John Mayer Trio gets a five star review...

So tonight I saw the John Mayer concert. Wow. What an experience. Now I know some of you may have seen a Mayer concert before and are thinking- he’s not that great. However, this concert was different so many levels than you might expect. First of all, for those of you who don’t know John Mayer has formed a group called the “John Mayer Trio (clever huh?).” From my understanding, the group “accidentally” came together- and after some great chemistry, and they decided they had to collaborate and make an album. So every song played at this concert was new material- no album exists for this group yet. So what does John Mayer sound like now? Nothing like at all like his old stuff. This band has deep roots in the blues. Deep. Mayer sounds almost born for it too. Throughout the night they tore threw song after song with blues funk and rhythm that was hard not to appreciate.

I can’t help but think (and this might be a bit of an overstatement) that watching John Mayer tonight on stage, was like watching a young Eric Clapton or B.B. King discovering the blues for the first time. He had guitar solos in almost every song- and he played them brilliantly. You could tell he improvised quite a bit throughout the concert (which makes for better music if you as me!) covering in Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” & Ben Harper’s “Steal My Kisses.” Also, his intonation and voice is completely offset from his first few albums.

One thing I forgot to mention was the venue the concert was at was amazing. The theater holds 1000 or less people- so it was an extremely intimate concert. You’ll notice by the pictures below, I was about 20 feet from the stage (I could of thrown my gum at his head, I was so close). Get this- I only waited 30 minutes before the doors opened (sometimes you get lucky?) and still got these stand room only seats!

My guess, out of all the songs he played, the song that probably will become a radio hit is the song called, “Try.” In summary, the idling buzz that is going around about Mayer’s new sound is not to be undervalued (you can download two songs from the band on iTunes right now). In fact, expect more Grammy’s to be coming his way. John has shown the quality that distinguishes a great artist- the ability to mature.