John Mayer does not need flashy lights and a full band to wow his fans.
Instead, he brought several acoustic guitars, two decades of music and his artistry to State Farm Arena Wednesday night where he played an intimate acoustic setlist on the Atlanta stop of his “Solo” tour.
For his opening, he walked out, sat on a chair, and launched right into “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” with an acoustic guitar and low blue lighting that barely illuminated his face.
Credit: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP
Credit: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP
The acoustic set made the show feel down to earth, and Mayer connected with the audience by sharing stories and letting fans choose the next song at times. After someone near the front asked him to play a song, he asked the crowd, “You wanna do ‘Daughters?’” before launching into the Grammy-winning song.
Mayer lived up to his reputation as one of his generation’s best guitarists. He seemed to pull out a different guitar for every other song, including one double-necked guitar and a steel-bodied resonator, commonly used in bluegrass music. In some songs, he improvised in the guitar breaks, deftly and delicately moving his fingers along the strings and showcasing his artistry.
The 46-year-old might not be an Atlanta native, but he moved here in 1997 and got his start playing at Eddie’s Attic and Smith’s Olde Bar before rising to fame for his unique mix of blues, soft rock and pop.
“Atlanta is where I wrote so many of my songs,” Mayer told the crowd. “It’s where I learned to be brave musically.”
JP Saxe, a Canadian indie artist, opened the show with guitar and piano and also sang some parts of his songs a cappella. He and Mayer wrote a song together, “I Don’t Miss You,” that was released earlier this year.
Toward the start of the show, Mayer admitted he had a cold and it might impact his singing. But if it did, it wasn’t apparent from the audience: his vocals stayed on point throughout the whole hour-and-a-half set as he crooned in his mid-range and floated to his falsetto.
“I tend to really over-deliver when my voice isn’t doing everything I want it to do, so let’s see how interesting it can get,” Mayer said.
The artist certainly kept the set interesting by sprinkling in covers, letting fans choose songs and sharing anecdotes from his time living in Georgia. During pauses, he kept the crowd entertained with old videos of him as a young artist talking about his early albums in 2002 and 2005.
While he did play some of his more popular songs, two of his most famous did not make the cut: “Gravity” and “Waiting on the World to Change.”
“I know there’s some songs that were on the radio that weren’t on the setlist, and I want to let you know how much it means for me, for you to let me play the songs I want to play,” Mayer said.
Mayer also played a few covers, including a unique take on Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” He said that sometimes playing songs he wrote when he was younger can also feel like playing a cover because he isn’t the same artist anymore.
“I am certainly not of the same cellular makeup as the younger artist who wrote this,” he said before he played “Your Body is a Wonderland,” which he said he sometimes sings ironically.
After 18 songs, one of which was a fan-chosen medley of four different songs, Mayer waved goodbye and stepped offstage before returning after the audience provided the requisite thunderous applause. For his encore, he played “Comfortable” before wrapping up the show with his cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” which he has truly made his own over the years.
Fans gave Mayer smiles, sways and phone flashlights throughout the show, prompting heartfelt gratitude from Mayer: “Atlanta, thank you so much. What a beautiful night because of you,” he said.
About the Author
