I write this as John Mayer & Jessica Simpson are probably still asleep in their hotel room across the street roughly 200 metres away. Mayer played the Entertainment Centre last night to kick off his Australian tour & damn, he sure can play.



Let's kick this off with the set list;

Vultures
No Such Thing
Good Love is On the Way
Why Georgia
I Don't Need No Doctor
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
Clarity
The Heart of Life
Waiting on the World to Change
Belief
Bigger Than My Body
Gravity

-- encore --
Your Body is a Wonderland
I'm Gonna Find Another You

In general I was nonplussed with the studio version of Vultures, but it definitely has an impact live & with the band starting the rhythm before John joins the stage, it makes a great opening tune. The set covered two or more songs from each album so far & was overall a good mix. The cheesiest song ever written "Your Body is a Wonderland" made the cut to appease the quite significant portion of the crowd who were female & aged under 16.

"I Don't Need No Doctor" was a favorite of mine from the John Mayer Trio which failed to tour downunder. I have a couple of versions of the song on concert bootlegs, but I was surprised that I seemed to be the only person who really got into the groove & was able to sing along. (Yes, I do sing along at concerts - I have no shame.)

"Belief" was my other highlight. I completely love this tune even when JM used to play it years ago with different words - "Sleeping at the crash sight, Resting on the wreckage", etc. The alternate live version titled "Simmering Melody" is well worth searching the internet for.

Whilst I had a great time & John's ability & guitar technique is phenomenal, he still manages to frustrate the hell out of me. For those who don't really listen to a great deal of Blues music, it would come as a surprise just how many licks that John uses which are straight from the hands of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan & a plethora of old time greats. My problem with this is John's virtual channeling of these guys & he can genuinely sound like they are in the room playing. It's brilliant, but I desperately want to hear his own take on & interpretation of their music rather than a straight-up copy.

My other issue is with each song turning into an extended blues jam. John, be true to your songs!! I love nothing more than a guitarist "going off" in the right circumstances, but sometimes it just feels out of place. I think that's where JM3 should come into play. The Trio with Palladino & Jordan is the perfect facility for the blues & hope that one day they get together again & tour into the Southern Hemisphere.

I also hope Mayer keeps to his promises of his next album being written from the road on a acoustic guitar. I want to not know what's coming & Continuum just didn't quite meet my expectations in that regard. I shan't lose faith however & overall, it was an awesome live performance.

The pick above is from John's last visit in 2004 & was used when he played "Only Heart" before being discarded. Another was thrown in my general direction by David-Ryan Harris at the end of the show, but I lost it's trajectory in the lighting, so someone else got lucky instead!