John Mayer!

For those of you who enjoy reading my writing but don't find a connection with the intense obsession I have about sports, I thought I'd throw you a bone and write about the John Mayer concert I attended last night in Hartford, Connecticut. If you don't like sports and you don't like John Mayer...well then you're just missing out on a couple of the best things in the world. But don't worry, I won't linger on the fact that you're wasting your life; I'll just move on to Saturday's events.

So, since I live at least four or five hours from Hartford by car, the concert was a whole-day ordeal. Other than a few errands in the morning, I spent most of my day driving because it was a Saturday afternoon and traffic was backed up like all hell at the tolls. It only took me an hour or so but I got through it and continued down past Boston to pick up my friend Katie, who you might remember from a previous blog shout out (she likes to travel through the seven layers of the Candy Cane forest). Anyway, she lives right on the way to Cape Cod, so I met more traffic in the form of stressed out families going on vacation. You'd think they'd be relaxed because they have their inner tubes and beach towels and they're headed to Cape Cod on a beautiful day but nooo...they'd rather lay on their car horn and scream obscenities in front of their children. Great decision. So, when I finally arrived to pick up my fellow concert-goer, it was about 5:30 and the show was scheduled to start in two hours. We figured eating and hanging out for a while was more important than seeing OneRepublic (the opening band) so we did that and then made the two-hour trek over to Hartford to see the amazing man below (the picture is from his website but it was taken during the concert last night).
The concert was amazing. Mayer was sporting a new haircut and opened with "Belief," which turned out to be a much better opening song than "Waiting on the World to Change," which is what he opened up with in Boston when I saw him last summer. The usual aspects of a John Mayer concert were all there: the insane solos, the comedic banter in between songs, and the mobs of screaming girls still hoping to hear him play "Your Body is a Wonderland" (it's not going to happen sweetheart, you can stop painting the title on your white t-shirts). But what made this particular concert different was that he played a few songs he doesn't play very often. Maybe it was because he was back near his hometown (Fairfield, CT) but for whatever reason, he decided to play two of his older songs ("No Such Thing" and "Why Georgia") along with a hit he made with Herbie Hancock ("Stitched Up"). I might be biased because I love those songs so much but they really made the concert so much better. He also played "Say," which is a great song he created for the recent movie, The Bucket List. It was absolutely incredible. Here's the full set list from last night's show:

• Belief
• Vultures
• Crossroads (Eric Clapton Cover)
  
• I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You
• Dreaming With A Broken Heart
• Stop This Train
• Daughters
• Free Falling (Tom Petty Cover)
  
• Mercy
• No Such Thing
• Why Georgia
• I'm Gonna Find Another You
  
• Stitched Up
• Bigger Than My Body
• Gravity
• In Repair
• Waiting on the World to Change
• Say

I can't emphasize how much I love listening to John Mayer's music. So many of his solos and artistic styles on stage come from predecessors like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix but he is the guitar god of this era. I would be content just to sit in a soundproof room across from him and watch him play the guitar. He's that good. It just so happens that he's creative, has a great ear and has the ability to write amazing lyrics. He is truly a phenomenon. He's such a special musician, in fact, that I will stick by the claim that I made last year when I said that anytime he is playing a concert in a venue reasonably close to me and I have the funds and the transportation to get there, I will be there. Anyone out there reading this should also go see him but if you can't or don't want to, you should at least buy/rent his new DVD, Where the Light Is..., which showcases his talents just as well.

Okay, I'm done for the night. I usually don't do two posts in a single sitting but since they were both relatively short, I figured I could do it. Now it's 3am and I'm done with this post. I will be back with a recap of Michigan's opening game either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Until then, take care and enjoy the final week of August!