new tatoo on his right arm, but we were on the wrong side of the stage for that. That and he's usually strumming with that hand so we never see the underside. Ah well.
Gripes: No 3x5, but since he played my favorite song of his at both the previous concerts I was at I guess I can't complain too much. Leaving before he walked off the stage, but I guess I didn't really miss much and the song he ended with wasn't my favorite. It's the principle of the thing. And while we were doing the intermiable wait in the parking lot after, this Jeep Liberty (it's official, now I hate Jeep Liberties...that's the car that rear-ended me last year) tried to nose in front of us (quickly and scarily, really) stopping just short of hitting us and Aunt Carol got mad at the driver...she's volatile that way. They kept coming though, even after an application of the finger, and Carol got out to have words. They backed off after that. Ah well. Can't be totally perfect!
And I'm sad/not sad that i didn't get to go to the soundcheck as a perk for being in the fanclub. It would have been nice to see him perform in a slightly more intimate way, but it would have been too much trouble to do, so I'm glad I didn't. Maybe next year. Maybe he'll play at Savvis and the sound will be better. Who knows? I'd love to meet him but it's most likely not going to be at UMB.
I think that's all I've got, and I've got to get home so Ross and I can catch the Bourne Supremacy, so y'all have a good weekend and be sure to wish Harry Potter happy birthday tomorrow, and take a look outside tomorrow night and see the blue moon. Mwah!
Fireworks mix
Comments
i'm surprised that he played such a long set and i'm glad you had a good time, you lucky girl!
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2004 5:38 PM