“Melbourne, I have missed you these four years; I’ve thought about you often and I promise I will make it up to you tonight, I will play my ass off for you!” This was how Bluefest headliner, John Mayer, greeted Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.
Opening for Mayer was fellow Bluesfest act, Grace Potter And The Nocturnals. Hailing from Vermont, the country-rock five-piece showed off their impressive dynamic and individual musicianship during songs such as ‘Medicine’ and particularly during their second last number, ‘Paris (Ooh La La)’, whereby each member took to a part of drummer Matt Burr’s kit for an intense ending.
Performances of ‘Stars’ and ‘Nothing But The Water’ saw Potter’s smoky vocals command the audience’s attention as the room began to fill completely.
The audience’s anticipation was at an all-time high by the time Mayer and his seven–piece band arrived on stage and the arena erupted once they recognised the guitar intro of opener, ‘Belief’.
Having not performed in front of a Melbourne audience for four years, the singer-songwriter had plenty of new material to perform – and plenty of time to have an egotistical rant.
“Everybody knows it’s the price of fame, having a song like ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland,’” he joked.
“I’m going to jam out to my own shit and enjoy my new stuff. This is better than ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’. This is a song with some depth and some girth,” he laughed, before launching into the acoustic, slow-burning, ‘Waitin’ On The Day’ from his latest album, Paradise Valley.
Whilst four new songs were performed and ‘Your Body Is A Wonderland’ was successfully avoided, it was clear that the audience and band alike enjoyed Mayer’s older material more.
The arena erupted for ‘Slow Dancing In A Burning Room’ and the musician’s guitar solo had the audience so still and silent that it was eerily beautiful.
The band left Mayer to perform two more crowd favourites by himself, ‘Neon’ and ‘Free Fallin’ – the former, Mayer claimed, made “strong tensions between men and women” when it was initially released in 2001, as men tried to “hate” him but then thought “fuck he’s a great guitarist”.
The band returned shortly after for ‘Wildfire’, a real country-folk singalong, in which the talents of bass player Sean Hurley and backing vocalists Tiffany Palmer and Carlos Ricketts particularly shone. With Mayer being a perfectionist himself, it wasn’t a surprise that his band were all individually impressive, particularly fellow guitarist, Zane Carney.
“I just want to fill this room with something undeniably good,” the American artist stated before launching into the Lionel Richie classic ‘All Night Long’, which was worked into the intro of ‘Speak For Me’.
Whilst the sampling of the ‘80s classic was surprisingly great and Mayer’s usual cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’’ was a crowd favourite, it was his rendition of Van Morrison’s ‘And It Stoned Me’ that perfectly paid homage to the blue-eyed soul that has significantly influenced his sound.
‘Waiting On The World To Change’ and final song ‘Dear Marie’ were heart-warming choices, with the latter’s harmonies really emphasising the lyrics, which were written for Mayer’s first girlfriend.
Returning to the stage shortly after, the pitch-black arena was quickly illuminated by hundreds of fans using the torches on their phones. The ten-minute rendition of ‘Gravity’ ended the night in a soulful fashion, with every fan singing the infectious chorus whilst pouring out onto the street.
It’s a sad reality that the media attention put on Mayer’s personal life leaves a lot of people apathetic towards his music and the fact that he is an incredibly talented blues guitarist. The performance was flawless and proved to be just what diehard Melbournian fans wanted from a night with Mayer.
Setlist
Full Band:
Belief
Queen of California
Half Of My Heart
Waiting On The Day
No Such Thing
On The Way Home
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
Solo Acoustic:
Neon
Free Fallin’
Full Band:
Wildfire
Speak For Me (intro of ‘All Night Long’ by Lionel Richie)
I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Who Says
And It Stoned Me (Van Morrison cover)
Waiting On The World To Change
Dear Marie
Encore:
Gravity
