John Mayer

So last night N and I went to the John Mayer concert (you might have deduced that looking at my Twitter feed or Facebook)! It was a brilliant concert and I was impressed by his musical ability and the way he didn't play songs as they had been recorded.
The highlight would have to be the couple of songs he did in the middle just him singing and playing an acoustic guitar. It was a brilliant take on a couple of his numbers and even 'improvised' a new song inbetween to fool people as he linked into a well known track.

However there were 3 low moments (4 if you count the over extracted coffee). The first was despite having great seats on the raised platform, there was an awful bend whenever anyone stood on the bend beside us (the kind that makes you sea sick given people were coming and going all night - yes even during the concert)!

The second was the mix which was a little rough at times. His vocals just didn't cut through the mix and at times his guitar was lost in the muddle. However I won't be too critical here because the TSB Arena isn't the best acoustic setting and having been to previous concerts there I know that your location affects the sound greatly!

Finally (and this is my big complaint) what is with encores? They seem so planned and contrived as opposed to spontaneous. His set lasted about 90 minutes but then he 'finishes' up and says goodnight. Unsurprisingly as he leaves the stage (with his band - SUPER talented keys & drummer) and the crowd goes wild.

Surely they know this is going to happen as no matter what we get these days we always want more! So he (John Mayer) leaves us for at least 5 minutes while we get into a frenzy before coming back out and doing a couple of numbers.

Is the occurrence of an encore planned and ready? Or is it like a plan b .... we'll do these numbers if the crowd breaks 100 decibels of noise for 5 minutes? Either way it would seem as though an encore is normal these days. Is it because we (the concert goers) demand it, or because it feeds the artist ego? Or is it just how we like things to roll at a concert these days?

Whatever all that rambling is about, it was a brilliant night out with N. We love live music and John Mayer is quite the guitarist with a voice that matches his songs. Refined and poppy enough for N and rough and rock enough for me!