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John Mayer played a solo show at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, April 11th. I went to the last concert John performed in Seattle just over a year ago but this was a very different show. Last time he played with a full band. This truly was a solo show with no one other than John on stage. The vast majority of the 28 songs (some of which were just snippets or medleys of songs) were with just an acoustic guitar. He played piano on five songs and electric guitar on two or three. One song, Changing, was played on the piano and then at the end of the song he looped the piano, picked up an electric guitar and played a solo over the piano. Actually, he screwed it up and didn’t get the piano loop to play the first time and had to start over but he recovered well. John is a phenomenal guitarist but for the most part he’s pretty subtle. This was one place where he really cut loose and showed his skill. John has some Youtube tutorial videos which really show the ease with which he plays. He’s a pretty good guitar instructor as well.
It’s hard to believe that John’s first commercial studio album was released over 20 years ago. It certainly makes me feel old…er. If you go back and listen to his early music and compare it with songs he’s writing today you can see a progression and maturity. He alluded to this when introducing “Your Body is a Wonderland”, which honestly is a pretty cheesy song. He acknowledged that for a time he didn’t even want to play it but has come to realize that it’s just part of who he is and that he was basically a kid when he wrote it and now he can appreciate it for what it is.
I appreciate singer/songwriters who are story tellers. John Mayer is a great story teller. A song that’s become one of my favorites is “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test….”. It tells the fictional story of a man who’s become bored with life and embarks on an adventure to build an ocean-going submarine and cross the Pacific. The great thing about songs such as this is that the song gives just enough information to kick start your imagination. John gives us an outline of what Walt is thinking and then we fill in what he’s going through. How do his wife and kids actually feel about this? How long does it take to build the submarine? There’s nothing about the actual voyage. How does that go and how long does it take? Apparently there is a play in the works based on the song and I can see how that would make for a great story.
Speaking of great stories, a kid (I can call him that) named Alec Benjamin opened for John and also played solo acoustic songs. I had never heard of Alec but this tour will introduce him to a lot of people. One standout song was “If we have each other“. He introduced it as being about his sister, who was apparently in the audience, before clarifying that only the last verse was about her, an important distinction to make if you listen to the song. I do find it funny that at 23 he thinks his folks are growing old. Perspective! Anyway, he was great.
