Happy Birthday John Mayer and Other Stories at Tampa’s Amalie Arena
John Mayer turns 46 on Monday, October 16th, and on Friday night at his Solo tour stop in Tampa, fans were singing him early birthday wishes. It’s been over 25 years since Mayer burst onto the music scene and has grown up, not always easily, before the public eye. Mayer has persevered through it all with some of the best songwriting of Gen X. Of course, he is also a guitar “master,” as quoted from guitar guru and mentor Eric Clapton.
John Mayer opened seated in a chair with 2009’s “Heartbreak Warfare” from the Battle Studies album with lyrics, “If you want more love, why don’t you say so”. “Love on the Weekend” takes us to “The Search for Everything” from 2017, and lovers finally see each other after a long week. The setlist originally had called for “Emoji of A Wave” for the third tune opener, but John changed last minute to last year’s “Wild Blue” from Sob Rock. The great thing about this tour is John Mayer has so much material to work from, and the setlist is different every night, no doubt something he learned from working with Dead & Company. There are also fans with request signs upping the ante for John to dig into deep cuts on the spot. It makes for some humorous segments during the 2-hour show.
There are a couple of planned video packages in the show taking us back first to his debut album, “Room for Squares,” and hits such as “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Why Georgia.” Another diehard fan treat that we heard in Tampa is “In Your Atmosphere” from the live 2008 DVD “Where the Light Is,” and don’t expect to hear “Gravity” at every show. He has only played it a handful of times. Tampa did get “Clarity” and “Neon,” during which Mayer played an in-the-zone on-fire guitar solo, which had the arena at its feet. John takes to the piano mid-show for “You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me,” clearly, it is not his main instrument as he jokes about playing alone as an alter-ego Sergio. Hilarious, as he shocks himself that he is doing this to an arena crowd. The show, at times, seems more intimate than playing for 20,000 people.
The second video package is the “Continuum” era. Starting this off with “Stop This Train,” which has become an anthem of sorts about growing up and older, one of the most honest lyrics being, “I’m so scared of getting older, I’m only good at being young.” A surprise deep cut was Leon Russell’s “Hummingbird,” which Mayer had not played live since 2008 and had recorded with B.B. King. On another note, be sure to catch John’s performance with the late Leon Russell on Leon’s iconic “A Song for You” during the 2011 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame awards (below). Tampa also got a sing-along with “Your Body” and “Daughters,” and a story of Mayer having been to Tampa’s 2001 Odyssey strip club spaceship years ago with his band and thought it wasn’t real due to his level of intoxication. He saw it while in Tampa and was stunned that it was real. The Tampa crowd loved that story of the local infamous site!
Moving back to the chair, he started with a double-neck guitar for “If I Ever Get Around to Living” and a bit of “In Repair” thanks to one of the fan request signs. He closes out the show with 2009’s emotional extravaganza “Edge of Desire.” The audience is having nothing of John leaving yet as the arena lights up with cell phone flashlights, and he returns with harmonica and guitar for the title track of 2012’s “Born and Raised.” His tribute to Tom Petty with “Free Fallin” ends the encore. John waves and walks across the stage to sign a couple of the fan’s signs. Like his predecessors’ solo artists like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, John Mayer’s music will stand the test of time of his generation. John’s next projects are a new show on Sirius XM, “Life with John Mayer,” going into the studio, and several shows in Tokyo at the Blue Note for New Year’s. All info at John Mayer.
Canadian singer JP Saxe opened the show with fun tunes like “I Don’t Miss You” and “All the Shit in My Car.” Signed to Arista Records, he has a new release called “A Grey Area”. JP Saxe.
Photos Courtesy of Vicky Sullivan